Jared Goff Is Rewriting the Record Books — One Painful Loss at a Time
The Cal connection to the NFL doesn't get bigger than Jared Goff right now, and the Detroit Lions quarterback is making sure of it.
Goff put up a 4-touchdown, 327-yard performance against the Buffalo Bills on Thursday Night Football — a night that, on paper, looked like a signature effort. Amon-Ra St. Brown topped 140 receiving yards. The offense hummed. And yet Detroit lost, spending most of the night chasing a Bills team that never flinched. The Lions sit at 1-1, and Goff knows exactly why.
"We knew we were going to be in a shootout," Goff said after the loss, pointing the finger squarely at the offense for failing to start fast. He also acknowledged that Detroit's offensive line — operating without three starters — complicated matters significantly, though the defense's inability to stop Buffalo was the larger story of the night.
In Week 1, Goff was sharper situationally, engineering a 31-30 win over the Saints with 206 yards and 2 touchdowns. That victory set the stage for his Thursday spotlight — and for a milestone that's now right in front of him. Goff entered the week on the doorstep of 40,000 career passing yards, a threshold that would place him among a very short list of NFL quarterbacks. With Andy Dalton directly ahead of him on the all-time list, the record book is starting to look like Goff's personal to-do list.
Through two weeks, he's compiled 533 passing yards and 6 touchdowns. The arm is fine. The résumé is growing. The defense remains the Lions' most pressing concern.
Rodgers, Tonges, and the Rest of the Cal Contingent
Aaron Rodgers is writing his own chapter in Pittsburgh, where the 42-year-old Cal alum went for 221 yards and 1 touchdown in a Week 1 win over Atlanta. New England's defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr wasn't hiding his concern heading into their Week 2 matchup, saying Rodgers "still has a rocket arm and accuracy." That's a notable concession from an opposing DC. Rodgers heads into the Patriots game as the veteran centerpiece of a Steelers offense still finding its footing with new weapons.
Jake Tonges had the roughest week of any Cal alum in the league. The 49ers tight end is out for the season after tearing his MCL — and to add insult to injury, he was also fined for a leg whip on the same play. The dual blow of a season-ending injury and a league fine on a single snap is a brutal footnote to what had been a promising start in San Francisco.
Camryn Bynum is navigating a rocky transition with the Colts. The former Vikings fan favorite, who signed a four-year, $60 million deal with Indianapolis ahead of the 2025 season, received a demotion this week — a notable development for one of Cal's most decorated recent defensive backs. Bynum had been considered one of the better safety signings of the 2025 offseason; the early returns in Indy have been more turbulent than expected.
Keenan Allen contributed 6 receptions for 32 yards in the Colts' Week 1 loss to Baltimore, a quiet-but-functional showing for the veteran receiver. Nohl Williams tallied a sack for Kansas City in the Chiefs' blowout of Denver, a promising sign for the rookie corner out of Berkeley.
The Cal tree runs deep across the league. Right now, though, all roads lead back to Goff and a Lions offense that is good enough to win — if the other side of the ball can hold up its end.
AI-generated summary
