2024-10-01 11:55:02
A pair of NFC championship game hopefuls met on “Monday Night Football” in Week 4, and it was a fitting preview for a potential January showdown.
The undefeated Seattle Seahawks and the 2-1 Detroit Lions locked up underneath the Ford Field dome on Monday night, making for the fourth meeting in three years between the two squads. The Lions emerged victorious with a 42-29 victory in a quarterback duel between Jared Goff and Geno Smith.
Smith put in a heck of a performance in a game that looked like it was heading towards laugher territory at halftime: Smith finished 38-of-56 passing for 395 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
However, Smith’s counterpart was better. In fact, he was perfect. Goff finished the game 18-of-18 passing for 292 yards and two touchdowns in the effort. That’s the most pass attempts without an incompletion in NFL history.
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USA TODAY Sports provided live updates, highlights, and more from the Week 4 “Monday Night Football” matchup between the Lions and Seahawks below.
After a number of penalties and a brutal hit on Geno Smith, the Seahawks passer threw an interception to Lions safety Kerby Joseph in the end zone. The Lions would take over and kneel out the clock for the win.
The Seahawks have life yet: Backed up against their own end zone, Jared Goff dropped back for a pass. Seattle’s defense got to Goff, forcing a sack and a safety to bring the score to 42-29 with 2:01 left in the game.
The Seahawks had a chance to tighten the gap to the Lions with just over two minutes left in the matchup, but after four tries at the end zone, Seattle comes up empty. Detroit takes over on their own 4-yard line with 2:09 left.
Goff is now 18-for-18 after finding St. Brown wide open in the end-zone. St. Brown just barely managed to tap his toes on the sideline to get the score and position Goff for a run at NFL history.
The Lions are now up 15 points again with time running out on the Seahawks.
The Seahawks appeared to convert a fourth-and-3 from the Detroit 39-yard line, but Tyler Lockett was whistled for offensive pass interference. The veteran receiver immediately assumed a blocking posture rather than running a route, and that’s what sprung Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the first down gain.
That resulted in a 10-yard penalty and forced Seattle to punt the ball back to Detroit. The kick goes into the end-zone and the Lions will get the ball at their own 20-yard line, leading by 8 with 8:57 left in the fourth quarter.
The Lions ran a toss play to the outside with David Montgomery on third-and-2, but the Seahawks sniffed it out. They tackled the running back for a 1-yard loss and forced Jack Fox to punt after a three-and-out.
Seattle gets the ball back trailing by 8 with 12:49 left to play in the second half.
Seahawks passer Geno Smith has been impressive on “Monday Night Football.” Smith has 290 passing yards and a touchdown tonight, all while navigating the ferocious Lions defensive front all night.
Kenneth Walker is starting to heat up. He ripped off his longest run of the day on Seattle’s most recent drive (28 yards) and followed that up with a 21-yard touchdown scamper that saw him break to the edge and out-leverage Detroit’s defense.
The Seahawks opted for an extra point after their score to cut Detroit’s lead to 35-27. Both teams have scored touchdowns on all of their second-half drives thus far.
The Lions and Seahawks combined for 27 points in the third quarter with Detroit edging Seattle 14-13 on the scoreboard. Both Geno Smith and Jared Goff are playing well while the two teams have combined for 163 yards and five rushing touchdowns.
The Seahawks have 15 minutes to overcome a 15-point deficit, but they were nearing scoring range thanks to an 18-yard completion to Laviska Shenault on the final play of the third quarter.
Seattle will have the ball at Detroit’s 21-yard line, facing a first-and-10 to start the fourth quarter.
For the second consecutive drive, the Lions recorded their longest reception of the day. This time, Jared Goff found Williams breaking across the middle of the field. He caught the ball and rocketed past Devon Witherspoon, who was distracted by a deep post run by Amon-Ra St. Brown on the play.
Williams was whistled for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for dunking the ball over the goalpost, but Jake Bates converted the 48-yard extra point try. The Lions are now up 35-20 with 2:52 left in the third quarter.
The Seahawks attempted a 2-point conversion after their touchdown in an analytically savvy move. The logic is that if Seattle converted, it would be trailing Detroit by six points. That would allow the Seahawks to go ahead with a touchdown and an extra point if they stopped the Lions.
Even without converting, the Seahawks have a chance to tie the Lions with a stop. They just need to get a score and have a successful 2-point conversion.
But without a stop, the decision is moot.
