With their win over the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night, the Detroit Lions clinched a playoff berth and Jared Goff got to make some NFL history in the process.
During Detroit's 34-31 win, Goff completed 32 of 41 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns. Goff also did a good job of spreading the ball around. As a matter of fact, he was so good at spreading the ball around that he made NFL history.
Goff became just the third quarterback in NFL history to complete five passes to at least six different receivers in a regular-season game, joining Matt Hasselbeck and Colt McCoy. Hasselbeck's performance actually came against the Lions in 2008, which means Detroit has been involved in two of the three games where this has happened. McCoy's performance came in 2011 with the Browns, which means no QB had pulled off this feat in 13 years.
Goff also made some obscure history: His performance marked the first time in NFL history that a QB completed a pass to six or more receivers and had 100% of them all finish with at least five receptions, according to OptaStats. (Hasselbeck and McCoy didn't have 100% of their receivers finish with at least five receptions).
Here's a look at how the Lions receivers fared in the game:
- David Montgomery: Five catches for 33 yards
- Amon-Ra St. Brown: Five catches for 43 yards
- Sam LaPorta: Five catches for 54 yards
- Jameson Williams: Five catches for 80 yards
- Jahmyr Gibbs: Six catches for 30 yards and one touchdown
- Tim Patrick: Six catches for 43 yards and two touchdowns
No one else caught a pass and only one other player, Brock Wright, was even targeted.
The biggest surprise was Patrick, who caught his first touchdown pass since 2021. The Lions receiver missed each of the past two seasons (2022-23) due to injuries (He tore his ACL in 2022 and then tore his Achilles in 2023). Patrick has had several games this year where he's caught multiple passes, but this marked the first time that he scored a touchdown for the Lions and he got two of them.
"The journey was long, but it was worth it and made me the man I am today and it brought me here to Detroit," Patrick said following the win."I've won the most games I've won in my career, I just had a two-touchdown performance on 'Thursday Night Football'... I'm just very blessed and thankful for this team."
If Goff proved one thing with this performance, it's that the Lions have weapons all over the field and he knows how to use them, which is one big reason why they're viewed as the favorite to get to the Super Bowl out of the NFC.
