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    • Detroit Lions grades vs. Seattle Seahawks: Straight A’s for offense
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    Detroit Lions grades vs. Seattle Seahawks: Straight A’s for offense

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    Free Press sportswriter Dave Birkett rates the Detroit Lions’ performance following their 42-29 win over the Seattle Seahawks Monday at Ford Field.

    Quarterback

    Jared Goff literally couldn’t have been better on Monday. Goff was 18 of 18, passing for 292 yards and two touchdowns. He had the most attempts by a quarterback without an incompletion in NFL history and fell just short of a perfect passer rating (158.3) at 155.8. Goff spun out of a pocket by Dre’Mont Jones to keep the offense from falling behind the sticks on the Lions’ first touchdown drive and was content to check the ball to his receivers with nothing open all game in the field. That patience paid off late in the third quarter, when Goff caught Jameson Williams in stride on a 70-yard touchdown pass against a six-man blitz. Goff technically missed one pass, on a fourth-quarter incompletion that was negated by an offensive pass interference penalty, but he and the offense played at a championship level and he put the icing on the cake with a seven-yard touchdown catch. on a trick game. Grade: A

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    Running backs

    Jahmyr Gibbs got the bulk of the work in the backfield on Monday with 14 carries for 78 yards and two touchdowns. He was his usual electric self, starting with his first carry from scrimmage from 20 yards, and he showed his underrated strength between the tackles with TD runs of 1 and 3 yards. David Montgomery played his usual tone-setting role for the Lions before handing over to Gibbs. He had 39 yards rushing on the Lions’ first touchdown drive and broke three tackles on a 40-yard catch in the third quarter, earning him high praise from Dan Campbell. “I would never block for that guy because the game is never over with him,” Campbell said. “He will keep every game alive, he is a strong runner. He can push himself to make things happen.” Grade: A

    Receivers/Tight Ends

    Campbell said he gave Williams (and Kerby Joseph) a game ball on Monday to reward him for his downfield blocking. Williams’ aggressiveness in that area stood out on a bubble screen for St. Brown as he fought to stay ahead of Devon Witherspoon. Williams ran away from the defense after his long catch and St. Brown caught an 8-yard touchdown to go with the TD pass he threw – his first at any level. Tight end Sam LaPorta (four catches, 53 yards) didn’t have a great day, but was the most involved in the offense he’s had all year. All three of the Lions’ tight ends had a hand in their 116-yard rushing day, with Parker Hesse making a key block on a 7-yard Montgomery run on the Lions’ first touchdown drive. Grade: A

    Offensive line

    The Lions’ 116 yards rushing was their lowest of the season, but I thought the offensive line moved Seattle’s defensive front with ease early in the game. Taylor Decker and Kayode Awosika, who started at left guard while Graham Glasgow played center in Frank Ragnow’s absence, had the key blocks on Gibbs’ long run, and the right side of the line led Gibbs to the end zone on his second touchdown. Taylor Decker and Penei Sewell were called to stop the same play, Decker gave up a sack to Derick Hall and the line allowed a safety late in the game. But Awosika held strong in his first start of the season and the line gets a glimpse of Goff’s 18-for-18 day. Grade: A

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    Defensive line

    Aidan Hutchinson’s sack streak came to an end after he collected an NFL-best 6½ sacks through the first three games, but he had three quarterback hits on Monday, drew a holding penalty against Pharaoh Brown and teamed with Josh Paschal to to put pressure on Geno Smith. led to a DJ Reader sack. Paschal, starting in place of the injured Marcus Davenport, had two tackles on the same drive in the second quarter but otherwise a quiet statistical line, and Levi Onwuzurike and Alim McNeill shared a sack and both had a pass deflection. Onwuzurike was flagged for roughing the passer late in the game, James Houston was assessed two offside penalties and the Lions allowed 133 yards rushing and didn’t get enough pressure on third downs. Grade: C-plus

    Linebackers

    I thought the Lions had really good play from their linebackers in the first half, but missed tackles and had players out of position in the second half. Jack Campbell sparked a Kenneth Walker III run that ended in a 1-yard tackle-for-loss by Joseph and Malcolm Rodriguez made a nice tackle in the open field on third-and-11 on DK Metcalf to set up a punt forcing the ball on Seattle’s opening possession, and Campbell forced a Metcalf fumble when the fourth man came into action later in the first quarter. Campbell and Alex Anzalone each had seven tackles, and Rodriguez came off the edge unblocked for his first sack of the season. Anzalone was beaten on Smith’s touchdown pass to AJ Barner, when he appeared to run into traffic with Ben Niemann on shallow resistance, and Niemann was out of position on Walker’s 21-yard cutback run for a touchdown. Derrick Barnes’ absence was evident as the Lions shuffled personnel to try to replace their strongside linebacker. Grade: B-minus

    Defensive backs

    The Lions were penalized 12 times for 101 yards on Monday, and seven of those penalties were on cornerbacks Terrion Arnold (one pass interference, two defensive holds) and Carlton Davis III (three PIs, one hold). Davis had a tough matchup with Metcalf, playing well for most of the game despite Metcalf’s seven catches for 104 yards. He had a pass breakup in the second quarter, stopped a 2-point attempt for Jake Bobo and was good in run support, but he also gave up a 29-yard catch that set up Seattle’s first touchdown when he was defeated. the line of scrimmage. Arnold wasn’t nearly as effective. He lost control on a Walker run in the third quarter when he attempted a block and was flagged for defensive holding in the end zone. Joseph let Smith slip on a sack but got an interception to end the game, though the Lions missed the playmaking ability of Brian Branch (illness) at the other safety spot. Grade: B-minus

    Special teams

    There wasn’t much special teams action Monday as both teams punted three and Seattle attempted the only field goal of the game, a 62-yarder that fell short at the end of the first half. Khalil Dorsey caught the miss in the back of the end zone, but looked indecisive in his return against Seattle’s large staff. Jack Fox racked up 46.3 yards on his punts and Kalif Raymond had 7 yards on his lone punt return, a ceiling scraper that most returners would have fairly caught. Grade: A-minus

    Coaching

    The Lions defeated the Seahawks for the first time in four tries under Dan Campbell to move to 3-1 in their bye. They struggled to match some of Seattle’s offensive personnel, but had their best game of the season offensively. Ben Johnson called it a balanced and creative game. He initiated a trick play at the right time for the second week in a row and kept his offense in positive down-and-distance situations. I didn’t like the third-and-1 throw to Montgomery in the fourth quarter when the Lions had success between the tackles, but that’s an otherwise efficient performance. The Lions can’t get as many penalties as they did on Monday and expect to consistently beat good teams, and that didn’t matter to the end result, but I didn’t understand why Campbell turned down the facemask penalty at the end of the first half when the Lions might have had the chance to throw a Hail Mary into the end zone or attempt a kick from midfield. Grade: A-minus

    Dave Birkett will be signing copies of his new book, “Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline” Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon at Pro Sports Zone in Laurel Park Place. Order it now from Reedy Press.

    Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X and Instagram on @davebirkett.

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