Game Recap: Geno Smith, Kenneth Walker III Highlight Seattle Seahawks’ First Loss

The Seattle Seahawks’ second-half comeback fell short in a 42-29 loss to the Detroit Lions on Monday night, handing the team its first loss of the Mike Macdonald era.

Seattle outscored Detroit 22-21 in the final two quarters, but that margin was far from enough to win the game when entering the halftime break trailing by 14.

“Yeah, I mean, just not a good enough performance on our front,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said postgame. “Got to give Detroit a lot of credit. I thought they had a great plan offensively … they just outplayed us on the defensive side of the ball for us. I will tell you this, our guys fought the heck out of that game. They went down to the last second and that’s what I’m most proud of right now and we’re going to hold onto that and that’s a foundation that we’ve built here that we’re going to push forward with.”

The first half was defined by Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf’s fumble that ended a promising 5-play, 33-yard drive that — after the return — allowed Detroit to begin their next possession at Seattle’s 14-yard line with a 7-0 lead. If Seattle manufactured points on that drive, they may have been able to continue trading blows with the Lions early on.

Instead, Detroit increased its lead to 14 points on a 3-yard touchdown rush from running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Down four defensive starters to begin the game, the Seahawks were well behind where they hoped to be after the first quarter.

The Lions churned out yards on the ground in the meantime, totaling 88 rushing yards between Gibbs and David Montgomery in the first half. The pair also accounted for all three of Detroit’s first-half touchdowns against Seattle’s decimated defensive front. That made it easy for quarterback Jared Goff, who finished 12-of-12 passing for 92 yards through 30 minutes of play.

Goff finished 18-of-18 passing for 292 yards and two touchdowns — the most pass attempts by a quarterback without an incompletion in NFL history. Seattle’s back end could not stop the Lions while ailing on the front end. It was really that simple.

As the third quarter clock began rolling, the flood gates opened. Seattle lost its fifth starter to injury in safety Julian Love (thigh), but Detroit and Seattle traded touchdowns on five consecutive drives.

Even though Seattle felt held at arm’s length, its offense continued to make up for the struggling defense’s woes. Walker scored two of his three rushing touchdowns in the second half, and rookie tight end AJ Barner caught another from Smith.

The Lions got two third-quarter touchdowns via a “Detroit Special” — a goal line touchdown pass from wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to Goff — and a 70-yard touchdown catch by Jameson Williams on a one-play drive.

Seattle forced just its third punt of the game with 1:59 remaining, trailing by eight. What would have been a fourth-down conversion at Detroit’s 31-yard line via a 8-yard catch from Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba was negated by a offensive pass interference committed by Tyler Lockett — forcing the Seahawks to punt on a drive that could have tied the game.

Following another 7-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, not even an eventual safety mattered for Seattle’s effort. An interception in the end zone by Smith with 1:06 remaining sealed the deal.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a litmus test, it just shows us we’re not the team that we need to be at this point,” Macdonald added. “I mean, that’s just – that’s what it is. Just wasn’t good enough. They did what they did to win the game, they did a great job, they had a great plan, and we came up short.”

Seattle’s poor defense allowed Goff to set an NFL record for pass attempts without an incompletion versus Macdonald’s unit. Backups or not, that’s unacceptable. That ultimately must fall on the coaching staff, or else it wouldn’t be a record. The Seahawks are far from the first team to be that limited from injuries.

Is that an indictment on Macdonald? Of course not. He has engineered one of the best defenses through three weeks. But he needs to go back to the drawing board in a backup situation. The team had much of the week to prepare for the starters’ absences, and that was abysmal.

“They operate at a high level,” Macdonald said. “I mean, they had a really good plan. We’re on record that Jared’s a great quarterback – played clean, they ran crisp routes, and we obviously didn’t deny the ball. That’s about as obvious as it gets

In a losing effort, Smith set career-highs in attempts (56), completions (38) and passing yards (395). He was the Seahawks’ engine, and it wasn’t enough. It’s hard to constantly play from one-to-two scores down, but Smith did his best to keep the Seahawks in the game.

“We’re [3-1], that’s what it says, and now we’ve got to get on to the next one,” Smith said. “That’s just football, that’s NFL football. I think the only team that went undefeated was the [1972] Dolphins, so we’re just trying to go out there and win every game we can. Today we didn’t get it done, but that’s why we’ve got next week.”

His lone interception came with the game on the line — constantly furthering drives despite the pressure around him. It doesn’t take much more than the eye test to see Smith’s effectiveness in this game. He is what makes Seattle’s offense functional. Put any other quarterback in that system, and a different (possibly even worse) result is likely.

Smith is Seattle’s best player. He avoids negative offensive plays and creates gains when losses should be a foregone conclusion. Smith continues to be the best quarterback the Seahawks could have in 2024 — evading pressure, extending plays and creating positive plays — when the league has seen a downturn in quarterback proficiency. There is nobody better suited for the job.

Seattle was without four defensive starters to begin the game (five key contributors with Byron Murphy II also out), and it lost Love in the second half.

The Seahawks allowed touchdowns on five of Detroit’s 11 drives, making it far too easy for the Lions to pile up points. No matter what the offense did, it couldn’t keep up. The defense only forced punts three times — one of which was the first drive of the game.

Gibbs, in particular, had his way with Seattle on the ground, rushing 14 times for 78 yards and two touchdowns (5.6 yards per carry). He consistently had massive holes to run through between the tackles with the interior of the Seahawks’ defensive line at a disadvantage. There was little they could do to slow the rushing attack.

Seattle was completely lost on the “Detroit Special” that saw Goff catch the first touchdown pass of his career. That’s not entirely on the backup unit, but it was emblematic of the night.

This game displayed why the Seahawks have struggled to win the past two seasons despite a decent offense. When the defense can’t get critical stops, it’s tough for the offense to keep pace even with the weapons it possesses.

Macdonald, obviously, was brought in to fix that. His largely-backup unit didn’t do the job on Monday, and it led to a 13-point loss on the road. The defense has been a bright spot for the Seahawks through three weeks, and it’s understandable that they would take a step back with all the injuries.

However, if Seattle wants to be a Super Bowl contender (like the Lions), they must be firing on all cylinders. That wasn’t the case on Monday night.

Seattle (3-1) faces the New York Giants (1-3) on Sunday, Oct. 6 at Lumen Field. Kickoff is at 1:25 p.m. Pt. New York is coming off a 20-15 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.