ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) — The Detroit Lions got their groove back offensively going into their bye week.
Led by Jared Goff’s perfect game, Detroit more than doubled its previous scoring average in a 42-29 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night.
“We’re beginning to find our stride,” coach Dan Campbell said Tuesday. “I believe we’re finding our rhythm offensively, and that makes me feel good.”
There was a lot for Campbell to like when the Lions had the ball against the previously unbeaten and stingy Seahawks.
“We knew this was coming offensively, everybody did,” Campbell said. “That’s why you can’t worry about this and that, you can’t start panicking.”
Goff’s poor play raised some concerns after the first two games when he had more interceptions (three) than touchdown passes (one) just months after signing a $212 million, four-year contract extension.
The veteran bounced back with a strong game in Week 3 at Arizona and was even better in Week 4, throwing the most passes without an incompletion in a game against the Seahawks.
Goff had the most passes (18) without an incompletion in NFL history, spreading the ball around to seven receivers, and even had a touchdown reception for the first time in his life as part of a balanced attack with running backs David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs.
“It’s what we’re supposed to be doing,” Goff said.
Goff got off to a rough start in his first two games, but started to turn things around against the Cardinals on Sept. 22 when he didn’t have an incompletion through two quarters.
“I thought that first half last week (against Arizona) was indicative of who we are and being able to draw on that for us this week was important,” he said.
Goff joined Hall of Famers Peyton Manning and Steve Young as the only NFL quarterbacks to complete every pass, throwing at least 10, in consecutive first halves since at least 1991.
He is 36 of 41 over the last two games, an 88% completion rate, for defending NFC North champions.
In the Lions’ lone loss, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson had a pass-happy game plan against Tampa Bay and Goff ended up throwing 55 times.
“It was something that we felt like for that week, for that game, that’s what we wanted to do,” Campbell said. “Is it more than we want to throw it? Yeah, it is.”
In Detroit’s three wins, Goff has averaged just 23 passes with a scheme that relied more heavily on perhaps the league’s best backfield.
Montgomery and Gibbs are the first pair of running backs on a team to each have 350-plus yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns in the first four games of a season since the 1970 merger.
They have had at least 70 yards from scrimmage apiece in every game, becoming the first duo to do that over the first four games of a season since Rocky Bleier and Franco Harris with the 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers.
When each runs for a touchdown, Detroit is 7-0 over the last two seasons.
Gibbs and All-Pro tight end Sam LaPorta, players the team drafted in 2023, were slowed by injuries during the preseason and suddenly they are not showing signs of having any ailments.
“They looked like, ‘OK, here we go,’” Campbell said. “They’ve got their legs back under them. I feel like they look as healthy as they’ve looked since the beginning of training camp, and they’re on the uptick.”
Wide receiver Jameson Williams is, too.
Detroit traded up to draft the former Alabama star with the No. 12 overall pick in 2022 and was patient with his comeback from injuries and his violation of the league’s gambling policy, which led to a suspension last season.
Williams, one of the NFL’s fastest receivers, is the franchise’s third player to have multiple 50-yard touchdown receptions over the first four games of a season and the first since 1971.
“There’s a lot of people that are involved in that and everything starts with him first, by the way,” Campbell said. “He’s done an outstanding job of rehabbing, getting over the injury. He had to deal with what came with the gambling and the time off.”
Detroit has won at least three of its first four games in two straight seasons for the first time since 2013-14.
The Lions enjoyed home-field advantage in two of their three wins and will play four of their next five on the road, including Oct. 13 at Dallas and the following week against the NFC North-leading Minnesota Vikings.
Seattle coach Mike Macdonald expects Campbell’s squad to be a contender again, a year after it reached the NFC championship game.
“Detroit’s a great team,” Macdonald said. “They’ve shown it, they’ve proven it, they proved it again.”
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Follow Larry Lage at https://twitter.com/larrylage
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