Dan Campbell gave a great answer about how the Seahawks ended the win over his Lions

Detroit coach Dan Campbell gave a great answer about how the Seahawks ended the win over his Lions in Week 17

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At the end of the Seattle Seahawks’ 51-29 romp over the Detroit Lions, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll kept his offense driving down the field with most starters still playing. Quarterback Russell Wilson guided the Seahawks on a 7-play, 43-yard drive down to the Lions’ 1-yard line.

It was at that point, with just over one minute to play, that Carroll finally called upon Wilson to take a knee in victory formation. It was the first time in nine drives the Seahawks didn’t score, and the only reason they didn’t was taking mercy on the Lions.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell didn’t have a problem with the Seahawks driving it down his defense’s throat one more time. In fact, he turned it around in the exact manner a sports radio host would excoriate a coach whose defense was terrible.

When asked if he had a problem with Carroll not calling off the dogs until the very end, Campbell responded,

“No. I mean look, the way I look at that is, ‘Well, if you don’t like it, you better stop it.’ Hey man, kudos. To be honest with you, if they would have ran it in at the end, I wouldn’t have had a problem with that either. It’s up to us to stop them. There are 60 minutes on that game clock, so if you’ve got a problem, then why don’t you stop it? Otherwise, they’ll just keep piling it on. So, no, I don’t have any problem with that.”

Good answer, coach. Now maybe work on figuring out how to stop them before that point, even with backups playing at nearly every position all afternoon. At least Campbell knows it and owns it.

Lions vs. Seahawks: Everything we know from Week 17

Detroit Lions vs. Seattle Seahawks: Score, stats, keys to the game, top Lions players and more

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It was not a successful final road trip for the 2021 season for the Detroit Lions. The Week 17 visit to Seattle produced one of the most lopsided losses of a season where Detroit has now fallen to a 2-13-1 record with one game left to play.

For the most succinct recap of the Seahawks’ 51-29 win, in the above sentence, I typed the 2-13-1 as 2-31-1 — twice — and it felt appropriate. That’s how this game felt.

With Dan Campbell’s Lions starting deep reserves, practice squad call-ups and players who will likely never cash another NFL paycheck after this season in far too many key roles all over the lineup, it wasn’t really much of a contest. Seattle surged out to an early double-digit lead and the Lions never threatened to win thereafter.

Overmatched, undermanned Lions hammered in Seattle in Week 17 blowout

Overmatched, undermanned Detroit Lions team gets hammered in Seattle in a Week 17 blowout

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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.

Lions vs. Seahawks: How to watch, listen, stream and wager on the Week 17 game

Detroit Lions vs. Seattle Seahawks: How to watch, listen, stream and wager on the Week 17 game

The Detroit Lions take their final road trip of the 2021 season with a visit to Seattle to face the NFC West’s last-place team, the Seahawks. With so many injuries and COVID-19 impact on both rosters throughout the year, it’s a tough matchup to predict.

Detroit Lions (2-12-1) vs. Seattle Seahawks (5-10)

When: Sunday, January 2nd, 4:25 p.m. ET
Where: Lumen Field, Seattle
Referee: Tony Corrente

The game will be broadcast on FOX. Markets highlighted in blue on the map below will have the game on their local FOX affiliate. Gus Johnson will have the play-by-play with Aqib Talib on the color commentary.

Radio: 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit is the flagship station. The full list of over 30 radio affiliates is here.

Sirius XM Radio: The Lions audio feed featuring Dan Miller is on channel 225. The national broadcast is on channel 88.

Stream: NFL Game Pass

Watch free on FUBO TV

Wagering

From our friends at Sportsbook Wire:

  • Money line: Lions +260 (bet $100 to win $260) | Seahawks -340 (bet $340 to win $100)
  • Against the spread (ATS): Lions +6.5 (+100) | Seahawks -6.5 (-120)
  • Over/Under (O/U): 42.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)

The lines have moved since that publication during the week with Lions QB Jared Goff’s doubtful status.

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Final Detroit Lions vs. Seattle Seahawks Week 17 injury report

The final Detroit Lions vs. Seattle Seahawks Week 17 injury report

The Detroit Lions final injury report for Week 17 doesn’t feature many names, but the most important player on the team is a significant one.

Quarterback Jared Goff is officially listed as doubtful for the Lions’ final road trip of the season against the Seattle Seahawks. He has not practiced since suffering a knee injury in the Week 15 win over the Arizona Cardinals. As was the case in Week 16, Tim Boyle would get the start in Goff’s place.

There are only two other Lions with any injury designations. Fullback Jason Cabinda is out, as expected. Cabinda suffered a knee injury last week and head coach Dan Campbell effectively ruled out the team’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee early in the week.

The only player listed as questionable is linebacker Curtis Bolton, who was limited with a back injury. Bolton signed from the practice squad recently to bolster the depth at linebacker.

Running back D’Andre Swift does not carry a designation, an indication he will be back in the lineup for the first time in several weeks.