Tag: NFL

Jared Goff, offense find rhythm as Lions topple Seahawks, 42-29

DETROIT — Dan Campbell preaches complementary football which he hadn’t seen consistently from his team this season even though they won two of the first three games.

That changed for the Detroit Lions on Monday night. The offense caught fire and the defense came up with a few big plays enabling the Lions to snap their three-game losing streak to the Seattle Seahawks with a 42-39 win at Ford Field.

In the first three games, the defense played well and the offense played just good enough.

On Monday night, Jared Goff played nearly a perfect game and he had plenty of help to bring the Lions record to 3-1.

“We knew this was coming offensively. Everybody did. You can’t worry about this and that, you can’t start panicking, you just work and clean everything up,’’ Campbell said.  “… We worked and it showed. We found our rhythm.’’

Goff was 18 of 18 for 292 yards and two touchdowns. And he caught a touchdown pass from Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Campbell said he knew Goff played well but didn’t realize he was near perfect.

“I gave the game ball to somebody else, I feel awful,’’ Campbell said. “I knew he played really well. You could feel it. He found his rhythm early, I thought he was seeing the field,played with rhythm.”.

He gave game balls to WR Jameson Williams and CB Kerby Joseph.

“Everybody on that offense stepped and found a rhythm today,’’ Campbell said.

Five reasons the Lions won:

ONE:  Goff earned a quarterback rating just shy of perfect. He also became the first quarterback in NFL history to attempt 10 passes in a game without throwing an incompletion.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done it. I know I did it in the first half last week. I was aware of it then. I was kind of aware of it today about middle of the third quarter. I couldn’t think of one. Then I threw the one out of bounds that ended up being offensive pass interference. I was like does that count? (It didn’t.) It was a good day,’’ Goff said.

The Seahawks had entered the game with a 3-0 record.

“That defense had done a good job up to this point and we were able to get after them,’’ Goff said.

TWO: Another first for Goff was a touchdown catch.  “I think that’s my first one ever all the way back to 7 years old,’’ he said.

The play, that’s been around for a couple years, is called Alcatraz and Goff has no idea why.

On a second-and-goal from Seattle’s 7-yard line, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown passed the ball to Goff in the end zone. 

“We’ve never gotten into the right situation to get it called,’’ Goff said. “I think we have called it but if it’s not the right look I get out of it. But that was the right look.’’ It put the Lions up by 14 points.

THREE: Wide receiver Jameson Williams had just two catches but one was for 70 yards and a touchdown. His speed just was too much for Seattle’s secondary and he high-stepped into the end zone. As a tribute to Calvin Johnson, to celebrate Williams dunked the ball over the goal post.

“He’s a one-play touchdown guy, I know he strikes fear in every team we play. They’re going to see that and start getting more fear,’’ Goff said. “He’s a stud.’’

He received a game ball not just for his two catches but Campbell said they noticed his key blocks throughout the game.

FOUR: Running backs David Montgomery and Jaymyr Gibbs combined for three rushing touchdowns. Montgomery’s longest play came on a short pass — his only catch in the game –  that he turned into a 40-yard gain by spinning and breaking tackles along the way. 

“This guy, unbelievable, he is. I would never not block for that guy ever, because the play is never over with him,’’ Campbell said. “He’s tough, he’s relentless, he’s resilient, everything you’d want in a back.’’

Montgomery finished with a dozen carries for 40 yards and a rushing touchdown. 

Gibbs had 14 carries for 78 yards and a pair of rushing touchdowns. His 20-yard scamper in the first quarter set up the Lions first touchdown.

FIVE: The Seahawks ran 78 offensive plays and by late in the game the defense might have been dragging a bit. But late in the fourth quarter they came up with a huge goal-line stand. Seattle had the ball, first-and-goal, at Detroit’ 3-yard line and they were stopped four times and turned the ball over on downs. And then with a minute left Kerby Joseph intercepted Geno Smith in the end zone to put the game away. The Seahawks finished with 516 yards and Smith passed for 395. But with the game on the line, the defense came up big.

BONUS: A dozen penalties is too many. Campbell knows that but he was not pulling out his hair.

“I have to watch tape but I can tell you just about everyone that I saw Carlton (Davis) is battling, that’s a good receiver he’s on, that guy is a physical receiver and Carlton is physical. We played ball,’’ Campbell said. “I’m not discouraged about that one bit. I’m just not. There’s things we have to clean up. … We can’t survive 12 penalties every game but we needed to be physical.’’

UP NEXT: The Lions have a bye week which will give them time to heal a bit. It’s a banged-up group. “We played some physical opponents these first four weeks. So I do think it’s coming at a good time,’’ Campbell said. “And it’s good to get to 3-1 with this bye, we rest up, heal up and then we make a big push.’’ They play at the Cowboys on Oct. 13.

Calvin Johnson to be inducted into Detroit Lions ring of honor on Monday

Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin Johnson will be inducted into the Pride of the Lions ring of honor at halftime during Monday night’s Detroit Lions game against the Seahawks at Ford Field.
Coach Dan Campbell, who was Johnson’s teammate for two seasons, has a behind-the-scenes perspective.

“I’ve said this I don’t know how many times, but I’ll continue to say, I think what’s unique about Calvin —  I was fortunate to play with him, it wasn’t very long and he was a pup — when you have the ability that guy has, the things God gave him, and then he gives everything he’s got, he worked at his craft, he was an unselfish player, he was a great teammate,’’ Campbell said on Saturday.

 “It’s no wonder he’s a Hall of Famer. Those guys, they’re kind of rare, very rare. I just think he was the total package as a player, as a teammate, as a person and it speaks volumes for the team, the organization to have him back in the fold, to be able to honor him because he deserves that, he’s earned that,’’ Campbell added. “He’s a helluva dude.”

Johnson, who played for nine seasons, holds numerous Lions pass receiving records including: career receptions – 731, receiving yards – 11,619, receiving touchdowns – 83, most receiving yards in a single game in regulation – 329. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and voted to the first team All-Pro three times. 

He set the NFL record for most receiving yards in a season (1,964) on Dec. 22, 2012, while playing with broken fingers. In that loss to the Falcons, Johnson finished with 225 yards on 11 catches.

In the book, “Game of My Life Lions” (written by me), Johnson said that was definitely his most memorable game. He needed 182 yards to break Jerry Rice’s record, but there wasn’t a ton of pressure because one game remained.

His first catch that day was a 49-yard bomb from Matthew Stafford. 

“Coming off the first reception, right off the bat early in the game, I went to the sideline, don’t know who I was talking to, my coach, he might have said we don’t (have to) worry today,’’ Johnson said in the book. 

After the record-breaking catch, he found his father on the sidelines and presented him with the football.

Nicknamed ‘Megatron’ he also holds a number of NFL receiving records including most receiving yards in a single season – 1,964 yards (2012), fastest to 11,000 receiving yards (127 games), most consecutive games with at least 10 receptions (4), most 100-yard receiving games in a single season (11, tied with Michael Irvin), most seasons with 1,600 yards receiving – 2 (tied with 3 others). 

Johnson retired in 2016 and has been frequently seen at Ford Field games for the past few seasons.. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

It’s fitting that Johson’s honor comes on Lions homecoming weekend. He’s expected to have 92 former Lions join him on the field for his induction at half-time. They include old-timers like Greg Landry and Eddie Murray; long-timers like Jason Hanson and Robert Porcher; and some of Johnson’s teammates like Golden Tate, Stephen Tulloch and Glover Quin.

Five key reasons for the Detroit Lions 20-16 loss to Tampa Bay Bucs

DETROIT —  On the stats page, the Detroit Lions dominated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But on the field Detroit couldn’t take advantage of its chances and lost 20-16 at Ford Field on Sunday.

The Lions had the edge in first downs, 26-14; third-down efficiency, 7/17 to 2/10; total yards 463 to  216; and total plays 83 to 47. Sounds impressive but the scoreboard is what matters. Also, Detroit was just 1 of 7 in the Red Zone.

“We fought, we got down there, certainly on offense we doubled up on yardage, we get down to the red zone and can’t get TDs, that was the story of the game,’’ Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “Defensively I thought we played lights out, gave us two shots there at the end of the game and we couldn’t finish it out.’’

The Lions beat the Bucs twice last season — 20-6 in October and then a big divisional round win, 31-23, in January. With the win, the Bucs moved to 2-0 while the Lions fell to 1-1.

“It’s early in the year but it’s a good learning experience and chance for us to dive into what went wrong and how can we fix it,’’ quarterback Jared Goff said. “If I remember correctly we started 1-1 last year and we were able to respond from that pretty well.’’

Here are five of the main reasons the Lions lost:

ONE: At the end of the first half, the Lions had second-and-10 at Tampa’s 17-yard line with 18 seconds left. Amon-Ra St. Brown caught an 8-yard pass up the middle, Goff spiked the ball leaving 4 seconds but the Lions were penalized for 12 men on the field and the half was over. If they had made a field goal, they wouldn’t have needed a touchdown in the fourth quarter, they could have won with just another 3 points. “It’s a massive error on my part no one else’s,’’ Campbell said. “It was between hurry-up field goal and clocking it, it was 100 percent my fault.’’

TWO: Going 1 for 7 in the red zone was a killer. “We just never felt real comfortable and once you get out far enough and you end up in these third-and-longs in the red zone that’s where it gets pretty hard, when getting close to 10-yd line it’s hard to throw it from there from what they could do coverage-wise,’’ Campbell said. “We couldn’t quite get the rhythm, we couldn’t get in sync and ultimately it hurt us.’’ Detroit was at Tampa’s 11-yard line on a fourth-and-8 with 1:01 remaining. A 5-yard pass to Jahmyr Gibbs, turned the ball over to the Bucs. Goff said the Bucs’ defense got “really stingy” in the red zone.

THREE: Goff threw a pair of interceptions, including his first pass of the game. On that one it looked to him like Jameson Williams was man-handled but no pass interference call was made. He finished the game 34 of 55 for 307 yards, zero touchdowns and those 2 interceptions. Campbell is not worried about Goff. “He’ll rebound. Has he played better? Yeah, he’s played better. I know him, he never stays down,’’ Campbell said. “… He’s going to take ownership and he’s going to be better. That’s the way he’s wired and that’s what makes him who he is.’’

FOUR: Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield completed just a dozen passes (185 yards) and was sacked five times. He threw one touchdown pass and one interception. He also carried the ball five times for 34 yards. Even though his numbers weren’t spectacular he was in control. That was not a surprise.

FIVE: Aidan Hutchinson was an edge rusher on a mission, finishing with 4.5 sacks. “His motor is unbelievable. To be able to play at the rate he plays at, at that intensity for that many snaps in a game, it’s rare,’’ Campbell said. “On top of that he’s got talent and he’s continued to develop his different moves.’’ Detroit’s defense held the Bucs numbers down but also allowed too many chunk plays including a 41-yard touchdown play by Chris Godwin. 

UP NEXT: Lions at Arizona Cardinals, 4:25 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 22.