Jared Goff knows that a lot of people in the NFL are excited about the Detroit Lions as they head into Sunday’s prime-time game against the Houston Texans, riding a six-game winning streak. But that doesn’t bother him at all.
“Who cares (about) who thinks we’re any good right now?” Goff said. “It doesn’t matter. You’re just trying to find a way to stack W’s and I think you get caught up in sometimes not only the bad stuff but the good stuff at times. It can be dangerous.”
At 7-1, the Lions are leading the NFC North and are having their best start since 1956. Their current six-game winning streak is their longest since 1995.
Now, they will face a Houston team that is leading the AFC South but is looking to bounce back after a tough loss to the New York Jets last week.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud is also ignoring outside opinions after Houston was criticized for its poor performance against the Jets.
“We are a really good football team,” Stroud said. “There is no time to hang our heads down. It ain’t that bad. We are going to figure it out, for sure.”
The biggest problem for the Texans (6-3) right now is how to protect Stroud better, as he was sacked a season-high eight times by the Jets. Stroud has been sacked 30 times this season, which is the second most in the league, behind Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson, who is out for the year.
Coach DeMeco Ryans didn’t go into specifics about how they plan to fix the issue but believes they have the right players to get it done and just need to perform better as a team.
“For us, we just have to go out and execute our offense the right way,” Ryans said.
Houston’s offense could get a big boost this week if star receiver Nico Collins is activated off the injured reserve list after missing the last four games with a hamstring injury. Ryans said Collins is “doing good,” but didn’t say whether he’ll play. His return would help take some of the pressure off Stroud, who had to rely mostly on Tank Dell last week after Stefon Diggs’ season-ending knee injury.
Collins is still Houston’s leading receiver with 567 yards and eight touchdowns, despite being out for several games.
The Lions are also looking forward to the return of one of their top receivers, Jameson Williams, who has served a two-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy. Williams ranks second on the team with 361 receiving yards.
“He’s a weapon and we know that and teams around the league know that,” Goff said. “So, he’s a guy that they’ll certainly be planning for and will help us in a ton of ways, not just catching the ball but with blocking and all the other stuff that he can do.”
