Detroit Lions Edge Seattle Seahawks 28-24

This game might be the most frustrating of the Seahawks 4 losses this season. The offense played well, and did enough to win this game. The defense, the strength of this team, just couldn’t make a play in the entire game. Giving up 4 TDs to a team like the Lions is completely unacceptable. This entire game felt like the Seahawks were just 1 defensive play away from coming away with a win and couldn’t get it.

I need some time to digest this and try and look at the game objectively. Right now, the only thing I can see is my own disappointment.

Here’s my notes on the game:

Defense

• The Seattle defense was dreadful today. There’s just no other way to say it.
• 12 of 16. That’s the Lion’s 3rd down conversion rate. You’re not going to win when that happens.
• KJ Wright had an uncharacteristic poor game. The Detroit Lions TE ate him alive today.
• The Seahawks need Walter Thurmond to be activated soon. They had no answer for Titus Young, who is the quick receiver type that Really hurts the current Seattle corners.
• The lack of Jason Jones was apparent in this game. Greg Scruggs was completely invisible in his attempt to replace the inside pass rusher.
• Megatron was held in check by Optimus Prime, though 3 drops helped. He was the only player to be held in check unfortunately.

Offense 

• Lynch set a career long in his 77 yard TD run in the first half. He didn’t really get going consistently after that though, which put a lot of pressure on Russell Wilson.
• Speaking of Wilson, he played well in this game. He floated one pass and had it picked off, but also made a number of plays and generally looked good in this game.
• The Seahawks just missed on a number of deep balls. Rice picked up the ball late on one and didn’t get under it in time. Connect on one of those and the result of the game is likely very different.

General Observations

• The play calling right before the half was very frustrating. Trying to get into position for a score, they run the ball multiple times, forcing them to burn their time outs and giving him less chances to get into field goal range. They end up settling for a 61 field goal attempt that was well short.
• The Seahawks avoided penalties today, which is a pleasant change of pace for this team.
• The 3rd down problems the Seahawks are having is beginning to look like a schematic problem. This defense is good, but it can be exploited because it requires that certain individual players to never make a mistake or get beat. It’s has to gamble a lot to be successful.