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Goff perfect; Arnold’s punishment problem

Vaseline October 1, 2024

Free Press sportswriter Dave Birkett highlights the best and worst performances from the Detroit Lions’ 42-29 win over the Seattle Seahawks Monday night at Ford Field.

Playballs

QB Jared Goff

Dan Campbell didn’t give Goff a game ball on Monday, but no one played a bigger role in the Lions’ victory than their quarterback, who finished a perfect 18-for-18 for 292 yards.

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Goff struggled with interceptions — four — through his first three weeks, as Campbell said he sometimes tried to do too much on the field. That wasn’t a problem on Monday; Goff let the game come to him. He made his checkdowns when nothing deep was open, and he struck big when the Seahawks blitzed six and left Jameson Williams in one-on-one coverage downfield.

“I don’t want to speak for Jared, but I would be willing to bet somewhere that he knew he was going to have a good game,” Campbell said. “I felt like he got back into balance last week, got back in the middle. Take what is there, be smart with football, play fast, play efficiently, and rather, ‘Maybe I’m trying to do more than is necessary.’ … And so I felt like after last week, this would be the week (that he) would find that happy balance, and man, he really did. He came to life.”

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LB Jack Campbell and S Kerby Joseph

In a one-game shootout, Campbell and Joseph forced critical turnovers to clinch the Lions’ win.

Campbell forced a fumble on DK Metcalf late in the first quarter, then Carlton Davis III returned to the Seattle 14-yard line to set up a touchdown, and Joseph had his third interception in four weeks on the final offensive play of the Seahawks.

Campbell’s play was pure hustle, hitting Metcalf as a fourth defender as he fought for extra yards. Joseph attributed his improvement to his maturity as a player and his understanding of situational football. The Lions hadn’t forced many turnovers through the first three weeks, even though they were among the NFL’s best defenses. They didn’t play their best defense on Monday, but Campbell and Joseph made big plays.

Goats

CB Terrion Arnold

Arnold is still a work in progress, but four games into his career he is piling up penalties at an absurd rate.

Arnold was cited twice for defensive holding and once for pass interference on Monday, giving him eight penalties in four games this season. Two of his penalties on Monday came in the red zone, two helped him keep scoring drives alive and he also lost control while trying to get within a block during Seattle’s longest run of the game.

The 24^e As an April draft pick, Arnold has done some good things this season, but opponents will continue to bully him until he learns to control his physical game.

Whoever came up with the QB rating formula

Goff was a perfect 18-for-18, the most attempts without an incompletion in NFL history. He averaged 16.2 yards per attempt and threw two touchdowns. Yet somehow his passer rating (155.8) fell just short of perfect (158.3) on a day when the Lions scored six touchdowns.

Goff had a perfect passer rating once before, in Week 4 of the 2018 season, when he averaged fewer yards per attempt (14.1) and completed a lower (but still impressive) percentage of his throws (78.8%). in a victory over the Vikings.

Goff may have been better that day in 2018; he passed for 465 yards and five touchdowns. But it’s hard to imagine him stepping up his efforts on Monday.

“That system is weird, but whatever,” Goff said. “Maybe if we hadn’t taken the safety and I hit the wide open guy that I couldn’t hit – maybe that would have done it.”

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.