The Seattle Seahawks went into Ford Field and were pounded 42-29 by the Detroit Lions.

Quarterback Jared Goff was unbelievable, passing for 292 yards on 18/18 pass attempts and 2 TD’s. He also caught a TD pass from wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown on a well-designed trick-play by offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

The two-headed running attack also proved to be too much for Seattle, with Jahmyr Gibbs (14 carries for 78 yards, 2 TD’s) and David Montgomery (12 carries for 40 yards, 1 TD) battering the defensive line, linebackers and secondary.

Speaking about the Seahawks secondary, they might want to watch the tape once and then burn it.

Safety Julian Love got hurt in the 2nd half and didn’t return. While the other safety, Rayshawn Jenkins, who had been excellent through the first 3 weeks, had a poor performance against Detroit. He missed a number of tackles, was beaten in coverage several times and didn’t help the front-7 contain the running game.

For whatever reason, Seattle wasn’t rallying to the ball, like they had previously been doing, and kept giving up huge gains on short and intermediate routes.

An example of this came in the 3rd quarter when David Montgomery received a short pass from Jared Goff, absorbed a huge hit from Devon Witherspoon, bounced off him and ran past several other Seattle defender before being taken down after a 40-yard gain. It was a perfect encapsulation of the woeful Seattle defense; in position to make the play but weren’t physical or fast enough to do so.

This also might’ve been the worst game CB Devon Witherspoon played as a professional. He’s normally a dependable tackler, setting the tone for the Seahawks, but against the Lions he was unable to bring his trademark physicality. Getting blocked, taking bad tackling angles or simply getting run over. He was also awful in coverage, getting beaten in man-to-man and zone. Two plays immediately spring to mind when talking about his lackluster coverage.

On the 70-yard TD to WR Jameson Williams, when Witherspoon focused too much on WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, letting Williams catch a crossing route in his designated zone and then hitting the turbo boosters to fly past the CB.

With the other coming in the 4th quarter, on a critical 3rd-and-goal, when it looked like Devon Witherspoon and substitute safety Coby Bryant had a mix-up that led to Amon-Ra St. Brown standing wide-open in the endzone, scoring the TD that ended any hope of a Seattle comeback.

The other starting CB, Riq Woolen, didn’t have any eye-catching mistakes like Witherspoon, but trying to tackle in space is a weakness of his and the Lions knew & exploited it.

Starting linebackers Tyrel Dodson (10) and Tyrice Knight (9) led the team in tackles, but were smacked in the face numerous times by the two running backs, as well as the overwhelming Detroit offensive line. They were also exploited in pass coverage with tight end Sam LaPorta finding the holes.

Coming into the game, the Seattle defensive line was severely undermanned with Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II and Boye Mafe all missing due to various injuries.

It was always going to be tough to for them stop the run and pressure the QB with those 3 key players missing. But injuries happen to every team and doesn’t excuse how poorly the defense played.

Mike Macdonald will need to rethink some of his defensive ideas, especially in the secondary, covering shorter routes, and how they rally to the ball.

The Seahawks offense wasn’t bad, but not nearly effective enough to keep up with such a high-powered Lions team. They also had a couple of wasted opportunities in the redzone, were penalized harshly or at inopportune times and lost the turnover battle.

QB Geno Smith was the driving force behind the offense, throwing for a career-high 395 yards on 38/56 pass attempts, also a career-high, with 1 TD and 1 INT. He wasn’t able to get anything downfield, as the offensive line could only afford him a few seconds of protection before Detroit got in his face/space, but peppered the short and intermediate routes heavily.

The receivers/backs had the ball in space many times, but the Lions were great tackling in said open space and rallying to the ball. Which limited how many yards after catch Seattle could pick-up. It was one of the biggest reasons as to why they lost.

Another big reason for the loss was the imbalance of the play-calling.

Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb leaned heavily on the pass, almost completely abandoning the run. Which was a weird decision, given Kenneth Walker III had 3 TD’s on 12 carries, including a couple a very nice TD runs in the redzone. After last week’s career-high rushing by Zach Charbonet (91-yards), he was pushed to the side and used sparingly (2 carries for 15 yards).

DK Metcalf topped 100 receiving yards (104 on 7 receptions) but didn’t find the endzone and also had an extremely costly fumble on the 2nd drive of the game. He caught a pass from Geno Smith, tried to gain extra yards while being tackled by 3 Lions and ended up getting the ball punched out. Carlton Davis III recovered the ball and ran it back deep into Seahawks territory, with Jahmyr Gibbs punching it in for 6.

