Both the Seattle Seahawks and the Detroit Lions entered “Monday Night Football” in Week 4 banged up, but it was Detroit who was able to capitalize on its opponents’ injuries to the higher degree in a 42-29 victory. Seattle has now fallen from the ranks of the unbeaten.
Detroit (3-1) was without safety Brian Branch, its leading tackler (22 tackles) who was put on the injury report with an illness Sunday and was inactive Monday night. The Lions ruled out All-Pro center Frank Ragnow with a pectoral muscle injury earlier in the week. Left guard Graham Glasgow, who has 38 career starts at center in his career, started at center.
Meanwhile, the front seven of the Seahawks (3-1) was decimated by injury before kickoff: defensive tackle Byron Murphy II (hamstring), edge rusher Leonard Williams (ribs), edge rusher Boye Mafe (knee), edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu (knee) and linebacker Jerome Baker (hamstring) were all out Monday night. All but Baker were ruled out earlier in the week. Safety Julian Love was also ruled out during the game with a thigh injury.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff played the role of high-level game manager perfectly, completing all 18 of his passes. He broke the NFL record for most passes without an incompletion, a record previously set by Hall of Famer Kurt Warner with a 10-for-10 outing in Week 15 of the 2004 season against the Houston Texans.
Goff totaled one of the more unique stat lines in NFL history with 18 of 18 passing, two passing touchdown and a receiving touchdown on a trick-play pass from wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. St. Brown took a lateral to the right, stopped and then fired a looping spiral back to Goff on his first NFL pass. The scoring strike put the Lions up 28-14 with 6:57 left in the third quarter. Goff is the third Lions quarterback to catch a TD pass in the Super Bowl era, joining David Blough (2019) and Gary Danielson (1984). Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was dialing up plays with a heavy awareness of the depleted Seahawks’ front, racking up 118 rushing yards on 26 carries, with 12 for David Montgomery (40 yards rushing and a rushing touchdown) and 14 for Jahmyr Gibbs (46 yards rushing and two rushing touchdowns).
The Seahawks’ offensive Big Three of quarterback Geno Smith, running back Kenneth Walker III and wide receiver DK Metcalf did their best to keep Seattle in the game. Smith threw for career highs across the board with 395 yards on 38 of 56 passing along with a touchdown and an interception. Smith’s 56 pass attempts are the most in team history, breaking the record of 55 previously held by Matt Hasselbeck in a 2002 matchup at the San Francisco 49ers. Walker III ran for a career-high three touchdowns along with 80 rushing yards on 12 carries, and Metcalf totaled 104 yards receiving on seven catches for his third consecutive game with over 100 receiving yards, the longest such streak in Seahawks history.
After Walker’s second rushing touchdown, Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon took a poor tackling angle after a play-action reception by Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams, and that was all the wiggle room the speedster needed to take the football 70 yards for the score. That got Detroit out to its biggest lead of the night (up 35-20 with 2:52 left in the third quarter) after Seattle’s two-point conversion after the preceding Walker touchdown failed.
Walker countered with his third touchdown run of the night after the score, but the Lions came right back with Goff connecting with St. Brown the traditional way, throwing him an eight-yard touchdown in which the receiver toe-tapped the left front corner of the end zone for the score. That put them up a seemingly insurmountable 15 points, 42-27, with 5:23 left to play.
However, the Seahawks nearly found the end zone on the following drive, reaching as far as the Lions’ three. Four consecutive incompletions by Smith doomed Seattle’s comeback bid. His fourth incompletion came on a fluke play in which his center, Connor Williams, snapped the ball with one second on the play clock, which appeared to take the entire offense by surprise. Smith took the snaps standing straight up, clearly unaware. He was able to scramble his way into throwing a pass to receiver Tyler Lockett in the end zone, but it was just out of his outstretched hands for a turnover on downs.
Seattle added some late-game excitement throwing down Goff for a safety in the end zone two plays later. However, an end zone interception by Lions safety Kerby Joseph clinched the 42-29 Lions victory.
Why the Lions won
Goff’s perfection combined with their consistent ground game provided the Lions an offensive rhythm and efficiency Seattle simply didn’t have Monday night. It also helped that the Lions defense wasn’t missing a literal handful of starters like the Seahawks’ MASH unit. Detroit’s offense simply had a much larger margin for error because of the backups it was playing against.
Why the Seahawks lost
Football coaches LOVE to talk about complementary football: how the offense playing well aids the defense playing well aids the special teams unit playing well, etc. Seattle played nearly the entire ball game trailing by two scores, putting it behind the eight ball in a spot where it didn’t have much of an opportunity to get the ground game going. That type of game situation came back to bite them in the end, as the Seahawks’ final three possessions ended with a punt, a turnover on downs and an interception.
Turning point
The Lions going back up 15 for the second time on Goff’s second touchdown pass of the night
Play of the game
St. Brown’s first NFL pass, a touchdown to Goff, was the only choice. The reception was also Goff’s first NFL receiving touchdown.
What’s next
The 3-1 Lions have an early bye in Week 5 before heading to Texas to face the currently 2-2 Dallas Cowboys in Week 6. The 3-1 Seahawks return home to host the struggling 1-3 New York Giants in Week 5.
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