Jared Goff has been dealing with an oblique injury that he suffered in Week 10’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The injury has thrown his status for this weekend’s Detroit Lions game against the Cleveland Browns into question.
Goff hasn’t practiced all week and was seen wearing street clothes on Friday during the portion of practice that the media was able to see. Head coach Dan Campbell also commented on the quarterback situation on Friday, seemingly indicating that Goff would not play. Instead, all signs point to Tim Boyle being the starting quarterback for the Lions on Sunday.
“Just see where he’s at,” Campbell said. “But until we know more from there, we’re planning on (Tim) Boyle (being the starter) and then certainly (backup David) Blough’s ready.”
Boyle, an undrafted free agent out of Eastern Kentucky who is in his fourth season in. the NFL, has taken all the first-team reps in practices this week. He spent three seasons with the Green Bay Packers before coming to Detroit this year. Boyle played in 11 games for the Packers, throwing three passes for 15 yards and rushing for -16 yards in that time. In his final college season, he threw for 2,134 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions.
So it’s going to be pretty interesting to see how Boyle performs out on the field on Sunday, presuming he’s getting his first NFL start. Offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn said on Thursday that Boyle has command of the playbook if called upon.
“It definitely doesn’t close any of the playbook,” Lynn said. “He can handle it all. He’s just been out for a while. He saw some rush yesterday, but don’t expect to see those today and if we have to go with him, I’m sure we’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure will be fine” is quite the thing to say about the Detroit Lions and social media had its fair share of reactions as well.
Tim Boyle transferred from UConn to Eastern Kentucky. He threw one TD pass in three seasons at UConn and had 11 TDs and 13 INTs at Eastern. Good on him for grinding out that dream. Amazing story. https://t.co/dUahlwkEcr
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 19, 2021
The 0-8-1 Lions look to earn their first victory on Sunday when they play the Browns at 1:00 p.m. EST. If Boyle can lead them to victory, well, we might just have the feel-good quarterback story of the season on our hands.