Seattle Seahawks prepare to face tough Detroit Lions

“They are a really good football team. Hard-playing, well-coached, great variety, but they’re also special teams, so to speak,” Macdonald said of the Campbell’s Lions on Wednesday. “A hard-playing team. This also runs through all three phases. Obviously in certain situations they are very aggressive and willing to take calculated risks, so we have to be prepared for that.”

The Lions haven’t had quite as much bite on the scoring charts through the first three weeks of the season and currently sit 16th in points per game, due in part to unusual turnover issues. But coordinator Ben Johnson’s unit still ranks fourth in total yards per game, bolstered by a top-five rushing attack with top runner David Montgomery and dual-threat back Jahmyr Gibbs , who have already combined for 438 yards and four touchdowns.

Despite struggling more than usual with interceptions in the first few weeks, Goff has remained efficient in a high-octane passing attack, completing 66 percent of his passes with three touchdowns behind a strong offensive line that ranks seventh in Pro Football Focus. Pass blocking grade (72.8) and sixth in ESPN’s pass block win rate (67 percent).

On the defensive side of the ball, Detroit has shown significant improvement, with retooled secondary and star pass rusher Aidan Hutchinson terrorizing opponents with a 6.5 sack performance in three games. The Lions have not allowed more than 20 points in any of their games so far and are in the top 10 in both points per game and total yards allowed per game, which the defensive-minded Macdonald’s noticed in the film review.

“Defensive, [they’re] very aggressive. “Seems like they made a little more changes compared to last year,” Macdonald noted. “There’s a difficult simplicity with additions to how they operate defensively and obviously Aidan (Hutchinson) is a really good player that we’re going to need to take into account.”

I’m looking for a 4-0 start for the first time since 2020. Here’s a closer look at the Seahawks’ upcoming Week 4 prime-time opponent, including series history, entries and departures, an in-depth look at the scheme and Macdonald’s assessment of the reigning NFC North champion Lions:

18th regular season meeting. The Seahawks have dominated the all-time series, posting a 12-5 record while winning six straight matchups since 2015 and nine of 10 matchups since 2003. During that span, Seattle also won a playoff game against Detroit in the Wild Card Round in 2016. Most recently, the Seahawks have defeated the Lions in each of the last three seasons, scoring at least 37 points in each game.

Supplements: To solidify the divide on both sides of the football, the Lions signed former Ravens Pro Bowl guard Kevin Zeitler, former Bengals defensive tackle DJ Reader and former Saints first round pass rusher Marcus Davenport early in free agency. The team also brought in former Buccaneers starting cornerback Carlton Davis to pair with first-round draft pick Terrion Arnold and brought in slot cornerback Amik Robertson in free agency and as part of a retooled cornerback group.

Departures: After the most successful season in franchise history, Detroit didn’t go through free agency without losing high-profile players to other teams. Starting right guard Jonah Jackson accepted a multi-year deal from the Rams to join another possible NFC contender, necessitating the move of Zeitler, while trusted No. 3 receiver Josh Reynolds accepted a bigger offer from Denver. On defense, talented veteran safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson returned to Philadelphia, where he previously played in 2022, on a three-year deal, while reserve pass rusher Julian Okwara also signed with the Eagles.

Like the Seahawks, the Lions enter Monday’s main event with an extensive injury list and will begin the week by placing Davenport and linebacker Derrick Barnes on injured reserve on Monday. Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow, who suffered a partial pectoral muscle tear in Week 3, is out and will be replaced by Graham Glasgow, while rookie cornerback Ennis Rakestraw was limited during the week of practice.

Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson has put together a strong Lions offense based on multi-tight end formations, bucking the league trend of most teams using 11 players more than 65 percent of the time. So far this season, Detroit has used 12 personnel groupings with two tight ends on the field at a rate of 34.6 percent, the highest rate in the NFL, with more than six percent of those snaps featuring a tight end as an H-back in the NFL have rear field. The majority of the remaining games were played by 11 players at 58.3 percent, which ranks 25th among NFL teams.

After moving closer to a 50/50 split between zone and gap systems in 2023, Johnson has chosen zone concepts on 52 of 85 run plays so far in 2024, more than 60 percent of the time. With the ground game being extremely effective, the Lions were able to further maximize their utilization of the play-action passing game, as Goff ranked third in play-action dropbacks (36), first in play-action yardage (306), and Ranks seventh in play-action yardage yards per attempt (9.7). Interestingly, he ranks 16th in passer rating on these occasions (89.2) and only the Giants’ Daniel Jones has a worse grade on such throws, according to Pro Football Focus.

Now in his fourth season as Detroit’s defensive coordinator, Aaron Glenn has taken on the role of aggressor, sending five or more rushers on blitzes at a rate of 31 percent, the sixth-highest percentage in the NFL through three weeks. That extra paid off in the quarterback hunt, as the Lions ranked seventh in pressure rate (28.4 percent), eighth in quarterback knockdown rate (11.8 percent), and eighth in overall pressure rate (33). take sixth place. However, according to Field Vision, the Lions rarely used sim pressures and only increased them by 5.1 percent.

In terms of coverage, according to Field Vision charts, sticking with past trends, the Lions have chosen Cover 1 with a player under a man 34.6 percent of the time, with only the Broncos, Browns and Jaguars doing so more often this year have the single high look. Detroit also played a fair amount of quarters – or Cover 4 – coverage in 2024, ranking sixth in the NFL with that coverage on 22.7 percent of defensive snaps. Glenn, who leads the league in using Cover 1 and Cover 4 nearly 60 percent of the time, has used Cover 3, Cover 2 and Cover 0 looks sparingly compared to the NFL average.

–On Detroit’s multiple offense anchored by the front line: “I think the gap scheme coupled with the wide zone play-action passes, running the game back on time, [Jared] Goff plays fast, makes quick decisions and gets the ball from his hands to his playmakers. Both runners are really dangerous in their own way. The offensive line is probably one of the best in the league, if not the best, so we have a lot of work to do.”

–On Johnson’s running-game-based offense: “I don’t think they’re so stubborn that they only do one thing to beat their head against the wall, both run and pass. They’re very efficient, but I would say it starts with a running game with this team setup. The drop back play is consistent for the quarterback, it’s clean. They build it up in different ways that do a good job of hiding the look while keeping it consistent. So I would say it would start with the running game.