ORLANDO — Quarterback Jared Goff came close, but couldn't quite pull off a victory in the precision passing competition during the NFL Skills Showdown.
The first of four QBs throwing — two from the AFC and two from the NFC — Goff threw enough passes through the targets to score 20 in his first time competing in the drill. While that's the score that won last year's competition, Raiders quarterback beat Goff by just one point as the next man up to win. Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson scored just eight points, while Chiefs QB Alex Smith posted an 11.
The competition was set up so that all quarterbacks only have one minute to throw as many footballs through as many targets as possible. Each target was worth a point value from one to five. After a target had been hit, however, it was dead for that individual. Therefore, a perfect score would have been 35.
Goff did well to start off the competition, taking out the four-point targets in the left and right corners of the end zone first. That's a throw to an area Goff often makes — the 14-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp in Tennessee being one of them.
The quarterback then moved on to a pair of two-point targets — one on the left, and one on the right. Those represent short in-breaking routes. While the four-point target was stationary, these moved on a stand.
Goff was then able to hit a three-point target on the left side — a sort of deep-crossing route. And then he nailed the five-point moving target between the uprights to cap off his 20-point score.
He hit the outside of another two-point target, but the ball did not go through to give him the points.
Goff also participated in the best hands competition — throwing passes to Green Bay's Davante Adams — and dodgeball during the showdown, which was televised on ESPN on Thursday evening. The AFC ended up winning the competition.
