Jared Goff Interview - 9/4/2024
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00:00Jared, as always, thanks for being with us. It is Freshly Married, Jared Goff. Congratulations.
00:07Yeah, thank you guys. Appreciate it.
00:10This is such an unprecedented offseason for us and excitement going into this season.
00:15Can you compare what it's like now as to what it was like when you first got here? I mean,
00:19is there a tangible difference with this team than when you know you've got a chance to win
00:25the whole thing? Yeah, I think the outside excitement has been fun to be around and
00:32to go to dinner and go places and people seem so excited. Everyone's excited to go to the games.
00:39In the past, there was, I guess, in that first year, there was just kind of this feeling of,
00:44you know, here we go again. I don't think they have that feeling anymore. You know,
00:48it seems to be there. All the fans are behind us and excited. Although internally,
00:52our expectations haven't really changed much from last year and we expect to try to win this first
00:57one and then go from there. But yeah, it'll be a fun year and we're excited to get back in front
01:01of our home fans. I think that's the most fun thing for us is to be back in front of them,
01:05hear them get loud, hear them make it hard for the other team and it'll be great. Do you remember
01:09what your first impressions were of Dan Campbell before you got here, when you found out you were
01:13traded here, and then kind of compare that to where you guys are now with your relationship?
01:18Yeah. I mean, first impression is just how passionate he is and how much he cared and
01:23you could tell how important this whole thing was to him. I think now we've grown so much together
01:29and I've seen him grow tremendously as a head coach and his ability to know when to push and
01:35when to pull is as good as I've ever seen or heard of. He's been tremendous with me in that way as
01:41well, knowing when to push me a little bit and knowing when to let me up and everything in
01:46between. I think you look in hindsight now on the decisions he's made and the people he's stuck by
01:50and the people he's put in certain positions. It was all for a reason. It was all intentional.
01:57I think that's the one thing about him. He's intentional. He'll always have our backs. I
02:01know that. A guy that I love playing for and hope to play for for a long time.
02:05Everyone, I'm sure, thinks that they've improved in the offseason.
02:09How have you gotten better personally and how do you think the team has gotten better?
02:15Every year, you add some things to your game. This offseason, just getting more in control of
02:22our offense and being in the third year of a system, you can't understate how beneficial that
02:27is for not only the quarterback but for our entire offensive line, everybody, and really
02:32returning everyone except for one or two guys. There's a lot of continuity there. There's a lot
02:37of conversations had where we can reference things that have happened in the past and why we do or
02:42don't want to do things. For me, it's just been continuing to grab that command of the offense
02:47and take it to the next level. You bring back both coordinators. Does all that mean when you
02:52get to training camp, you can start at step six or you don't have to do the minor stuff for nearly as
02:59long and get into the nitty-gritty and get ahead because everybody knows the system? Is that another
03:05way this helps? Yeah, in some ways. I think you're still so much process oriented. For us,
03:14it's ball security and fundamentals and all that stuff will never go away. I do think as far as
03:20scheme goes, you can speed up to get to the nitty-gritty a little bit quicker than you
03:27would have two years ago when you're going through install one. Everyone knows install one.
03:33We know where to line up. We know the pretty simple pass plays. We can get to install three
03:37and four a little bit quicker maybe. Because of that continuity, and it really is amazing with
03:41all the coaches being here for this time, do you design plays in the offseason and then present
03:47them to Ben Johnson or talk things over with Brunel and draw it up? Hey, I was thinking about
03:52this. What do you guys think? Yes, I do do that. Ben's great about it. He always has been. I'll
04:00come with some crazy ideas and maybe I get one out of five in there that he gives me the thumbs up
04:06to. He's great about it. He'll listen to anything. The one thing about him that's so good is he
04:12really does listen to his players. He tells us, he's like, hey Ben, give me ideas. I want to hear
04:16about them. When we give him ideas, he will listen. That doesn't mean they're going to be used
04:20on Sunday, but he will listen and he will take them into consideration. As the season goes on,
04:25when a Jared Goff design play goes for a touchdown, you're going to have to let us know
04:29when we talk to you. I don't know. I'm not coming up with any of them from scratch,
04:34but there's certain ideas that I'll have throughout the week that will click for both of us,
04:39Ben and I, and we'll end up in the game plan. I won't ever take any more credit than anyone else.
