Ben Johnson not sweating Jared Goff Pro Bowl snub: 'We've got our sights set elsewhere'
Jared Goff is third in the NFL in passing yards and his team has tied for the second-best record in the NFC, yet he won't be going to the Pro Bowl.
Goff was named second alternate at quarterback for the NFC Pro Bowl team Wednesday, falling just short of becoming the first Detroit Lions quarterback to be picked for back-to-back games since Bobby Layne in 1952-53.
Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers was voted starter, Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys) and Matthew Stafford (Los Angeles Rams) are backups and Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia Eagles) is the first alternate.
"Listen, he’s playing really good football for us all year and whether he’s first-team, alternate, it really doesn’t matter," Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said. "We’ve got our sights set elsewhere."
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Johnson stopped short of calling Goff's omission a "snub," but he said voters don't fully appreciate what Goff has meant to the Lions.
In his third season in Detroit, Goff can tie the franchise single-season record for wins with a victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday (albeit with a 17-game schedule, rather than 16). He has completed 67% of his passes for 4,255 yards with 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions, and the Lions won their division and will host a playoff game next week for the first time in 30 years.
"A lot of people just look at numbers and not necessarily the tape," Johnson said. "So you look at it, yeah, he’s got some interceptions but as we’ve talked about over the last few weeks some of those have occurred on fourth down and he’s trying to make a play under certain circumstances and scenarios, and so maybe the numbers are skewed a little bit. I don’t know, I can’t say for the other quarterbacks that it’s not the same for them as well."
Goff hit a turnover rut in mid-November and early December that may have cost him in Pro Bowl voting.
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He threw three interceptions in a Week 11 win over the Chicago Bears, lost three fumbles in a Thanksgiving loss to the Green Bay Packers and had two picks and a fumble two weeks later against the Bears.
One of Goff's fumbles was a muffed quarterback-center exchange, one of his picks came when Sam LaPorta collided with a Bears defensive back and two more came on fourth-and-long heaves.
The Lions had five players selected for the Pro Bowl and seven more named alternates. Tight end Sam LaPorta, right tackle Penei Sewell, center Frank Ragnow and defensive end Aidan Hutchinson were named backups for the team, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin was picked as the NFC's special teams player.
"It’s mixed feelings on the Pro Bowl," Johnson said. "I’m very proud of the guys that did get voted, whether it was on the first team or an alternate. But there’s also a little bit of a popularity contest that goes into that as well so some guys probably feel like they played a little bit better than maybe where they were recognized, and I don’t disagree with that, but it’s a little give or take there. But certainly anybody that was recognized on that list whether they were on the first team or alternate, they’ve done a heck of a job this year."
'Thrilled to death'
Special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said he was "thrilled to death" for Reeves-Maybin to be voted to his first Pro Bowl.
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"I’ve had two other players that I think were definitely deserving of getting that, and they never got it," Fipp said. "It’s a credit to him, but it’s the process is, you have to become a known player and so not only is a credit to what he did this year but really to what he’s done in his seven years in this league and he's earned notoriety and everybody out there knows who he is and on top of that he goes out there and plays really well and has a great year, so he’s able to get that. But I was distraught for these other two guys cause I think they were deserving as well, so to see him finally get that, to me was outstanding for him personally."
Reeves-Maybin is tied for the NFL lead with 13 special teams tackles and has played a key role in both of the Lions' fake punt conversions this season.
Reeves-Maybin ran for a conversion on a fourth-and-2 in the Lions' Week 1 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, and he completed a 31-yard pass to Khalil Dorsey on a fourth-and-2 in last week's loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
"God, the throw was incredible," Fipp said. "My high school coach told me one time a long, long time ago, we were watching a baseball game at our high school and this kid turned a double play. He snared a ball, turned a double play, just out of nowhere. He said to me, he looked at me and said, ‘Hey, David, I’m just telling you, that guy just made a play.’ He’s like one day you’re going to be asked what happened and you’re just going to have to say, 'That guy made a play.'
"I mean, that’s really what Jerm did in that moment, he just made a play. Like he just threw a great ball. (Jalen Tolbert) wasn’t terrible in coverage for them. He wheeled back around and then Dorsey made a great catch and saw the ball all the way in with his hands, his eyes, he locked it away on the way down. So it was a great job by those guys."
Briefly
Taylor Decker returned to practice Thursday after sitting out Wednesday with a groin injury. Jameson Williams (ankle) and Brock Wright (hip) remained out, and Ragnow (toe) did not practice in his normal day of rest for the week.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jared Goff misses Pro Bowl spot, Detroit Lions' 'sights set elsewhere'
