HOUSTON (AP) — Jared Goff is aware that many around the NFL are high on the Detroit Lions as they bring a six-game winning streak into Sunday’s prime-time matchup with the Houston Texans.
And that doesn’t matter one bit to the veteran quarterback.
“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 NFC North-leading Lions are off to their best start since 1956 and their winning streak is their longest since 1995.
Now they’ll face a Houston team, which leads the AFC South, but is trying to regroup after a disappointing loss to the New York Jets last week.
Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud is also ignoring what outsiders are saying about his team this week after Houston was roundly criticized for its subpar 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 main thing the Texans (6-3) need to solve is how to better protect Stroud after he was sacked a season-high eight times by the Jets. Stroud has been sacked 30 times this season, which is second-most in the league behind Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson, who is out for the season.
Coach DeMeco Ryans wouldn’t provide any details on how they hope to fix the problem. But he believes they have the right players in place and that they simply need to perform better as a group.
“For us, we just have to go out and execute our offense the right way,” he said.
Houston’s offense could get a huge boost this week with star receiver Nico Collins eligible to come off the injured reserve list after missing the last four games with a hamstring injury.
Ryans said Collins is “doing good,” but wouldn’t say if he’ll play. His return would certainly help take some of the pressure off Stroud after he relied almost entirely on Tank Dell last week in the first game since Stefon Diggs’ season-ending knee injury.
Collins remains Houston’s leading receiver with 567 yards and eight touchdowns despite his extended absence.
The Lions are also looking forward to the return of one of their top receivers, with Jameson Williams back after serving a two-game suspension for violating the league’s performance-enhancing substance policy. He ranks second on the team with 361 yards receiving.
“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.”
Never that player
The Lions acquired defensive end Ze’Darius Smith in a trade with the Cleveland Browns this week to help make up for the loss of star Aidan Hutchinson who’s out for the season.
But Detroit coach Dan Campbell isn’t thinking of Smith, a three-time Pro Bowler, as the one player who can put the Lions over the top because in the NFL, the odds are too high for an injury.
He also joked it was never pressure he dealt with as a player.
“I’m sure you want to know if I was ever a team’s ‘one player away,’ and the answer is absolutely not,” the former tight end said.
Mixon’s impact
Running back Joe Mixon’s impact on the field in his first year in Houston after a trade from Cincinnati has been clear as he has boosted a running game that struggled for years.
He has rushed for at least 100 yards and a touchdown in four straight games since returning from an ankle injury and ranks third in the NFL by averaging 101.5 yards rushing a game.
But perhaps just as important as his play has been the leadership and accountability he has provided.
“One thing I love about Joe is Joe will call you out,” Stroud said. “Joe will call me out, Joe will call his linemen out, Joe will call coaches out, he doesn’t care. Ultimately, that is what you want because at the end of the day we all came here for one common goal and that is to win.”
Like looking in a mirror
Campbell acknowledged he sees a lot of the same traits in his Lions and Ryan’s Texans.
“They’ve got a lot of young players that they’ve hit on, and it’s funny, because most of those players are the same kind of players that we rely on, so I do think there are a lot of similarities,” Campbell said. “You can see how hard they play, they’ve drafted well, and DeMeco has done a hell of a job.”