3 Seahawks to blame for forgivable loss to Lions in Week 4

The Seattle Seahawks fell to the Detroit Lions in Week 4 in large part because the defensive play was so dismal. An excuse might be that Seattle was without a lot of injured talent, such as Boye Mafe, Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II, Uchenna Nwosu, and Jerome Baker, but the backups still got run over. It was an embarrassing performance.

Detroit scored 42 points in 50 offensive plays. That kind of efficiency had only been seen six times before the NFL. Seattle led the time of possession by eight minutes, but only because Detroit was scoring so quickly.

At least, quarterback Geno Smith and the offense did well. The unit did well enough to win many games. The defense played poorly enough to lose most.

Three Seahawks to blame for dismal defensive performance against the Lions in Week 4

Edge rusher Dre'Mont Jones

With Seattle missing Mafe and Williams, Jones needed to have a fantastic game. He didn't. He was signed as a free agent in 2023 and still has not consistently produced at a high level. This could have been the game where he proved he was worth being the most expensive free agent John Schneider had signed a contract with at the time.

Jones did have a sack of quarterback Jared Goff, but in what amounted to garbage time. That was his only quarterback pressure of the game. According to Pro Football Focus (paywall alert!), Jones was in on just one tackle and whiffed on another attempt. Missing half of one's tackles is no way to lead a successful defense.

Jones was moved around from edge rusher to the defensive line but wherever he was aligned he did not have offer much help. He needs to show he can be good the rest of the season or he may be a salary cap casualty next offseason.

Linebacker Tyrel Dodson

Dodson has played extremely well through three games and appeared to be a great choice to replace Bobby Wagner as the green dot in the Seahawks' defense. He likely will have a fine season, but he did not have a good Week 4.

One particular play might have shown the true difference between Dodson and Wagner. On a third-and-goal from the one-yard line, Dodson was in a great position to keep Lions running back David Montgomery from scoring, but Montgomery was able to get through Dodson. Wagner would have probably gotten the run stuff.

Dodson also gave up completions on all five of his targets for 75 yards. The Lions often found receivers open over the middle of the field, just as 12s got used to seeing from their defense in the past several seasons.

Edge rusher Trevis Gipson

Gipson should not be on the Seahawks roster. He got 12 snaps - 12 too many - because Boye Mafe and Uchenna Nwosu were injured, and Seattle had to give players such as Derick Hall some rest. Gipson, though, looked as if he was 55 years old, was slow to react to anything, and had the speed of a defensive tackle even though he is listed as an edge rusher.

Gipson was the only Seattle player to notice that the Lions were about to pull off a wide receiver pass to quarterback Jared Goff near Seattle's goal line, but he ran to where Goff was as if his feet were tied together. He was exceedingly slow and Goff is not fast to begin with. The play exposed Gipson's poor athleticism, even at a time when he was trying to do something good.

He whiffed on his only tackle attempt and gave up completions both times he was targeted in coverage. Mafe and Nwosu cannot come back quickly enough.

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