For Pete's Sake: 5 critical observations from the Seahawks Week 2 win over the Lions

Unfortunately, the Lions got their chances too

Well, it was looking good. Unfortunately, Jared Goff drove the Lions through the Seahawks secondary as if he were playing Mattel Football II. Hawks defensive backs appeared to play about 37 yards off their receivers. That's usually not the best way to play defense in the NFL. Detroit's last two plays of the drive both went for over 20 yards. Frankly, that is inexcusable. The pass rush didn't get close to Goff, and the secondary played as soft as Charmin. Touchdown Lions, and we had a 7-7 game.

Zach Charbonnet checked in for the Hawks for their second drive of the day. He ripped off one nice run, then lined up wide, although the Hawks did nothing on the play. Geno was rushed into an incompletion on second down, then dumped off a pass with zero chance of success to Jaxon Smith-Njigba. The Hawks were forced to punt, but at least we got a huge hit from Jerrick Reed II on the coverage. I imagine Michael Dickson paid the Hawks to keep Artie Burns off the field.

The Lions lost both of their starting safeties for much of the first quarter, and then Metcalf was sidelined with a rib injury sustained on his near goal-line catch. Then early in the second quarter, Riq Woolen was shaken up. About the only bright spot was the Hawks run defense, as the Motor City Kitties had almost no running room. That is until David Montgomery ran for 16 yards through a hole about the size of the Arizona Meteor Crater. On fourth and four the Seahawks secondary finally came through. Goff had about six minutes to throw, but Devon Witherspoon shut the play down, sending the pass to the turf. That was literally the first time this season that a Hawks corner anticipated the play. Spoon!

The Seahawks took over, starting with a typical wide-open Tyler Lockett for a first down. Then we had a Noah Fant sighting, as he picked up 32 yards. Yes, that's 32 more than he had last week. Smith had Lockett in the end zone on first down, but for once, there was tight coverage. Frankly, Geno had room to run and could have picked up five or six with ease. A draw play with Walker got nothing. Smith couldn't find Lockett or anyone else on third down, as he was chased out of the pocket almost immediately. Jason Myers missed the field goal try, his second miss of the season. We were still tied, 7-7.

The Lions picked up a first, then Witherspoon was called for pass interference on third down. It was a totally legitimate call, as he had the receiver in a solid bear hug. On the very next play, they victimized Spoon again. He bit on the run, but Detroit pulled off a flea flicker and the Lions receiver was five yards past Witherspoon and coasted into the end zone. He's going to be great, but he is still a rookie. It was a 36-yard TD, and that made it 14-7, Lions.

With 4:51 left in the half, Metcalf was back in the game. Walker was dropped for no gain on first down, then Lockett picked up nine on second down. The Seahawks paid off on the 7-11 connection as Jackson Smith-Njigba picked up a big first down. Walker again had no running room, and then Jake Bobo caught his first pass, although only for a few yards. On third and six, Geno Smith decided to run, although he didn't have room to pick up the first. Bad decision there.

But hold your beer, a worse decision was coming up later. On the previous drive, he had first down and plenty of room to pick up five or six yards. In this situation, he had to pick up six for the first down. There was no way he was getting close to that. The Hawks tried to draw the Lions offsides with a hard count on fourth down, but Detroit wasn't biting. Dickson punted again, this time with Jake Bobo downing the ball at the Detroit six-yard line. Did I mention how nice it was to see Artie Burns nowhere near the ball?

The Lions couldn't get anything going, largely thanks to a dropped pass, and had to punt. The Hawks took over at their 36. Seattle used the sidelines, but couldn't get out of bounds on three straight plays. On second and six, Seattle had just 17 seconds and no timeouts at the Lions 48. Tyler Lockett picked up the first down over the middle, and the Hawks spiked the ball to set up Jason Myers for a 56-yard kick. And...he pushed it left. The Lions took over with two seconds and smartly went deep. They almost pulled it off, too, as Goff completed a bomb for over 40 yards. Thankfully, Tre Brown forced a fumble and Julian Love picked it up to end the half.

Our first-half stats: Seahawks 25 rushing, 159 passing for 184 total yards, with 16:43 TOP. The Lions: 50 rushing, 141 passing for 191 total yards with 13:17 TOP. Just looking at those stats, you'd think the Hawks would be in great shape. But as various wits have said, there are lies, there are damned lies, and there are statistics. For example, Geno Smith completed 16 of 20 passes. I have to say those were the quietest 159 yards ever. I won't say that Jason Myers was the problem in the first half, as a lot of players didn't come through. But if he had, it would have been 14-13 at the half, not 14-7.