Seahawks defeat Lions with dominating offensive performance

The Seahawks moved to 4-3 with an important win over the Lions. The offense was dominant. And Michael Dickson fooled us all.

The Seahawks beat the Lions on Sunday 28-14. The win pushed Seattle to 4-3 and made the Lions fall to 3-4. This was an important win as far as playoff hopes for Seattle. And the way Seattle won was a beautiful thing.

Seattle wants to run the football in 2018. Check that off the list as successful against Detroit. The Seahawks want Russell Wilson to be efficient and be the point man of the offense this season. Check. Seattle wants fifth-round pick and punter Michael Dickson to help them control the game. Again, check.

Chris Carson ran for 105 yards – his third 100-plus yard game of the season – on an average of 4.2 yards a carry. He also scored a touchdown. But forget his average yards-per-rush; The average was only lower because of Seattle running the clock on obvious passing downs.

Carson was a seventh-round draft choice in 2017 worth every bit of a first-round pick. He played like it in limited time last year and has proven his worth this season. Carson was the leading-rusher in a Seattle rushing attack that totaled 172 yards.

Seattle has found it’s offensive identity and the Lions bore the brunt of it. The Seahawks offensive line dominated the Lions. Detroit had just two sacks against Wilson. One was late in the game when Wilson simply went down to eat clock.

But Wilson’s quarterback rating was perfect at 158.3. He was 14 for 17 for 248 yards and three touchdowns. Wilson’s throws were nearly perfect to covered receivers. The quarterback has the ability to know how to throw to the strengths of each receiver which is extremely underrated with him as a passer.

For instance, on a touchdown throw to tight end Ed Dickson (and Dickson was fantastic in his first action of 2018), Wilson threw high where only Dickson could grab the ball.

Wilson also gave himself some time, as he is apt to do, in the few times the line allowed pressure. Sure, Detroit had two sacks but they had only four quarterback hits total.

And that would be the same as the Seahawks. On Detroit’s first drive of the game, the Lions went 91 yards for a touchdown. The defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. made some changes to Seattle’s defense and the Lions did nothing more until late in the fourth quarter.

Frank Clark had another sack and he now has 6.5 on the year. Jarran Reed wasn’t credited with a sack but he hit Matthew Stafford and forced Stafford to fumble in the fourth when the Lions were trying to make a drive for a comeback.

Clark and Reed are forming a formidable pass rushing duo and making Seattle’s defense formidable in the meantime.

Overall, the Seattle outgained the Lions 413 yards to 331. And Seattle controlled the ball 34:55 to 25:05. This was the kind of game Seattle was built for in 2018. And the game plan worked to perfection.

And not to be outdone, punter Michael Dickson pulled off a fake punt deep in his own territory to basically ice the game.

Whether the play was a designed fake or whether Dickson simply saw an opening it was genius. And Dickson still found time to average 49.5 yards a punt on four kicks, including two inside the Lions 20 yard line.

Seattle has real chance at the playoffs. They need to do the proverbial one-game-at-a-time focus, but if they do they can win enough games to get to the postseason. They have won four of their last five. And their style of offense can win in the playoffs.