Seattle and Detroit continue to go back-and-forth, as Walker bulls in for his second 1-yard touchdown run of the game.
The Seahawks went for a 2-point conversion after the score and initially didn’t convert. However, Carlton Davis was called for a questionable pass interference call, so Seattle got a second try. They couldn’t convert and find themselves trailing 28-20.
Geno Smith was 3-of-4 on the drive with 50 passing yards. He continues to perform well and has completed 25-of-34 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown thus far.
Ben Johnson went deep into his bag on a second-and-goal from the 7-yard line. He had Goff hand-off to St. Brown, who ran parallel behind the line of scrimmage before turning back and lofting a perfect touch pass to Goff.
The ball got just over the Seahawks defender’s head and allowed Goff to trot into the end-zone. Detroit now leads 28-14 with 6:57 left in the third quarter.
The Lions’ first play of the half was a dump-off to Montgomery. He caught the ball a couple of yards beyond the line of scrimmage before bouncing off a couple of Seahawks defenders for a huge gain.
The catch made Montgomery the Lions’ leading receiver despite him having just one reception.
The Seahawks orchestrated a 10-play, 75-yard drive coming out of the halftime locker room that ended with a 9-yard completion to Barner. He dove into the end-zone off the play-action pass to cut Detroit’s lead to 21-14.
DK Metcalf played a big role in Seattle’s success on that drive, catching a 9-yard pass on a third-and-8 to extend the drive and drawing a 21-yard pass interference call to set up the touchdown.
The Seahawks got a chance at a 62-yard field goal attempt, but Jason Myers sent it short and wide left. Detroit was unable to return it for a score, which ended the half.
The Lions offense dominated the undermanned Seahawks defense in the first half, rushing for three touchdowns on five possessions and seeing David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs combine for 88 yards and three TDs on 16 carries.
Jared Goff has also been efficient, going a perfect 12 for 12 for 97 yards to give Detroit a commanding 14-point lead.
The Seahawks have thrown the ball well, as DK Metcalf has five catches for 73 yards, but they haven’t gotten anything going on the ground. Geno Smith’s late-half scramble of 12 yards made him the leading rusher for Seattle, so they will look to get Kenneth Walker (four carries, six yards, one TD) more involved in the second half.
The Lions went three-and-out thanks largely to a sack of Jared Goff. He was ripped down by the name-plate by edge rusher Derick Hall, and no horse-collar penalty was called because Goff was in the pocket.
As a result, the Seahawks got the ball back just shy of midfield with about 15 seconds left to get in field-goal or Hail Mary range.
Geno Smith throws his first incompletion on third down with 1:09 left in the first half. That stalls Seattle’s drive and gives Detroit a chance to mount a scoring drive in the last 1:01 of the half.
The Lions have all three of their timeouts remaining.
The Seahawks broke out a trick play on third-and-16 to stay on the field. Geno Smith found Smith-Njigba coming across the field and the second-year wideout caught the ball before tossing it backward to Charbonnet.
No Lions were near Charbonnet, who easily scampered for the first down and kept Seattle’s drive alive.
The Lions are continuing to use their top two running backs equally. Montgomery has eight carries for 42 yards and a touchdown while Gibbs has seven carries for 41 yards and two touchdowns.
Montgomery handled a bulk of the early workload, but Gibbs got six consecutive carries after that. Both look like viable fantasy running backs and should continue to give the Lions one of the NFL’s best running games.
The Lions have had three red-zone opportunities. All of them have ended with one of their running backs plowing into the end-zone. This time, Gibbs got the carry, and he powered his way through the line for a score.
Jake Bates makes the extra point convincingly this time to give Detroit a 21-7 lead late in the second quarter.
The Seahawks answered the Lions’ first two scores. Walker dealt with penetration into the backfield immediately, but he found a way to bounce the carry outside for a 1-yard score.
Walker’s score was set up by a 29-yard connection between Geno Smith and DK Metcalf that saw Metcalf come up just short of twisting his arm over the goal line. Seattle now trails Detroit 14-7 after Jason Myers converted on his extra point.
Walker caught a pass out of the backfield on a second-and-4 and appeared to be tackled by linebacker Alex Anzalone short of the marker twice. However, Walker didn’t actually hit the ground on either play and was able to turn the play into a first down.
After David Montgomery scored on the Lions’ second drive, Detroit gave Jahmyr Gibbs a chance to find his way into the end zone. Gibbs was successful, finding a lane behind left guard Kayode Awosika and scoring his second rushing touchdown of the season.
