Notes: Jared Goff MVP discussion heats up nationally

There is no hotter MVP candidate right now than Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff.

Through seven weeks of the NFL, Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff leads the NFL in yards per attempt (9.3), is second in passer rating (111.5) and completion percentage (73.6), and fourth in EPA per dropback. For just about every statistic, he’s playing like a top-five quarterback, and top-three may be more accurate.

After becoming just the fourth quarterback ever to post three consecutive games with a passer rating of 140 or more, Goff has now vaulted into the MVP conversation. This week, a ton of different national outlets began their campaign for Goff to win the annual award.

Rich Eisen devoted an entire eight-minute segment on his show to talk about Goff as the league’s current MVP.

“This guy is deadly accurate, and it’s not just these dink passes. They’re not bubble screens, they’re not dump-offs,” Eisen said. “He’s taking chunks out of people, and this offense that Ben Johnson is coordinating is coordinating people open and he’s hitting them in a way that they can take it to the house.”

Former NFL linebacker Tedy Bruschi echoed that sentiment on a segment of ESPN’s Get Up this week:

Same with former NFL Lions quarterback Chase Daniel:

On the written side, Sports Illustrated national writer Conor Orr made his argument for Goff as MVP with this passage:

And, in a spot where we would have historically questioned Goff—and have, justifiably—he provided the Lions with a unique window to strike an unsuspecting Vikings defense, winnow down the clock and set up for a game-winning field goal. Maybe you’re not ready to thrust Goff into the MVP conversation just yet, but consider this: Nearly all of Detroit’s opponents to this point have been very good (the Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers), good (the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks) or good when the Lions played them (the Los Angeles Rams).

Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports never outright called Goff an MVP candidate, but he did devote an entire column to highlighting how efficient and effective the Lions passing offense is.

Others who have mentioned Goff as an MVP candidate:

• Adam Schein
• Gojo and Golic
• The Pat McAfee Show
• Michael Lombardi
• Albert Breer
• Chris Long
• Stephen A. Smith
• Mike Florio

And there are plenty more out there.

• Speaking of Goff, this film breakdown of how the Lions picked apart the Vikings’ defense (via Ted Nguyen) is fantastic.

• This is an emotional video of Rex Ryan talking about how proud he is of Seth Ryan, his son and the current assistant wide receivers coach for the Lions. (full episode here)

• The Lions had a total of THREE players on PFF’s Week 7 Team of the Week.

• Earlier this week, Dan Campbell called Sunday’s game against the Vikings Frank Ragnow’s best game since Campbell has been in Detroit. He isn’t the only one who noticed. Here’s former NFL center AQ Shipley breaking down Ragnow’s game:

• Both Goff and Jahmyr Gibbs are up for FedEx Air and Ground Player of the Week. Vote for them here.

• Kalif Raymond may have just put Stephon Gilmore into early retirement: