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.
Lions Lowdown 