Detroit Lions didn't give Jared Goff a gameball after his perfect passing day, but we will

Free Press sports writer Dave Birkett highlights the best and worst performances of the Detroit Lions ’ 42-29 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night at Ford Field.

Gameballs

QB Jared Goff

Dan Campbell didn’t give Goff a gameball Monday, but no one was more instrumental to the Lions’ victory than their quarterback, who finished a perfect 18-for-18 for 292 yards.

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Goff struggled with interceptions — four — the first three weeks, when Campbell said he was trying to do too much at times on the field. On Monday, that wasn’t an issue — Goff let the game come to him. He worked his checkdowns when nothing was open deep, and he struck big when the Seahawks blitzed six and left Jameson Williams in one-on-one coverage downfield.

“I don’t want to speak for Jared, but I would be willing to bet somewhere in there, he knew that he was going to have a good game,” Campbell said. “I felt like last week was his get back to balance, get back to center. Take what’s there, be smart with the football, play fast, play efficient, and before, ‘Maybe I’m trying to do more than I need to do.’ … And so I felt like after last week, this is going to be the week (that he) finds that happy balance and, man, he really did. He came alive.”

LIONS GRADES: Perfection brings an A for Jared Goff

LB Jack Campbell and S Kerby Joseph

In a shootout of a game, Campbell and Joseph forced critical turnovers to bookend the Lions’ win.

Campbell forced a fumble on D.K. Metcalf late in the first quarter that Carlton Davis III returned to the Seattle 14-yard line to set up a touchdown, and Joseph had his third interception in four weeks on the Seahawks’ final offensive play.

Campbell’s play was pure hustle, hitting Metcalf as the fourth defender in as he was fighting for extra yards. Joseph chalked his pick up to his maturation as a player and his understanding of situational football. The Lions hadn’t forced many turnovers the first three weeks, even as they ranked among the NFL’s best defenses. On Monday, they didn’t have their best defensive game but Campbell and Joseph delivered big plays.

Goats

CB Terrion Arnold

Arnold is still very much a work in progress, but four games into his career he’s piling up penalties at an absurd rate.

Arnold was flagged twice for defensive holding and once for pass interference Monday, bringing him to eight penalties through four games this season. Two of his penalties Monday came in the red zone, two helped keep alive scoring drives and he also lost contain when he tried to cut inside a block on Seattle’s longest run of the game.

The 24 ^th pick of April’s draft, Arnold has done some good things this season, but opponents will keep picking on him until he learns to manage his physical play.

Whoever came up with the QB rating formula

Goff was a perfect 18-for-18, the most attempts without an incompletion in NFL history. He averaged 16.2 yards per attempt and threw two touchdowns. Yet somehow his passer rating (155.8) was just short of perfect (158.3) on a day the Lions scored six touchdowns.

Goff had a perfect passer rating once before, in Week 4 of the 2018 season when he averaged fewer yards per attempts (14.1) and completed a lower (but still impressive) percentage of his throws (78.8%) in a win over the Vikings.

Goff may have been better that day in 2018; he passed for 465 yards and five touchdowns. But it’s hard to imagine him doing more on his attempts Monday.

“That system is weird, but whatever,” Goff said. “Maybe if we would have not taken the safety and I hit the wide-open guy that I was unable to hit — maybe that would have done it.”

Dave Birkett will sign copies of his new book, " Detroit Lions : An Illustrated Timeline" from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday at Pro Sports Zone in Laurel Park Place. Order it now from Reedy Press .

Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com . Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions didn't give Jared Goff a gameball after his perfect passing day, but we will