Quick takeaways from the Lions Week 4 win over the Seahawks

Decided to just lump all the negativity regarding the Lions into one thread…

–The officiating crew was largely an embarrassment, but that doesn’t excuse some of the holding and pass interference from CBs Carlton Davis and Terrion Arnold. They did not adjust well to how the game was being called. Not going to say all those calls were valid, but enough were that it needs to become an even bigger focal point for CB coach Deshea Townsend over the bye week. It’s minor issues in technique more than bad coverage from what I’m seeing.

–The end-of-half offense and clock management/play-calling was nearly disastrous. That’s becoming a picking point too often. This one felt like the Lions weren’t sure if they wanted to score or just run the clock out at the end of the first half. They halfheartedly did neither–and then needed to get bailed out by a missed field goal by the Seahawks.

–James Houston was flagged for being offsides three times (one got declined). He came close to recording one pressure on Geno Smith, although that was a play on which he was offsides. Didn’t pay close enough attention to see exactly how many snaps No. 41 got, but he did not make a dent in the box score other than the penalties and was pretty easily redirected by the Seahawks blocking.

–Teams have hardly tried to return kickoffs against the Lions, but Seattle proved that perhaps they should. The sideline containment on the kick coverage team failed on both Seattle returns. Thankfully, one of those was negated by a holding penalty that wasn’t directly related to the point of attack.

–A week after being the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week, punter Jack Fox did not have a strong outing. The one time the Lions could have really used a deep pin inside the 10, Fox got too much air under a 42-yard effort that was fair caught outside the 20. His second punt of the night didn’t appear to turn over and was only spared thanks to great coverage by LB Ben Niemann.