One of the most anticipated games in Ford Field turned into bonus football between the host Detroit Lions and the Seattle Seahawks. Unfortunately, the home team came up on the short end of a 37-31 overtime outcome.
It was a tough, frustrating, mistake-plagued loss for Detroit in front of a fired-up crowd in the home opener. The Lions did a good job in overcoming several bouts of adversity in the game but couldn’t stop creating more adversity for themselves either. A good Seattle team won the game in a playoff-like atmosphere.
Buy Lions TicketsHere are some of he quick takeaways from watching the game in real time.
Pass rush in absentia
Detroit didn’t get a single sack in Week 1 against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. Okay, it’s understandable; Mahomes is an elusive wizard of an MVP.
It is quite a bit more troublesome that the Lions defense couldn’t get to Geno Smith. Seattle played this game without both starting offensive tackles and also replaced their center during the game. Yet the Lions got very little pressure on Smith, who isn’t exactly a runner. Detroit did not record a single QB hit until Alex Anzalone finished off Smith on a 3rd-and-19 late in the game for a 17-yard loss.
Given Seattle’s impressive offensive weaponry, the common belief was that the Lions defense would bring pressure against the makeshift line. It was a disappointing effort from the likes of Aidan Hutchinson, Charles Harris, Romeo Okwara and the Lions’ pass rush, but also equally frustrating that coordinator Aaron Glenn didn’t really try to bring more pressure to help out the defensive backfield.
To kick or not to kick
Dan Campbell is one of the most aggressive coaches in going for it on fourth downs. There were a couple of situations in this game where kicking might have been a more prudent choice.
In a drive that spanned from the first into the second quarter, Campbell went for it on 4th-and-4 from the Seattle 31-yard line. Instead of trying the 48-yard field goal attempt from kicker Riley Patterson, the Lions came away with nothing. Fortunately, the defense held and gave the offense the ball back without any damage.
That was not the case later in the game.
A 4th-and-3 from near midfield late in the third quarter saw the Lions give the ball back on an incomplete pass. Instead of having Pro Bowl punter Jack Fox attempt to pin the Seahawks deep in their own territory, Seattle got the ball back at the Detroit 45-yard line. They eventually scored a go-ahead touchdown, taking advantage of the short field to go ahead 24-21.
The Lions attempted their first FG of the season on the final play of regulation. Patterson drilled the 39-yarder right down the middle to send the game to overtime.
Officiating offenses
The officiating crew made some, uh, interesting choices with their calls in this game. In the spirit of avoiding being fined by the league for criticizing officials after a game, we’ll draw this one from social media posts that came during the game…
Can't believe this wasn't called – on fourth down too https://t.co/i3b3KCFjvP
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) September 17, 2023
The facemask penalty Metcalf committed CAUSED the pass interference on Joseph. C'mon, this is stupid
— Jeff Risdon (@JeffRisdon) September 17, 2023
chants of "bullshit" fill Ford Field as CJ Gardner-Johnson gets helped off the field after the DPI call on the moonball
— Ben Raven (@BenjaminSRaven) September 17, 2023
To be fair, it wasn’t always against the Lions. The intentional grounding call against Geno Smith might be the worst call of the entire day.
This was a bad call. The definition of intentional grounding says it's when a QB throws it away because he's facing "imminent loss of yardage." Geno wasn't under pressure at all, he just threw it to an area of the field where there were no receivers. https://t.co/Bgted4CSX2
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) September 17, 2023
Injuries
The game was brutally physical on both sides of the ball. Several players from both teams left the game for at least a few plays with injuries.
Many returned, including Lions starting safeties C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Kerby Joseph. Gardner-Johnson actually knocked Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf out of the game on the same play he hurt himself. Metcalf also returned. Lions standout WR Amon-Ra St. Brown also left for a time but returned to play.
One who did not was right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai. He left after getting piled up from behind while run blocking in the second half, and it did not look good. No official prognosis yet.
James Houston also left the game and did not return with an ankle injury. Running back David Montgomery left on a cart late in the game with an apparent knee injury after breaking out of a low tackle attempt.
Quick hits
–I thought the David Montgomery fumble on the very first play of the second half was the biggest turn in the game. Even more than the Jared Goff pick-six, his worst throw in a very long time. Had the Lions driven down the field on that opening drive and built on the 14-7 lead, the entire rest of the game would have been played under different circumstances. Seattle needed some life and took full advantage.
–Penei Sewell got the start at left tackle, with Matt Nelson sliding into Sewell’s regular spot on the right side. On first watch, it worked okay. Film study will confirm or refute that take.
–Sam LaPorta played very well in his second game. Yards after catch” was his advertised strength coming out of Iowa, and the rookie TE delivered with several broken tackles and extra yards.
–The Lions linebackers had played (mostly) well throughout the preseason and in Kansas City, but they did not have a good game at all against Seattle, with Derrick Barnes being a very notable exception. Barnes had seven total tackles. Of his five tackles that terminated run plays, Seattle gained exactly one yard.