04:45I think it's a full team effort. Ultimately, he finds a way to fit it into the formations and the
04:50motions that we're doing that week and make it work. If I am able to come up with one from scratch
04:56and get it in, I'll let you guys know. We appreciate that. Is the Jameson Williams hype
05:01for real? Yeah, man. He's done a great job. I'm not sure what the hype is externally,
05:08but internally, man, he's done a tremendous job getting himself ready to go and becoming
05:13the guy that's reliable for us. We can put the ball in his hands and big things happen. I think
05:19him and I, our rapport has grown so much this offseason. Just being able to know that I have
05:24week one, obviously, the ACL and the suspension last year, but this year, coming into April,
05:29it was like, all right, we're full steam ahead. You're going to be one of these guys in the field
05:32for us when we start the season. He's been great, man. He's really, he really has. He's worked really
05:37hard. He's super communicative with me and collaborative. We talk every day about what
05:42he likes, what I like, how we want to throw and run certain things. We're very much on the same
05:46page. The new pieces offensively, the weapons, Isaiah Williams and Sioni Vahki, young players
05:53don't exactly, I mean, eventually they're going to have to play because everybody has to play,
05:56but what do they bring into the table that you've seen? Yeah, I think both of them, you've got a
06:01good glimpse of them in preseason. I think Vahki is just, he's versatile. You can throw it to him,
06:06you can hand it to him. He's a great blocker. He's obviously great in special teams, but
06:10yeah, he's versatile. We can move him around if we need to. He can do different things with the
06:14ball in his hand, which was exciting to see. I think Isaiah is similar where you get the ball
06:19and good things were happening in that preseason. I know he had those a couple fumbles that he was
06:25hard on himself about cleaning up, but yeah, man, he's explosive and you saw it there in that last
06:29game. I'm not sure how many yards he had, but I think it was quite a few and catches the ball
06:33well, runs good routes and was good during the preseason. Dan Campbell has talked about there's
06:38so many mouths to feed on the offense, which is a good thing, all these weapons to have, but
06:42when you look at this team, how did guys improve on the year that they had last year? I mean,
06:46Laporta and Gibbs were rookies and they had phenomenal seasons. St. Brown has gotten better
06:51every year and what is the ceiling? Yeah, there isn't one. I mean, we can take this thing as far
06:59as we can go. I mean, it's limitless if we continue to work and put our head down and
07:06improve, but we've got the pieces, like you mentioned. We've got some pretty good players,
07:10obviously a really good line, good coaches. We've got everything in place and it's about
07:14going out there and executing and ultimately winning games. I think, obviously, the offensive
07:18production is something we're all after, but if we scored 20 like we scored last year and we won
07:24the game against the Chiefs with 21 points and felt pretty good about that. So, of course, you like
07:28to score 30 and 40 every week, but it's about winning the game and our offense production will
07:33come and we're excited to see where guys fit this year. Opener against the Rams. Defensively, I mean,
07:39they've got some pieces that have to be a concern, but they do not have Aaron Donald any longer.
07:44How different is it preparing for a team without him in the middle?
07:48Yeah, he was a centerpiece for them and for years, even when I was there, obviously,
07:52he was as good as anyone I've played with and played against. Yeah, it's nice not having to
07:58prepare for him, but that doesn't mean they don't have great players over there. I think
08:02Turner had a great rookie year and he's a guy you're aware of and the two rookies they drafted
08:06are obviously going to be great players as well. So, that's among others. They've got a lot of
08:11great players. Obviously, the highlight, you said, is them losing Aaron, but there's a lot of guys
08:14that you're concerned about over there that you're aware of and they're young and they're athletic
08:19and they're fast and they're going to be coming after it. First game doesn't make or break a
08:23season, but we were talking the other day about how this first game actually matters when it
08:28comes to possible playoff seeding. I mean, how much pressure do you guys put on for this first game?
08:33It just counts as all the other ones. Yeah, sure, they're an NFC opponent and a good NFC opponent,
08:38but it counts just as much as when we're in the dog days and week eight and week nine and
08:43they all count the same. So, it's fun. It's exciting. It is week one. We get to be in front
08:47of our home fans and it's against a really good team, a team that we were able to beat last year,
08:51but they'll be coming back for maybe some revenge and we got to be ready for that.
08:56Do you pay attention to what teams do in the offseason and looking specifically at the NFC
09:00North and where things are standing with this division and how it's gotten tougher?
09:05Of course, yeah, you see all the moves and I think our division did get better. Every team,
09:10I think, got better and obviously we have the bulls on our back now and they'll be coming for
09:14us and it's our job to try to defend that title. Lastly, we heard the horrible story that Justin
09:21Herbert was stuck in an elevator for a couple of hours and we were asking, we started talking about
09:27it on the air and how every time we get into an elevator, there's always that thought even
09:32before this kind of happens, it's just part of life. You think about it for a half a second.
09:38Now that it's happened to a quarterback no less, do you think about that when you get on elevators
09:44and have you ever been stuck in an elevator? I haven't been stuck in one. Of course,
09:49the number one thought every time you get on an elevator is like, I hope this thing doesn't get
09:52stuck. I got somewhere to be. But if you know it's only going to get stuck for an hour, maybe
09:57it's a little fun experience. You're solving your way out of the elevator trying to figure
10:02things out. Hopefully, there's not too many big guys in there and it gets hot and sweaty. I don't
10:08ever hope that to happen, but it sounds like they handled it pretty well and I thought Harbaugh's
10:12comments on it were pretty funny. If you are stuck in there, what teammate makes it better
10:18and what teammate would make it worse? Oh, gosh. What teammate makes it better?
10:27Gosh, better. Okay, Khalif Raymond. Okay. Mr. Positivity, he's small. He's not going to be
10:35big and sweaty. He's very athletic. He could probably fit in a small hole if we needed him
10:41to to get out and help us. Then I'll just go to the inverse. I don't want DJ Reeder with me in
10:47there. That's going to be a tough flood for us to get him through a small hole. You don't want
10:55it to get hot in there. Great answers, Jared. We appreciate it. We look forward to the season.
11:00Good luck on Sunday. I'll be watching and we'll talk next week. Awesome. All right, guys. Thank
11:05you. There he is. Jared Goff, Lions quarterback for our weekly conversation here on 97.1 The Ticket.