If you’re a fan who likes offensive football, Sunday’s matchup between the Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks was for you. The Seahawks prevailed, 48-45, in a game where both teams topped 500 total yards of offense.
Dismal defense plagues the Lions in high-scoring loss to the Seahawks
There was very little defense played by either team but especially from the home team. Seattle never punted once, the first time in their franchise history they have gone an entire game without one punt. The two teams lit up the Ford Field scoreboard with reckless abandon.
Here’s what I took away from watching the game in real time.
The defensive line was awful
Anytime a team gives up 555 total yards and 27 first downs, it starts up front. This game was no exception. Seattle’s offensive line pummeled their Detroit defensive counterparts all afternoon.
The guys behind the DL were largely awful too, but 33 carries for 235 yards is a direct indictment of the Detroit line. Perhaps the best example was the game-sealing run; starting DT Michael Brockers was planted seven yards down the field on 3rd-and-5 by a single Seattle blocker.
Brockers, Alim McNeill, Aidan Hutchinson Charles Harris, Austin Bryant, Julian Okwara, it didn’t matter. Not one of them sniffed Geno Smith all afternoon. Hutchinson was officially credited with two QB hits, but they didn’t impact the Seahawks passer. Nobody else recorded a single tackle behind the line or QB pressure.
It showed. The linebackers struggled behind them in their own right, but the lack of any real presence up front made their jobs nearly impossible. The Lions have invested too much into the line for it to continue to perform so poorly.
The officiating crew was inept
Referee Clay Martin’s officiating crew did not have a good afternoon. Between inconsistent enforcement of rules, unnecessarily long discussions and delays and flat-out missed calls, the refs were rough.
In over 40 years of watching NFL football closely, I’ve never seen a game where two different flags were waved off by the referee, but that’s exactly what Martin did. One was an early pass interference call that benefitted the Seahawks, the other a mystery infraction on Detroit’s onside kick attempt late.
Or as Lions play-by-play man Dan Miller said in the third quarter in yet another prolonged stoppage where the officials caucused together,
“I don’t think these officials have any idea what’s going on.”
It wasn’t partisan, it wasn’t biased in either direction. It was just really bad officiating.
Needed even more of T.J. Hockenson
On a day where the Lions played without two starting receivers and top pass-catching RB D’Andre Swift, someone needed to step up. Tight end T.J. Hockenson delivered with the game of his professional career.
Hockenson set the Lions’ team record for receiving yards in a game with 179, on eight receptions. One of those was an 81-yarder where Hockenson broke tackles and rambled almost all on his own.
The Seahawks had no answer for No. 88. He was frequently wide open, including on plays where QB Jared Goff looked elsewhere. And on that front, Goff probably should have looked for Hockenson more than the 12 targets he got. Then again, the offense was not the problem on Sunday.
Special teams struggles
The Lions special teams were certainly interesting in the game. Kicker Dominik Eberle got his first start for the Lions in emergency duty, replacing the injured Austin Seibert. It might be his last based on the outcomes.
Eberle missed his first extra point conversion attempt. He also missed another one later on, finishing 4-of-6 on extra points. He did nail his one FG attempt, but it was not a promising debut for Eberle.
Another special teams player making his Lions debut, return man Maurice Alexander showed some nice juice on one kick return. However, his other two were uninspiring, going down on first contact and missing a potential seam for more yards.
Punter Jack Fox earns a star for the game. Fox’s two punts had a net average of 45 yards, and he also threw a successful pass to WR Quintez Cephus on an early fake.
Quick hits
–Overall I thought Jared Goff played well, but his pick-six at the start of the second half was a killer. He also threw another one in the first half that should have been a pick-six, but Seahawks EDGE Uchenna Nwosu dropped the gimmie. These Lions need him to be almost error-free, unfortunately.
–I’ll need to watch the tape, but my initial impression was this was one of Penei Sewell’s less-impressive games at right tackle. Two penalties, and he was guilty of quite a few more too, might cloud the picture.
–There is plenty of blame to point around Aaron Glenn’s defense, but there’s one common denominator: poor in-play assignment recognition. That’s on Glenn first and foremost, but the leaders of each individual unit need to be better, too. That’s DT Michael Brockers, LB Alex Anzalone and whoever wants to step up and fill Tracy Walker’s void in the secondary. Someone. Anyone.
–Goff had three distinct throws where I thought the lack of length of the replacement receivers factored into the incompletion. Tough to adjust from throwing to 6-4 DJ Chark and then 5-9 Tom Kennedy on the same route, or 6-0 Amon-Ra St. Brown to 5-8 Kalif Raymond.
–Third downs were crucial. Seattle hit 9-of-12 including seven of their last eight. Detroit went 4-for-10, though the Lions did convert on all three fourth-down attempts.
