Quick takeaways from the Lions Week 4 win over the Seahawks

With All-Pro center Frank Ragnow out with a pectoral injury, the Lions shuffled regular left guard Graham Glasgow into the pivot. Kayode Awosika stepped into Glasgow’s normal role.

The results weren’t perfect, but they went far better overall than it could have gone. Glasgow appeared to fare well at center. Awosika made the notes for two outstanding run blocks on early touchdown runs, and the young replacement might have been better at LG than Glasgow had been in an uneven first three games. No. 74 moved people in the run game whether they wanted to or not.

It helped, of course, that Seattle was without its four best defensive linemen. Seattle’s defense was still aggressive and physical though, and the Lions shuffled OL was good enough to keep the run game rolling and allowed just four official hits on Jared Goff (three sacks).

Jared Goff did not throw an incompletion on the night. That’s special enough in its own right, but how he found perfection is even greater.

When this Ben Johnson/Goff offense has been at its peak over the last two-plus seasons, it’s with Goff hitting receivers in perfect stride and/or leading them away from the defense and into open space to run after the catch. This game exemplifies that edition of Goff. His air yards per throw probably won’t look very impressive (the numbers aren’t finalized yet), but they didn’t need to be. That was the point of the offensive attack–and it produced 42 points against what had been a top-5 NFL defense coming into the week.

An ESPN graphic during the game noted that at one point, Goff had 237 passing yards and 202 of those were gained after the catch. There were so many crossers and pivot routes that Goff hit at the perfect time, giving his targets the opportunity to run and rack up YAC. When the offense was sputtering in the first two weeks, YAC was very hard to come by as Goff was hitting targets coming back to the line of scrimmage or in tight windows with no real running room.

They fixed what was wrong with the passing offense and made it literally perfect against one of the NFL’s best secondaries. That’s outstanding work from Goff and also from Johnson for helping engineer the attack.

Decided to just lump all the negativity regarding the Lions into one thread…

–The officiating crew was largely an embarrassment, but that doesn’t excuse some of the holding and pass interference from CBs Carlton Davis and Terrion Arnold. They did not adjust well to how the game was being called. Not going to say all those calls were valid, but enough were that it needs to become an even bigger focal point for CB coach Deshea Townsend over the bye week. It’s minor issues in technique more than bad coverage from what I’m seeing.

–The end-of-half offense and clock management/play-calling was nearly disastrous. That’s becoming a picking point too often. This one felt like the Lions weren’t sure if they wanted to score or just run the clock out at the end of the first half. They halfheartedly did neither–and then needed to get bailed out by a missed field goal by the Seahawks.

–James Houston was flagged for being offsides three times (one got declined). He came close to recording one pressure on Geno Smith, although that was a play on which he was offsides. Didn’t pay close enough attention to see exactly how many snaps No. 41 got, but he did not make a dent in the box score other than the penalties and was pretty easily redirected by the Seahawks blocking.

–Teams have hardly tried to return kickoffs against the Lions, but Seattle proved that perhaps they should. The sideline containment on the kick coverage team failed on both Seattle returns. Thankfully, one of those was negated by a holding penalty that wasn’t directly related to the point of attack.

–A week after being the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, punter Jack Fox did not have a strong outing. The one time the Lions could have really used a deep pin inside the 10, Fox got too much air under a 42-yard effort that was fair caught outside the 20. His second punt of the night didn’t appear to turn over and was only spared thanks to great coverage by LB Ben Niemann.

–David Montgomery disappeared after halftime. He had eight carries for 42 yards and a touchdown in the first half. He had an incredible catch-and-run on Detroit’s first play of the third quarter and then saw just two more touches (for zero yards) until the final clock-killing drive, where he lost two yards. The Lions didn’t need Montgomery’s powerful brilliance all night in this one, but it’s still a little concerning after how the offense did the same basic thing in Week 1 and nearly lost because of it.

–Alex Anzalone did not have a good game in his return to the lineup after missing a week with a brain injury.

–Anzlaone was certainly not alone on the Detroit defense in being guilty of diving at feet from too far away of a launch point. So. Many. Missed. Tackles. Brian Branch was sorely missed at safety on the tackling front.

–Fans where I watched the game didn’t like it, but the roughing-the-passer penalty on Levi Onwuzurike was an easy call for the officials and should result in an unpleasant fine for No. 91 when the Week 4 fines get announced next Saturday.

Much as was the case in Week 1 against the Rams, the Seahawks helped negate any Lions pass rush by having QB Geno Smith focus on getting the ball out quickly. At least that was the first half gameplan by Seattle, and that worked very effectively in blunting the pass rush; the Lions had just one official QB hit at halftime, from Alex Anzalone on a blitz.

The Lions did something in this one they didn’t do in Week 1: they started playing a lot more man coverage and brought DBs up and LBs out more to counter that quick passing. And that worked, in terms of fostering a change in Seattle’s strategy. Smith started holding the ball longer, and just like that, the Lions’ pass rush suddenly started becoming more impactful. They bagged three sacks and eight QB hits in the second half. Aidan Hutchinson didn’t get a sack for the first time all year, but he was still effective once the schematic tweak from Aaron Glenn forced the Seahawks to give up the quick-hit game that was completely frustrating No. 97.

Goff had not been off to a great start. More to the point, it hadn’t really felt like he’d played a game yet commensurate with his massive new contract. That ended emphatically against the Seahawks.

This was the Jared Goff the Lions expected when they gave him his $212 million extension. It goes beyond the literally perfect stat line, too. Goff was in complete control all night. He was confident and his confidence rubbed off on his teammates. When Seattle looked like they were seriously challenging, Goff didn’t sweat it at all. He simply went out and authored another touchdown to keep the buffer healthy. There was a preternatural calmness and focused determination to Goff that was worth every penny on Monday night–because that’s a game Lions of past vintages might very well have lost.

–The fans absolutely loved the blue helmets and black jerseys. Did not hear one negative word all night about the beautiful new uniform combination.

–Kicker Jake Bates made all six of his extra point attempts. A couple were a little too close for comfort, but that’s a great night for the young kicker. Nice confidence-builder for Bates.

–Tim Patrick looked more assertive and confident in his first game on the active 53-man roster. Patrick caught two passes for 52 yards and also blocked better than in Week 3.

–The gadget-play TD pass from St. Brown to Goff is one the Lions worked hard at all summer. Give Seattle some credit, they sniffed it out pretty well, but St. Brown’s pass was perfect and Goff never stopped–which had been a problem in execution in training camp on that very play when a defender read it.

–Watching the game in a packed sports bar/restaurant wound up being incredibly refreshing for me. It’s not something I get to do often. Being in the presence of so many passionate, wise, excited Lions fans of all ages and so many backgrounds was fantastic. At a time when it feels like we’re always being deliberately pulled apart, this was collective togetherness for a few precious hours. Nothing else mattered except cheering for the Lions and enjoying the game.