LA Rams face a sack-shy quarterback in Week 7

The Detroit Lions are in rebuild mode

As it stands today, the Detroit Lions have the first pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, two picks on day one, and eleven picks overall. That’s quite a treasure trove of draft currency to use to improve the roster.  Combine 11 rookies with 16 players who are currently on injured reserve, and you can see that this team has plenty of reason to be optimistic.

I like the mindset of new Lions’ general manager Brad Holmes. Despite the 0-6 start, he is under no pressure to draft a quarterback in 2022. In fact, he has complete flexibility to draft a defensive standout.  Building a winner means building a defense, building an offensive line, and then the team will have enough history with Goff to know whether they need to move to a new quarterback.

Jared Goff was 0-7 in his rookie season. He can flip the switch pretty quickly when he has the right offense to drive. Right now, he doesn’t. Those are not my words. Those words have been uttered by Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell. And the statistics seem to back it up.

No doubt that Jared Goff and Michael Brockers would love to engineer a win in Week 7. For their part, I expect both players to have better than expected performances. But in the grand scheme of things, the Lions are outgunned. The Lions benefit more by a loss than by a win at this point, as any hope for post-season play had already evaporated by now. By all rights, the Lions would be wise to place expensive veterans on the trade block and dive headfirst into building a young team around promising young talent.

This is not the 2020 game of the LA Rams facing a winless New York Jets team. While the score may not end up as lopsided as some expect, the Rams should win this one.

The Rams should emerge from Week 7 with their sixth win and need just six more to get to that 12 win plateau necessary for a playoff berth. The Lions will emerge one game closer to the 2022 NFL Draft, and the riches that come with rebuilding a roster under the guidance of a new and inspired general manager.

The Lions will eventually get better. The Rams will someday get worse. But it will not be this game. Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff does not like to take a quarterback sack. He will be very disappointed in Week 7.