Enemy Reaction 2023: Detroit Lions

If last week was embarrassing, this week was exhilarating.

The Seattle Seahawks weren’t given much of a chance to beat the Detroit Lions on the road, not especially when Seattle looked terrible on opening day and had both backup offensive tackles starting, while Detroit had just beaten the Kansas City Chiefs on the road. But football is a funny ol’ game, and the Seahawks survived some rocky moments (some of them self-inflicted) and pulled off a remarkable 37-31 win in overtime to silence the Detroit faithful at Ford Field.

You know what that means, right? Enemy Reaction. For those of you new to the site, every Seahawks win (with very few exceptions) takes a look back at the key moments of the game through the eyes of our respective team site game threads. I juxtapose the Field Gulls thread with the opposing team’s thread (in this case, Pride of Detroit) and we get to see the contrasting views of joy and despair. We also scan the local opposition media to see what they’re saying in a more level-headed viewpoint, and look ahead to the next opponent. Today is Monday so I’ll probably include our “Enemy Preaction” for the Carolina Panthers in post-publish, because they play later this evening.

Got it? Let’s go!

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Kenneth Walker walks in for first touchdown (7-0 SEA)

Jared Goff, Josh Reynolds quickly respond (7-7)

Devon Witherspoon forces 4th down stop (7-7)

Jason Myers badly misses 45-yard field goal (7-7)

Trickery gets the Seahawks, Kalif Raymond scores on flea-flicker (14-7 SEA)

Jason Myers misses from 56 (14-7 SEA)

Uchenna Nwosu forces fumble, Jarran Reed recovers (14-7 SEA)

Kenneth Walker gets his second touchdown (14-14)

David Montgomery bounces back from fumble and scores (21-14 DET)

Seahawks stop the Lions on 4th down again (21-17 DET)

Refs talk to America and give the Seahawks intentional grounding penalty (21-17 SEA)

Ball don’t lie! Geno Smith throws a dime to Tyler Lockett (24-21 SEA)

Tre Brown’s first interception is a pick-6 (31-21 SEA)

Josh Reynolds gets another touchdown (31-28 SEA)

Geno nooooooooooooooooo (31-28 SEA)

Lions tie it up and force overtime (31-31)

Geno to Lockett once more, Seahawks win!! (37-31 SEA OT Final)

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Post-Game: Maybe the Lions don’t have a good pass rush after all (Kyle Meinke, MLive.com)

You remember those stories out of camp, right? About how deep the Lions’ pass rush was? So much so, they kept 12 linemen and edge players on their original 53-man roster? Yet through two games, they have just one sack — and even that sack was produced by a linebacker, Alex Anzalone. Aidan Hutchinson has three quarterback hits through two games, but the rest of the front combines for three overall. Now they’ve lost Josh Paschal and Julian Okwara to injured reserve, and James Houston will join them imminently after fracturing his ankle against Seattle. Yes, the secondary has to be better. But effective pass defense is always a marriage of coverage and rush, and right now, the rush isn’t holding up its end of the bargain, hanging everyone else out to dry.

Post-Game: Aaron Glenn is facing the hot seat (Jeff Risdon, Lions Wire)

Glenn has to mix things up. He’s from the Bill Parcells coaching tree. He was a Pro Bowl cornerback in multiple Parcells defenses. Parcells would not stand pat and keep failing by trying the same ineffective methods and schemes over and over again. It’s time for Glenn to either channel his Hall-of-Fame coaching mentor or find a different place to coach.

Campbell has been down this road once before, unfortunately. His initial choice of offensive coordinator, Anthony Lynn, was disastrous back in 2021. Campbell had no choice but to pull the plug on Lynn after an 0-8-1 start. It’s getting perilously close to time for Campbell to make another tough but necessary decision, this time on his defensive coordinator and longtime colleague, Glenn.

Next week’s game against Atlanta is a direct challenge for Glenn, or rather it should be. The Falcons are a run-based team with an inconsistent young quarterback in Desmond Ridder who doesn’t attack downfield well. Detroit’s run defense has been a bright spot; the Lions are allowing under 2.8 yards per carry on non-QB runs through the first two weeks. The linebackers and safeties are doing great at snuffing out the oppo

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sing running backs.

Now it’s time for them to do that to the opposing passing game. If not, Glenn’s seat should be on fire.

Post-Game Video: The coaches outcoached themselves (Between The Whistles Detroit)

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Enemy Reaction Bonus: Denver Broncos

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Enemy Preaction: Carolina Panthers

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I thought the Seahawks didn’t have much of a chance to win, but certainly not zero chance. A close loss would’ve been encouraging, then I was dreading throwing an opportunity away when they were 31-21 up. When they actually won the damn thing? Just pure joy.

There are still legit concerns about this defense and even with the turnovers it’s hard to call that a good performance, but they will be playing worse offenses (in theory) in the weeks to come so when you factor in the return of Devon Witherspoon and the impending return of Jamal Adams perhaps we’ll see things steadily improve. The much bigger story is how the offense responded after their surprising struggles in Week 1, because I don’t think Seattle has any shot to make the playoffs unless they’re a top-10 unit.

Now it’s time to honor the Super Bowl team on their special day with a win over the same opponents they beat to start their journey to the title: the Carolina Panthers.

Thanks for reading and go ‘Hawks!