Explosive Plays Fuel Seahawks 48-45 Road Win Over Pesky Lions in Offensive Onslaught
While coach Pete Carroll and his players had to sweat things out late in a back-and-forth track meet, the Seahawks rode a historic performance by their offense to close out a thrilling 48-45 road victory over the Lions on Sunday.
Leading the way, Geno Smith once again was brilliant under center, throwing for 320 yards and connecting with Will Dissly and Noah Fant for touchdowns. Additionally, he rushed for 49 yards and a touchdown, while running back Rashaad Penny torched Detroit's porous defense with 151 rushing yards and a pair of scores. Defensively, rookie cornerbacks Coby Bryant and Tariq Woolen generated a pair of turnovers that led directly to 14 points.
Here are five quick takeaways from an exciting shootout at Ford Field:
1. Geno Smith… dual threat quarterback?
Heralding from West Virginia, Smith has always had decent athleticism, but running has never been viewed as a major part of his game. With that said, he’s proven on multiple occasions he can make plays with his legs when he needs to, and his ability to create as a runner aided each of Seattle’s first three scoring drives in the first half. On the game's opening possession, he vacated the pocket on 3rd and 7 and escaped to his left for a 17-yard run to the Lions 32-yard line, hitting Dissly with a back shoulder throw six plays later to take an early 7-0 advantage. On the ensuing drive, on what appeared to be a designed QB draw, he sprinted untouched for an eight-yard touchdown. After the Lions answered with a field goal, his running salvaged a drive that went off the rails with a holding penalty and five-yard loss on a screen play, turning 2nd and 25 into 3rd and 12 down to the Detroit 38 with a 13-yard scramble, leading to a field goal by Jason Myers to make it 17-9.
While Smith's rushing ability helped Seattle win an offensive track meet, he once again impressed with efficient passing at all levels of the field. Completing 76 percent of his throws and eclipsing 300 yards for a second straight week, he set a new season-high averaging 10.7 yards per attempt and posted a 132.6 quarterback rating. Through four games, he has now completed at least 70 percent of his throws in every contest and seems to keep getting better each week, playing a vital role in the team not punting a single time on Sunday afternoon.
2. Much to the delight on Metcalf, explosives were back on the passing game menu.
Though Metcalf did haul in his first touchdown of the season a week ago, he hadn’t surpassed 70 yards in any of Seattle’s three games and had yet to catch a pass for more than 30 yards. Both of those droughts ended on Sunday, however, with the All-Pro talent physically dominating Lions cornerback Jeff Okudah from start to finish. Smith was looking for him from the outset, finding him on back-to-back 23 and 21-yard completions on Seattle's second scoring drive before running the ball in himself. Two possessions later, he dropped a ball in the bucket to Metcalf, who had beaten Okudah on a vertical and raced downfield for a 55-yard gain down to the Lions one-yard line, leading to a Noah Fant touchdown reception.
Metcalf continued to terrorize Okudah in the second half, beating the former first-round pick again on Seattle's first drive of the third quarter for a 26-yard reception on a perfectly thrown deep ball by Smith. He later added a clutch nine-yard catch on 3rd and 4 to extend a drive that eventually ended with Penny's first long touchdown run to push the lead to 15 with 40 seconds left in the third quarter. By the end of the game, he had slid into 10th all-time on the franchise's receptions list and finished with the third-most yardage in a game in his career thus far.
3. Thanks in part to the play clock operator, Seattle’s ground game came to life after halftime.
Surprisingly, the Seahawks couldn't find any traction on the ground in the first half away from Smith's clutch scrambling against a Lions defense that ranked 27th defending the run entering Sunday's game. Penny and Walker had 24 combined rushing yards on seven carries with 40 out of their 70 yards coming courtesy of the quarterback. But a bizarre play midway through the third quarter changed everything. Facing 3rd and 16 after Smith got flagged for intentional ground, the Seahawks initially looked like they would be held to field goal when the quarterback misfired a pass to Lockett. But officials wound up redoing the play due to a play clock malfunction, giving Seattle a second chance.
Appearing to audible to a draw, Smith handed it off to Penny, who rocketed through a wide gap and accelerated past two oncoming defenders on his way to a 36-yard touchdown. The former first-round pick would eventually put a dagger in Detroit late in the fourth quarter when he took advantage of perfect blocking on a counter to explode off the right tackle and race untouched for a 41-yard touchdown to push the lead back to 10 points with 2:22 to go. After being held to eight rushing yards in the first half, he went off with 143 yards after halftime, amassing most of that yardage on the two clutch third down touchdown runs.
4. While there were positives early, the “Legion of Matadors” unfortunately showed up second half.
Much like last week, coach Pete Carroll shouldn't have much to complain about on offense as Seattle nearly put up a 50-burger on Detroit. But his defense continues to function like a sieve, consistently hampered by self-inflicted wounds, poor run fits and tackling, and coverage mishaps. Ironically, the Seahawks came out playing much better, forcing back-to-back three and outs, doubling their output from the first three games. But Tyler Lockett fumbled returning a punt after the initial stop, giving the ball right back to Jared Goff, who found T.J. Hockenson for a 32-yard touchdown on the very next play. The Lions also used trickery on fourth down on the next drive with punter Jack Fox completing a fake punt pass to Quintez Cephus to move the chains, eventually setting up a field goal to cut the lead to 14-9.
After that point, with the exception of Bryant's forced fumble and Woolen's pick six to open the second half, the Seahawks couldn't get any stops to save their lives against an offense that was missing their top two receivers and top running back. Hockenson exploded for 179 receiving yards and two scores, including making linebacker Cody Barton look silly on an 81-yard catch and run where he didn't let the defender push him out of bounds and then outran him along the sideline. Jamaal Williams also ripped off a 51-yard touchdown run with Jordyn Brooks and Josh Jones coming up empty with bad missed tackles. Allowing 45 points to a short-handed unit is just another bad look for a defense that continues to be one of the league's worst.
5. Rookies continue to shine, coming up with big plays on both sides of the football.
It's hard to be optimistic about Seattle's defense after letting Goff nearly eclipse 400 yards passing without Amon-Ra. St. Brown or DJ Chark. But rookies continued to come through in a major way on that side of the football, starting with the turnovers created by Bryant and Woolen. Bryant looked like Byron Maxwell punching the ball out of Kalif Raymond's hands after initially giving up a catch, leading to Fant's touchdown moments later. Then to open the second half, offsetting a few penalties he was tagged with in the first half, Woolen flashed his remarkable 4.26 speed on a crossing route, making up a ridiculous amount of ground quickly to jump Goff's throw and return it 40 yards for six points. Up front, outside linebacker Boye Mafe also enjoyed a stellar game, recording four tackles, a pair of pressures on Goff, and a special teams stop.
Offensively, Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas turned in strong games protecting Smith, allowing the quarterback to get through the game being hit only three times and not being sacked once, while also helping open up run lanes for Penny in the second half. Walker also chipped in, rushing for a season-high 39 yards while seeing extensive action rotating in behind Penny.