Jake Bates once again barely snuck the extra point through the uprights, but it was good, giving Detroit a 14-0 lead.
No, the Lions’ starting linebacker is not related to their head coach. Jack Campbell was a first-round pick by Detroit in the 2023 NFL draft out of Iowa and has developed into a quality three-down linebacker for the Lions.
Detroit’s defense is off to a good start to their “MNF” game against Seattle. The Lions allowed a 14-yard reception to DK Metcalf but Jack Campbell punched the ball out. Carlton Davis recovered it and returned it 54 yards to set the Lions up with a red-zone opportunity.
The Lions are threatening to score again, and they will have a first-and-goal opportunity once the second quarter begins.
The Lions’ black uniforms are new for the 2024 NFL season.
They are debuting them against the Seahawks on “Monday Night Football” along with their alternate helmet, which has a blue background and a black lion logo.
The Lions get on the board first, as Montgomery capped off a 93-yard touchdown drive with a 1-yard plunge on third-and-goal. Montgomery has been a force early, recording 42 yards on eight carries and scoring a touchdown for the seventh consecutive regular-season game.
Jake Bates kept the extra point attempt inside the right upright to give Detroit a 7-0 first-quarter lead.
Seattle got off to a good start against the Detroit defense, as Geno Smith found Metcalf on the left sideline with a perfect throw. Metcalf managed to get both of his feet down before going out of bounds to complete the catch.
The Seahawks stalled after that, but Metcalf already has two catches for 28 yards to begin the game. It could be a big night for Seattle’s No. 1 receiver given that Detroit’s defense has struggle against top receivers thus far in 2024.
DK Metcalf’s full name is DeKaylin Metcalf. He has always gone by “DK” during his college and pro careers.
The Seahawks defense continues their strong start to the season, as they forced the Lions into a three-and-out on their frist drive of the game. Jared Goff tried to scramble away from pressure and find a receiver downfield, but Jarran Reed eventually tracked him down in the backfield.
Geno Smith and the Seattle offense will now get their first possession of the game, beginning with the ball on their own 23-yard line.
The Lions vs. Seahawks game will wrap up the second “Monday Night Football” doubleheader of the 2024 NFL season at 8:15 p.m. ET.
The first game of the doubleheader between the Titans and Dolphins will be broadcast on ESPN.
The second game of the doubleheader between the Lions and Seahawks will be broadcast on ABC.
Joe Buck (play-by-play), Troy Aikman (color commentary), and Lisa Salters (sideline reporter) will be on the call for ABC’s broadcast.
Fans who want to catch the “Monday Night Football” matchup between the Lions and Seahawks via live stream have a few options.
Fubo carries the ESPN family of networks, as well as ABC, CBS, Fox and NFL Network, meaning you’ll catch all NFL action throughout the year.
ESPN+ will also carry the game.
Here are the USA TODAY Sports staff’s predictions for the Seahawks-Lions game:
The Lions are favorites to defeat the Seahawks, according to the BetMGM NFL odds. Looking to wager? Check out the best mobile sports betting apps offering NFL betting promos in 2024 including the ESPN BET app and Fanatics Sportsbook promo code.
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For those curious about the weather in Detroit, it won’t matter: The Seahawks and Lions are playing in a dome at Ford Field, so Mother Nature won’t get involved in this Monday night matchup.
The Seahawks have gotten the better of the Lions across NFL history. In 17 matchups, the Seahawks have a 12-5 record over the Lions. They also have a playoff win over Detroit, a wild-card round victory in 2017. The Seahawks have won five regular-season matchups in a row over Detroit.
The Lions sit one game back of the NFC North lead, trailing only the Minnesota Vikings for the top spot in the division. Here’s how the standings look entering “Monday Night Football:”
The Seahawks look to stay atop the NFC West with a win over the Lions on Monday night. They lead the 49ers in the standings. Here’s how the NFC West stacks up entering the matchup:
Seattle is going to be extremely shorthanded in the front-seven, as it is missing five of its seven normal starters on the defensive line and in the linebacker room. That will make it hard for the Seahawks to stop Detroit’s strong running game.
Below is Seattle’s full list of inactives:
The Lions are going to be without two key players against the Seahawks. Starting center Frank Ragnow will miss the game while top safety Brian Branch will also miss the game.
Below is Detroit’s full list of inactives:
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