The Seattle Seahawks really are completely different on the road. When they have the 12th-man at their back they can terrorize anybody on defense, pull out big plays on offense and appear like legitimate contenders at times — but on the road they just don’t look quite as intimidating.
Despite taking the lead late in the fourth quarter of this game, they allowed the Lions to drive systematically and calmly down the field, getting almost no pressure at all on quarterback Matthew Stafford before he hit Titus Young in the end zone for the go-ahead, and ultimately game-winning, score with just seconds remaining.
Looking beyond the close score and the Jekyll and Hyde nature of the Seahawks, what other performances stood out from the game?
Seattle – Three Performances of Note
Blanking the Rush
Left tackles have had a good day if they can come out of the game having kept a clean sheet when it comes to pass protection, and that’s exactly what Seahawks LT Russell Okung did in this one. Okung was pass protecting for 38 snaps in this game and he didn’t allow a single pressure, which was critical to allowing his young quarterback to stand up and make plays when it counted. Okung also earned himself a positive grade for his work in the run game, driving DRE Kyle Vanden Bosch into the line of scrimmage with 6.05 to go in the fourth quarter to give his running back the edge.
Optimus Prime vs. Megatron
Before the game, Richard Sherman changed his twitter handle to Optimus Prime, the autobot leader, in anticipation of his matchup with Detroit’s Calvin Johnson, nicknamed Megatron. So how did this transformers epic play out? In truth it was something of a let down. Johnson was clearly not 100% after missing practice with an injury and saw only two targets into Sherman’s coverage, though one of them was inches from a touchdown after Sherman had gambled on the underneath route and allowed the big receiver behind him in the end zone. The majority of Sherman’s coverage came against Young, and the second-year receiver caught all five passes thrown at him against Sherman for 75 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown in particular was a play Sherman would want to have back, as he allowed Young a clean release off the line and then let him cross him up as he ran deep on a go route before the ball was fired in over his head. Sherman will have far better days than this, but he still made some plays, coming up with a pair of stops among his tackles.
AWOL Pass-Rush
The duo of Chris Clemons and Bruce Irvin is what Seattle relies upon to generate the heat up front and pressure opposing quarterbacks, but in this game they were both kept relatively quiet. The pair combined for 75 pass-rushes in the game and ended up with two knockdowns (both from Clemons) and four additional hurries, which probably flatters their performances as most of them came either from pursuing plays or after a long time trying to fight off the blocks of the Lions' tackles. Clemons brought what was probably the biggest pass-rushing play of the pair, as he beat the attempted cut-block of Jeff Backus immediately before chasing down Stafford and hitting him as he threw, before he drove him into the turf with a hit that left the quarterback feeling the affects for a few plays.
Detroit – Three Performances of Note
Sticking with Backus
Lions fans seem to be growing impatient with their long-time left tackle. Perhaps they are clamoring for top pick Riley Reiff to get in on the action, or maybe they just feeling the time is right to move on, but there is a constant rumbling questioning why the Lions are continuing with Backus. The answer to any of those people is this game, because Backus kept Clemons under wraps most of the game, which is no mean feat. He surrendered two knockdowns and a pressure, only one of which came very quickly on an intended quick throw, but he also countered some of Clemons’ best moves with ease and hung in on plays that would have beaten very good pass protectors. One play in particular early on the Lions' game-winning drive (Q4, 4:46) saw Clemons hit him with an inside spin move. Though Backus had opened a long way up and exposed a gap inside, he was able to regain control and drive Clemons past the opening back into traffic. That was an elite pass-protecting play and the reason the Lions aren’t sitting Backus down any time soon.
Time To Sit KVB
Sometimes coaches need to realize that a once-great player is done, and the time is now for Vanden Bosch. In truth, the time was probably a while ago, but they haven’t noticed yet, so let’s give it another shot. Despite limited snaps that should have ensured he was at his best, on 23 pass rushes KVB was blanked. No pressure, nothing. It’s not like he wasn’t trying either, early in the game he was flagged for defensive offsides as he tried his all to get the best jump possible on his rush, but he just doesn’t have it anymore. To top it off he was controlled in the run game and made just a pair of tackles, and only one for a stop. I find it hard to believe that Lawrence Jackson would not be a dramatically better option at DRE at this stage.
Wrath of the Titus
With Johnson struggling and Nate Burleson out long-term with a broken leg, the Lions needed to see some delivery from young receiver Young. This was the game he delivered on his talent, and was comfortably their top receiving option. He was thrown at nine times and caught every ball, including two touchdowns and three first downs, one of which was a vital fourth-down conversion. He was able to beat the man-coverage of all three of Seattle’s top cornerbacks and displayed excellent hands, routes and speed in the game. This was the player Detroit saw when they drafted him, and if he continues like this they won’t even miss Burleson.
Game Notes
— TE Evan Moore saw just two snaps for the Seahawks and one of them was a target in the end zone, but after a particularly weak effort at winning the ball on that play he went back to the bench.
— Between balls thrown away, batted balls, drops and being hit as he threw, Matthew Stafford’s accuracy on passes he actually aimed was 82.2% in this game.
— Stafford went deep (20+ in the air) six times in this game, and came up empty but for the touchdown to Young.
Game Ball
You could make a very compelling case for Matthew Stafford winning this, but instead I’m going to give it to his favorite target in the game, who did pretty much everything right, Titus Young.
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