Detroit Lions’ Offense vs. Seahawks Defense
AJ: I do have to ask you this question because something that we’ve discussed on Beyond the Box, and I don’t know if you guys have discussed it or not, or at length on Griffin & Bass, but did the Detroit Lions have unreasonable expectations placed on them this season?
Matt: by their fans. Absolutely. By, the national pundits? I don’t think so. But by their fans. Yeah. The fans are ridiculous. They, , they drink up all that Kool-Aid in hard knocks and they
AJ: just, Hold on, hold on, wait a second. We’re not gonna blame the fans solely for this. When you had media pundits.
they’re gonna be one of the most dangerous teams. They’re potentially a playoff team, blah, blah, blah. Like the, the, the success of Hard Knocks and how amazing Hard Knocks was set this team up for failure from day one. I feel like the expectations were sky high, and I mean this was my biggest fear coming into the season was what is happening, right?
is all these expectations and then a defense that can’t stop anybody and you, Right? I mean, did you have ’em being one in three after four weeks? No, I had ’em being oh and four.
No, you did not.
Matt: Oh, yes I did. I didn’t have this team winning more than six games all year. I didn’t buy into the hype. No. I kept looking at the team, but I thought the Vikings would beat us.
I thought the Eagles would beat. I thought the Commanders would beat us. You really thought that, Seahawks, you really thought the Seahawks were gonna beat us. Knowing what were going through and potentially having to face Drew Lock, I saw DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett as wide receivers and thought that was enough alone to beat our defense.
AJ: Well, I mean, DK did have 140 something yards Sunday.
Matt: Yeah. And Locke quietly had 90. I don’t know. I just, I just feel like there was a lot of Yeah, I know. I, I, I knew, I knew from that first drive when it took seven minutes and they just went down the field at Will. I knew, I was like, This is gonna be a long day. Well, and it had to feel even longer.
AJ: Expect them to not get a single stop.
Matt: Yeah, so I mean, so you being there, that first half had to feel even longer because after they score that long touchdown go and the offense come out and go three and. and, and then Seattle gets the ball right back, and then they score again, and then the Detroit Lions get it back and they basically win three and out again.
Except Campbell decided to roll the dice and fake a punt. Well, hold on. Your timeline’s wrong. No, your timeline’s wrong. Your timeline. Oh, do the Detroit Lions get their stopped. The Detroit Lions punt, right? Lions punt. It was the fumble. Why Malcolm Rodriguez got the touchdown.
AJ: Fumble Seattle. Touchdown to Hawkinson. Yeah. And then,
Matt: all right, then Seattle goes and scores again. And the Detroit Lions get the ball
AJ: right back scores. And then the Detroit Lions fake the punt.
Matt: Right? Exactly. So the offense to start this game was not good. Got gifted. Malcolm Rodriguez has made a hell of a plate unlock it to strip the ball, and the Detroit Lions took advantage of it, and I applaud them.
They should have, and they did. But without that, it might be 14. Nothing early. and then the Lions are forced to punt again except they fake the punt and they got it first down out of it. And they did some, they did a little bit. But yeah, the offense to start the game was not good. And then obviously to start the second half Goff throws into a Hawkinson double covered route where he doesn’t even look off the defense.
The defenders are watching his eyes the whole time and pick off that pass short of Hawkinson. Like before the fourth quarter, there was plenty to complain about what the offense of the Detroit Lions in this game in the fourth quarter, the Detroit Lions put up 22 points, which is half of their points for this game, and do some garbage minute at the end to get this thing to a one score game.
Yeah. But the offense had a ton of blame in this game as well before that fourth quarter, and now everyone just wants to focus on the defense, which y’all should have known was gonna be terrible coming into this season anyway. So your focus should be on the offense and how they’re doing, because there’s actually expectations for the offense.
AJ: Yeah, I, But listen, I mean, All right. We’ve had our discussions. I’ve written my articles. You know, I am not a Jared Goff fan by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not gonna be somebody that sits here and says that he’s the future of the Detroit Lines, but, I also am not gonna sit here and say that he was terrible on Sunday because he wasn’t.
And I can’t, I can’t in like good conscience say that he was bad. Yes, The pick six is huge for sure. But there are plenty other of like, it’s like blaming the officials, right? We go back and forth on this all the time. You can blame the officials all you want, but there’s so many things that happen throughout a game that, that the owners can be put on a number of different things.
We can’t really blame Everly for missing two extra points cuz they still lost by three. So it’s not like that cost them. Yes, the pick six looms large, but if Jared Goff is not in that game with the receivers that he has completing what I think 26 of 39 passes for 378 and four scores like this is a lot worse than it actually was.
So yeah, the offense stalled. , it was very slow to get going, for sure. 100%. Very slow to get going, but I mean, you cannot look at the offense and go, Yeah, this is on you guys, cuz it was clearly not an offensive. Problem this week. It wasn’t, I understand 22 points in the fourth quarter. I understand the garbage time touchdown, but I, I’m telling you, being there like it, they had the three and out on the first drive, which was pitiful.
Just, just not great, like throwing a third down completion short of the sticks. I hate it that nothing drives me more insane than throwing the ball short on third down. But the offense, I mean, they made plays when they had to make play. That catch by Josh Reynolds for the touchdown in the fourth quarter was the, like one of the greatest catches I have ever seen.
That was beautiful. the long pass to, to Hawkinson like the offense did what it needed to do. So like you can bag on ’em all you want, but I’m not gonna be here for the slander this week. I’m
Matt: sorry. They did eventually. It was 24 to. It was 24 to nine at one point
AJ: today about, you know, highs and lows.
It was, you’re right, it was 20
Matt: against, against the Seattle defense, which is one of the worst defenses in football. I, I’m sorry, I’m not gonna forgive it. Am I gonna place the blame on them? No, but the offense didn’t do enough. The defense. Damn. Sure didn’t. And we all know that. I’m not saying don’t. Hold the when you need to.
You need to score half your points for the entire game in the last quarter to try and get back into this. You failed for the first 75% of the game.
AJ: Yeah. But so again, how many times did they possess the ball in the third quarter though? Because I will say that was one of the things I saw Geno Smith doing quite well was actually working the clock. Even when they had the ball with like six, seven minutes left, he’d get up to the line of scrimmage, there’s 15 seconds left on the play clock, and he’d step back, let it wide, wind down another 10 seconds and snap the ball.
So I get it. Like I understand where you’re coming from and yeah, people need to have their feet held to the fire. I just wouldn’t hold him as close for the offense this week, cuz I, I mean, what? Here I go. You’ve made me defend Jared Goff and I may punch you in the throat the next time that I see you. I may, I may punch you in the throat the next time that I see you, but when you’re talking about a quarterback that has Josh Reynolds as his number.
one And Tom Kennedy as his number two, and he still did what he did. Like, I get it, they’re gonna stall out. I, there, there was just no way they couldn’t stall out a, a couple of times. I mean, Kalif Raymond, Jared Golf threw a good ball to him over the middle of the field and Kalif Raymond literally just drops it for a fumble.
like that was a game changer. That’s not on. Right? So, God, Matt, I knew I shouldn’t have come on here tonight because I knew you were gonna make me defend this.
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