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Sunday’s trip to Seattle to face the Seahawks felt a lot more like a preseason game than a Week 17 contest.
Through that prism, the blowout 51-29 loss is a little more palatable. If the focus of the game was to see what the bottom-of-the-roster and practice squad players thrust into starting roles all over the Lions lineup could do, we did get some answers there. And not all of them were negatives, though there were a lot more nays than yeas.
In terms of an actual competitive football game, the Lions had no chance. Starting seven rookies overall and without over a dozen regulars from even six weeks ago, the undermanned Lions had no real chance. Tim Boyle at QB throwing to KhaDarel Hodge as the top outside receiver, with Tommy Kraemer starting at right guard and a tight end, Jared Pinkney, who was on the Rams practice squad on Monday, yeah … it went exactly as you might expect.
And that meager offense was handily the better of Detroit’s two units in Seattle. Demoted safety Will Harris was the Lions’ top cornerback and played exactly as you’d expect a player often tabbed as the NFL’s worst coverage safety might while trying to cover talented Seahawks WR DK Metcalf. Metcalf scored three touchdowns — one versus the other Lions starting CB, rookie Ifeatu Melifonwu, who would normally be 6th on the depth chart. It didn’t help that the pass rush, prominently featuring backups Austin Bryant and Julian Okwara, did very little to impact QB Russell Wilson all day.
The coverage was unacceptable, even for practice squad refugees. The tackling was even worse, and that was a problem for the few regulars (LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin, DT John Penisini, DE Levi Onwuzurike, S Dean Marlowe) who were in the lineup too.
Dan Campbell’s team did not pack it in. True to their head coach’s character, they fought hard. There just wasn’t any juice to squeeze out of the lemon of a roster the dilapidated Lions took with them to Seattle. It wasn’t unexpected given the myriad injuries, but it was still little consolation to see random guys in Lions uniforms getting so thoroughly outclassed by the worst Seahawks team since Matt Millen was running the Lions.
There were bright spots for Detroit. Amon-Ra St. Brown continues to look like a legit weapon without having any real help at all at wide receiver. Left tackle Taylor Decker caught a touchdown pass. The play designs and playcalling continue to look better than they did earlier in the season, showing more aggression and creativity. D’Andre Swift returned to the lineup and didn’t get hurt again.
That’s the feel of the final preseason game. It’s not a good feeling in January.