Jared Goff ready to prove Rams wrong years after trade

The NFL’s Super Wildcard Weekend slate is filled with plenty of exciting storylines and matchups. Perhaps the most intriguing of the bunch is the Sunday Night Football clash between the Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams, featuring a matchup of two quarterbacks who were traded for each other. Nearly three years later, Lions quarterback Jared Goff is eager to make the Rams regret their decision to trade him to acquire Matthew Stafford.

Despite the captivating storyline of the Goff/Stafford revenge narratives, both teams understand this is about more than the two quarterbacks under center. “Man, this is about the Lions versus the Rams, and we win with three phases here and he’s [Goff] a huge part of that and all he’s got to do is do his part and he knows that,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said of Goff. 

Jared Goff has a chip on his shoulder after Rams trade to Lions

While Goff understands there is a bigger task at hand than exacting his revenge on the franchise that traded him a few years ago only to win a Super Bowl the following season with Stafford, he has made it known that the chip on his shoulder still looms large.

"I think it’ll never leave me, and I think that’s a good thing," Goff told ESPN’s Eric Woodyard, who covers the Lions.

Goff may be right. The ever-lasting chip on his shoulder has enabled him to make a difference and play a crucial role in the Lions upward trajectory in recent years during Campbell’s time as head coach. Not only has Goff led the Lions to consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 2016-17, but he guided them to their first NFC North title in 30 years this year, with the team set to play their first home playoff game since the 1993 NFL season. 

Not only has Goff thrived in Detroit and revived his career, but the Rams got a Super Bowl victory thanks to the Goff-Stafford swap. Even if this is one of the rare scenarios where both teams benefit from a trade, Goff remains hungry to prove the Rams wrong for deciding to move on from him when they did.