Are Seahawks for real? Lions present Mike Macdonald’s biggest test yet

SEATTLE – Of the many storylines percolating when the Seahawks play at Detroit for the third straight year on Monday, one figured to stand out: Could Mike Macdonald’s crew use the game to prove it’s for real?

But suddenly, that narrative comes affixed with a caveat – just as many feel is the case with Seattle’s first three wins.

In becoming one of only five teams in the NFL to start 3-0, the Seahawks have been led by a defense that ranks fourth in points allowed (14.3 per game) and second in yards allowed (248.7).

The asterisk attached to that stat are the three teams and quarterbacks Seattle has beaten: a rookie in Week 1 (Denver’s Bo Nix), a journeyman and mostly career backup in Week 2 (New England’s Jacoby Brissett), and two backups in Week 3 (Miami’s Skylar Thompson and Tim Boyle).

There won’t be any “yeah buts” if the Seahawks go on the road Monday night and beat a Detroit team coming off an appearance in the NFC conference title game and featuring an offense regarded as one of the top in the NFL, if underachieving just a bit through three games, scoring 20.7 points per game, 16th in the league, but having gained the fourth-most yards (373 per game). Kickoff is 5:15 p.m. on ABC.

Especially if they can figure out how to do it without four of the top players on their defensive front seven – defensive linemen Leonard Williams and Byron Murphy II and outside linebackers/edge rushers Uchenna Nwosu and Boye Mafe. All are listed as out due to injury.

That’s merely Seattle’s 2024 first-round pick (Murphy), highest-paid defensive player in team history on a per-year basis (Williams), and two players who going into the season were considered their top pass rushers (Nwosu and Mafe). A fifth, weakside linebacker Jerome Baker, is listed as questionable.

And therein lies the new caveat to this one – the Seahawks suddenly being at less than full strength.

But if that provides a potential excuse, it also provides an opportunity.

Just think if Macdonald can devise a defensive scheme to pull this one off?

Or maybe Geno Smith can simply create a little more magic as he has the past two years at Ford Field, leading the Seahawks to wins by scores of 48-45 in 2022 and 37-31 in overtime in 2023.

The 2022 game proved especially pivotal in Smith’s career. Seattle was 1-2 heading to Detroit with increasing questions about where things were headed in Smith’s first year taking over for the traded Russell Wilson.

Smith then threw for 320 yards and ran for 49 more in the win.

He backed that up last season when the Seahawks traveled to Detroit after a crushing season-opening loss at home to the Rams, throwing for 328 yards and two TDs, one to Tyler Lockett to win in overtime.

“It was obviously great for our season to start that way, but it’s a new season this year,” Smith said of the 2023 win. “We’ve got a new staff, they’re doing some new things and so we’ve got to play this game. None of those other games really matter. It’s just about this one and I think we’ve got a tremendous opportunity.”

If for Smith and the Seahawks it’s about repeating history, for the Lions and head coach Dan Campbell it’s about changing it.

This is the fourth straight year Seattle and Detroit have played, in 2021 and this season because every team in the NFC West plays the NFC North, and in 2022 and 2023 because Seattle and Detroit each finished in the same place in their respective divisions.

Seattle has won the previous three, all since Campbell became Detroit’s head coach before the 2021 season.

Including playoff games, Detroit is 14-5 in its past 19 home games, but 0-2 against the Seahawks.

Those Seattle wins are part of an overall six-game winning streak by the Seahawks against Detroit dating to 2012.

“I would be lying, though, if I told you that I don’t know that we’ve lost to them three years in a row,” Campbell said this week. “I do know that. So, you get tired of that. You get tired of that after one loss, much less three. But no, I don’t look at that, that (it) gets in our head – you take each game as it comes. It’s a new game, a new year, and you have to play good clean football.”

The Lions might also want some payback on Macdonald, who was the defensive coordinator for the Ravens last season when Baltimore beat Detroit 38-6 in Week 7.

“We’re definitely not anticipating anything along those lines,” Macdonald said. “Our guys know that we’re in for a 60-minute battle, maybe even longer.”

Campbell said that game was such an anomaly he’s not sure the Lions could gain anything from reviewing it now.

“That was so bad,” Campbell said. “Our game plan, really in all three phases, you could burn it by four minutes into that game. It was a waste of a week. You just chuck it right out of the window and we’re out of our game plan.

“So, there’s certainly things you look at that (Macdonald) did when he was in Baltimore – he’s doing a great job, by the way, he really is. He did a great job out there, he’s doing a great job now. It’s one of the reasons they’re 3-0.

“… There’s a few things that are a little bit different in the way that they play, but for the most part, the scheme, the philosophy is very much intact. They want to get you in third down and then create issues. That’s where they can get you – get you in third down and now they’re causing problems, attacking your protections.”

Detroit will try to use its two-headed running-back attack of David Montgomery (231 yards) and Jahmyr Gibbs (210), as well as quarterback Jared Goff and leading receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to combat that plan.

The Seahawks will try to show that injury issues or not, they are deserving of their 3-0 record and the spotlight; a win would also assure they stay two games in front of the pack in the NFC West.

“Just being kind of the focal point of the night, I like those types of games,” Seahawks safety Rayshawn Jenkins said of what is Seattle’s only Monday night game this season. “Even when we’re not on primetime, I know I’m on the couch watching whoever is on primetime. So, I would say it’s a big deal.”