The issue with Goff, which the Patriots used to embarrass the Rams in the Super Bowl, allowing them to score only three points, is that he didn't know how to read a defense, so he relied on McVay to look at the defense and tell Goff what to do via the in-helmet radio. The Patriots suspected this, so they'd line up one way, then change their alignment once the play clock got to 15 seconds and Goff could no longer hear McVay because the communication gets cut off at that point.
Goff has genuinely played like a top-five QB this season. I'm not sure if he's learned to read defenses (we're, uh, familiar with at least one QB who never did), but I'm guessing he has, because I can't imagine other NFL teams not using "the book" on him that Belichick wrote and showed everyone in the world on the most-watched TV broadcast of that year.
I've got nothing against the Lions except when the Seahawks are playing them, so I guess I could stop calling their QB JaGoff, a name that never caught on even though I started using it in his early days with the Rams and never really stopped. It's just I really enjoy that one.
Yes, Goff has clearly been better than Smith this season, but they were roughly equal in the game they played against each other this season (Smith was a little better in QBR, Goff was a little better in passer rating). Last season, Goff and Smith ended up having seasons of similar quality overall - both in the top ten in the league, with Goff ahead of Smith by some measures and Smith ahead of Goff by others.
