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Jared Goff nearly sets single-game NFL completion percentage record

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Jared Goff entered Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season not particularly pleased with his efforts through three weeks. He should be feeling differently after the Detroit Lions’ 42-29 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

Goff put together one of the best games of his career during the Lions’ offensive outburst. He was near-perfect as a passer, completing each of his throws and logging a near-perfect rating while taking just a few sacks.

The cherry on top? Goff also caught the second touchdown of his career on a well-designed trick play that saw Amon-Ra St. Brown throw a pass in the red-zone.

Here’s what to know about Goff’s historic outing on ‘Monday Night Football’ against the Seahawks.

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Jared Goff stats today

Goff put together one of the most efficient games in NFL history during Detroit’s 42-29 victory over Seattle. He completed all 18 of his passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns in a dominant showing.

In total, Goff had 299 yards of total offense and three touchdowns, as he caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from St. Brown on a well-designed trick play from coach Dan Campbell and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Goff looked like a natural reeling in the looping throw that came just over the head of a Seahawks defender.

Goff’s performance was made all the more impressive by the fact that the Seahawks were allowing the second-fewest passing yards per game entering Monday’s action. He more doubled the 132.3 yards per game Seattle had been allowing through the air and led the Lions to their strongest scoring output of the season.

Jared Goff completion percentage

Goff completed 100 percent of his passes against the Seahawks. His 18 passes without an incompletion were the most in NFL history, according to Opta Stats. He also became the only quarterback in NFL history to finish a game without an incompletion while throwing at least 10 passes, per the NFL’s Tony Holzman-Escareno.

Goff also became the first player in NFL history to throw for 200-plus passing yards without throwing an incompletion, per the ESPN broadcast.

Goff’s previous single-game high was his 84 percent mark in a 2021 game against the Chicago Bears. He completed 21-of-25 passes in that contest for 171 yards and two touchdowns.

Is Jared Goff the NFL’s single-game completion percentage leader?

Despite Goff’s excellent outing, he will not be the NFL’s single-game completion percentage leader. He came up just two attempts shy of the minimum 20 needed to qualify for the all-time leaderboard.

Has an NFL QB ever had a perfect completion percentage?

No NFL quarterback has had a perfect completion percentage while attempting at least 20 passes in a game. Drew Brees is the league’s current record-holder with a mark of 96.7 percent. He achieved that by completing 29-of-30 passes against the Indianapolis Colts in 2019.

Below are the quarterbacks to complete at least 95 percent of their passes in a single game while attempting at least 20 passes.

Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints: 96.7 percent (2019)
Philip Rivers, Los Angeles Chargers: 96.6 percent (2018)
Marcus Mariota, Tennessee Titans: 95.7 percent (2018)
Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers: 95.2 percent (2023)
Gardner Minshew, Jacksonville Jaguars: 95 percent (2020)

Jared Goff passer rating

Goff wasn’t just denied an NFL record by coming up two passes short. He also didn’t quite log a perfect passer rating despite his perfect completion percentage.

Goff had a passer rating of 155.8 during the contest. That was 2.5 points shy of the highest possible passer rating of 158.3.

What is a perfect passer rating?

The NFL’s passer rating metric is graded on a scale of 0 to 158.3, with the latter number representing the best a quarterback can do in a single game. The formula is based on the quarterback’s performance in the follow categories:

Completion percentage
Yards per attempt
Touchdowns per attempt
Interceptions per attempt

Goff issue appears to be that he averaged a touchdown ever nine passing attempts. If he had thrown for three during the contest with the same stats in the other areas – which would give him an average of a touchdown every six attempts – he would have achieved a perfect passer rating, according to Pro Football Reference’s Passer Rating Calculator.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY