Despite a strong offensive performance, the Seahawks' defense struggled against the Lions, allowing a franchise-record 18-of-18 passing performance from Jared Goff and 48 points overall.
The Seattle Seahawks, one of the surprise teams of the NFL through three weeks, were handed a reality check on Monday Night Football by the Detroit Lions.
Playing without several key defensive starters, the Seahawks were unable to contain Detroit's smash-mouth running game, allowing 116 rushing yards and three touchdowns. The secondary also proved leaky, giving up a long touchdown to Jameson Williams and allowing a trick play near the goal line to quarterback Jared Goff on a throwback pass from receiver Amon Ra St. Brown.
Goff completed all 18 of his passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns, the most pass attempts and the most yards in NFL history without an incompletion. He finished with a 155.8 passer rating.
The Seahawks did manage to sack Goff three times but failed to force a turnover for a third straight game and allowed nine plays of 17-plus yards. They also gave up 219 receiving yards after the catch.
According to Next Gen Stats, entering Monday's contest the Seahawks had allowed a league-low 40 yards on missed tackles in the NFL. Seattle's 91.7% tackle efficiency was also tops in the league through three weeks.
But that all changed against the Lions.
"The game plan was good coming into the game," Seahawks safety Rayshawn Jenkins said. "We've got to execute it better and understand how they're attacking us. We knew they wanted to run the ball, and obviously they were successful in that tonight.
"So, we've just got to do our job, and everyone has to hold up their end of the bargain. That's it."
While the defense struggled, the play of the offense was one of the few bright spots for Seattle. Kenneth Walker returned from an oblique injury and played well, finishing with 80 rushing yards and three scores.
Walker's big game included an acrobatic catch and run for 10 yards where he somehow managed to flip out of the grasp of Detroit linebacker Alex Anzalone as he tried to wrestle him to the ground.
Quarterback Geno Smith had another good performance, throwing for a career high 395 yards and a touchdown. DK Metcalf totaled seven catches for 104 yards on 12 targets, but also had a critical fumble fighting for extra yards in the first quarter that led to an early Detroit score. Jaxon Smith-Njigba added eight catches for 51 yards.
The Seahawks trailed by 15 points in the fourth quarter but kept grinding, including a safety on a sack by Dre'Mont Jones to give the offense the ball back late. McDonald says those kinds of plays and effort are the foundation for his team.
"We're just not going to give up, no matter the situation," Macdonald said. "That's going to be us."
The Seahawks will now have a short week to prepare for a home game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.
