Don't call Lions' Jared Goff a game manager. Call him one of NFL's best QBs.

TAMPA, Fla. — Jared Goff iced up back in June. Or, more accurately, he let his teammates do it for him. You wanna talk about camaraderie and chemistry and what's propelling these first-place Detroit Lions?

Then let’s start with the quarterback. Not that jewels make a quarterback. But when Goff embraced the “ice” safeties Kerby Joseph and Tracy Walker draped around his neck and the diamond-studded watch they slipped on his wrist for a photoshoot in early summer?

His poses said it all. Along with his smile.

For one, that he is comfortable in his skin — always a good thing for the man directing the huddle, the man in the spot that absorbs more heat than any other. For another, that there is belief in him, from every crevice of the locker room.

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Goff played arguably his best game as a Lion on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. On a day the offense couldn’t run the ball, and ran it even less after David Montgomery went down with a rib injury, the quarterback led the way — despite facing a tough defense bent on blitzing its linebackers (who also happen to be some of the best in the game).

“We felt like the best way to move the football (was to) put it in his hands,” said Dan Campbell, the Lions head coach. “We were protecting well up front … and our receivers were finding ways to get open and we just felt like, let’s put it on him, and he did a great job. And really, that’s kind of where the game was going … we needed him to step up. And he did.”

Put it in Goff’s hands? They needed him to step up?

That’s a long way from the expectation the day he arrived. Campbell — and general manager Brad Holmes — wouldn't have traded for Goff if they didn’t think he could play solid football. But this? Maybe they dreamt of this, sure. Almost no one outside the franchise did, including other “football” people.

Even now, few attach the phrase "difference-maker" to him. Or simply "playmaker." Yet he has become both. The Lions don’t beat Tampa without him and his stellar performance.

Like any good leader, Goff deflects when he rises up. And he did again after the game. It’s not quite aw, shucks, but listen closely enough and you’ll hear the words of a quarterback who genuinely believes it’s not about him.

In part because the game plan wasn’t about him. It never is. It’s about balance. When the field tilted away from that, Goff leveled it with his arm.

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“I don’t know if that is the way we wanted it when we came in into it,” he said, “but it turned into that, right? I thought (the offensive lineman) were protecting their tails off and giving me plenty of time to see everything. When that’s the case, we have good players down the field who are able to make plays. I can’t give those guys up front enough credit. I know Graham (Glasgow) has been a player in this league for a long time but stepping in after ‘Big V’ (Halapoulivaati Vaitai) went down and then obviously ‘Yode’ (Kayode Awosika) stepping in after Jonah (Jackson) went down, and then playing the way they played — it’s been huge for us offensively.”

Ah, spoken like a pocket-passer who knows he needs a reasonably clean pocket to pass. This isn’t to say he can’t make plays when the pocket breaks down. Of course, he can, and does. It’s just not associated with his game yet, though it should be.

It’s just his history — his early résumé — muddies the perception of the performances he keeps stacking up. Probably not for much longer, though.

Goff arrived in Detroit as an afterthought, as a “toss-in” for Matthew Stafford, at least from the view of many outside the franchise. The draft picks, including a pair of first-rounders, were supposed to be the rocket fuel for the rebuild, the centerpiece of the trade with the Los Angeles Rams.

Those picks turned into a handful of promising players — among them, Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, Josh Paschal, Ifeatu Melifonwu and Brodric Martin — with varying degrees of potential. So far, the best pick has been tight end Sam LaPorta.

And if he and at least two others truly hit — almost all of them have shown flashes — then the trade will have been a big win.

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Now, add Goff to that haul. All he has done is win 13 of his past 17 starts, toss 27 touchdown passes against four interceptions in those games, and complete almost 68% of his passes.

And he makes a handful of throws every week that defies the faint-praise label of “game manager.”

Game manager? Please. This nasty little moniker suggests a player who can’t make a difference, who can only lose the game instead of win it.

As if Goff hasn’t led any of these wins. Shoot, look what he did in Tampa against one of the better defenses in the NFL. Look at the second-half throws to Amon-Ra St. Brown, especially the sideline outs, where he finessed the ball into angles so slight you’d need a geometry lesson to see them.

Game managers don’t throw for 353 yards and two touchdowns when the running game is stalled. Game managers don’t complete 30 of 44 attempts — without an interception — and without a lot of time to throw, despite what Goff and Campbell said. Yes, the line gave him more time in the second half, but the defense knew what was coming because the Lions couldn’t run and sent extra pass rushers all … game … long.

It’s true Goff doesn’t extend plays the way the most athletic quarterbacks in the league do. But that doesn’t mean he can’t extend plays. There is a slope here between the QB tiers, not a right-angled cliff with the “elite” on top and everyone else at the bottom.

So, he doesn’t throw a 70-yard rope off his back foot the way, say, Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen do. You know who is playing better football than those two right now?

The Lions' starting quarterback. Y'know, the one Pro Football Focus ranks as its top QB at the moment — just ahead of Allen.

Now, take these rankings with a dose of salt: Mahomes, for example, is ranked behind Baltimore's Lamar Jackson. Metrics and the view of those outside film rooms aren’t perfect.

Still, Goff is balling, which is why Campbell gave him a game ball in the post-victory locker room — a well-deserved nod.

Just listen to his teammates, and to his head coach:

“This guy showed up in a big (expletive) way today … with his arm.”

Cue the crescendo for Jared Ice. Then cue the cool response.

“Love you boys, love you boys,” he told his teammates, deflecting as always. “Proud to be a part of this team. That defense, (expletive) keep doing your thing.”

Are those the words of a game manager?

No, they are not. They are the words of one of the best quarterbacks in the league, one who is playing as well as anyone and one who is playing better than he ever has before.

Put the ball in his hands? Yeah, sounds like what a coach does when he’s got a playmaker who embraces the “ice” when he needs to.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him @shawnwindsor.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Jared Goff is no game manager. He's among NFL's top QBs