Tyler Lockett (5 receptions for 61 yards) and Jaxson Smith-Njibga (8 receptions for 51 yards) played OK, but couldn’t rack up any YAC and had a number of targets batted away by the Detroit secondary. Auxiliary receivers Jake Bobo (3 receptions for 30 yards) and Laviska Shenault Jr. (1 reception for 18 yards) had brief moments of success but couldn’t sustain it.

The tight ends were nearly invisible and made a minimal impact. Noah Fant had 2 receptions for 26 yards and rookie AJ Barner had 2 receptions for 27 yards & 1 TD, the first of his career.

One of the biggest plays came early in the 4th quarter, on a 4th-and-3, when Geno Smith rolled to the right and found Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a first down. Unfortunately, Tyler Lockett ran a ‘pick’ play, didn’t hide his intention well enough and was flagged for an offensive pass interference penalty that wiped away the first. At that point Seattle was driving, only down 35-27. The OPI penalty killed the drive and forced a Michael Dickson punt. Detroit then took the ball, drove down the field very easily and ended the drive with the aforementioned trick-play to Jared Goff for a touchdown, which was a fitting way to end a horrendous night for the Seahawks defense.

All in all, Seattle was punched in the mouth early by Detroit and couldn’t regain their composure. Yes, the defense was hit hard by injuries, but that is no excuse to play this poorly. None of the players missing would’ve made much of a difference, as the open field tacking was abysmal and the undoing of the team. Maybe they could’ve gotten into Jared Goff’s face and forced him into some bad throws but that still doesn’t excuse how poorly the secondary played.

That group, which looked like the strength of the team, needs to be realistic and improve tenfold.

Lions OC Ben Johnson had them pegged, knew what their weakness was and manipulated them at-will. He made it look so easy to slice them up. It’s no wonder so many teams wanted to hire him for their head coaching position.

Mike Macdonald and his staff will need to reevaluate their defensive scheme in the upcoming week to figure out what went wrong and how to avoid future performances like this one.

The Seahawks are still sitting pretty at 3-1, but chinks in their armor are now on tape with opposing coaches looking to abuse their weaknesses.

Getting Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II and Boye Mafe healthy needs to be of paramount importance in the coming weeks, as the pass rush/run defense looks different with them in the lineup.

This was the first real test for Seattle and they failed spectacularly.

Not many teams are able to overcome a QB going perfect, being pounded into the ground by the running game, losing the turnover battle and giving up 42-points.

It was a total disaster by the Seahawks from start to finish, so it’ll be interesting to see how rookie head coach Mike Macdonald deals with such a heavy defeat.

Next up for Seattle is a home date (10/6) against the New York Giants, who are currently 1-3 and have many problems of their own. With their offense being one of the lowest scoring in the NFL, 60 total points through 4 games.

The running game, led by RB Devin Singletary (56 carries for 221 yards & 2 TD’s), isn’t very effective. And their best pass catcher is rookie WR Malik Nabers (35 receptions for 386 yards & 3 TD’s).

QB Daniel Jones has also been uneven so far (91/144 for 881 yards, 4 TD’s and 3 INT’s) and will wilt in the pocket if pressured. Which should be the defense’s main focus heading into the game. Although, he does possess some athleticism and can break containment if Seattle isn’t careful.

The New York defense does have some dudes up front that could ruin the day if OC Ryan Grubb isn’t careful.

DL Dexter Lawrence is a monster and one of the best interior linemen in the league, while OLB Brian Burns can really get after the QB. Former Oregon Duck Kayvon Thibodeaux was a top-5 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and has immense physical talent, but hasn’t put it together consistently quite yet. He may be charged up coming back to the Pacific Northwest.

LB’s Micah McFadden and Bobby Okereke are solid tackling machines.

The secondary is very young, with their 3 top CB’s all being 23 years old; Cordale Flott, Deonte Banks and Andru Phillips. The safeties aren’t much older; Jason Pinnock (25) and Tyler Nubin (23). Attacking them early and often could be the key to the Seahawks offense.

It’s a winnable game, but this is the NFL and nothing is given. Only a totally focused performance by the Seahawks offense, defense and special teams will do after the travesty that was Monday Night Football.

GO HAWKS!