Jared Goff’s perfect day leads Lions to 42-29 win over Seahawks

DETROIT — Jared Goff threw a perfect game, setting an NFL record by completing all 18 of his passes to help the Detroit Lions beat the Seattle Seahawks 42-29 Monday night.

“I just gave the game ball to somebody else, so I feel awful,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “I knew he played a heck of a game. I did not know he was perfect.”

Kurt Warner had the previous league mark for the passes without an incompletion, going 10 for 10 for Arizona against Houston in 2005.

“It’s a cool thing,” Goff said. “I’m just happy we got the win.”

Goff did throw an incomplete pass, but it was negated by a penalty.

“I was like, does that count?” he recalled wondering.

Goff also had a touchdown reception for the first time in his career, catching a pass from Amon-Ra St. Brown, and threw one of his two touchdown passes to the All-Pro receiver. Goff and St. Brown are the eighth duo in league history to throw and catch a touchdown from each other.

St. Brown lobbed a 7-yard pass to Goff on a trick play in the the third quarter and caught an 8-yard touchdown from the quarterback in the fourth.

Goff, who threw for 292 yards, completed his first 14 passes in Detroit’s previous win at Arizona to set a personal record that lasted a little more than a week. He also threw a pass over the middle to Jameson Williams, who ran away from the Seahawks for a 70-yard touchdown in the third quarter.

The Lions (3-1) asked Goff to throw one more time from his end zone and he was sacked for a safety with 2:01 remaining, cutting their lead to 13 points.

The Seahawks (3-1) simply could not overcome an injury-depleted defense that could not stop Detroit on the ground or through the air.

“It shows we aren’t the team we want to be,” Seattle coach Mike Macdonald said.

Macdonald went for it on fourth-and-4 from the Detroit 39 early in the fourth and receiver Tyler Lockett negated a first down with pass interference, getting called for running a pick play that freed up Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a catch.

“They said he picked the guy, but I think we all saw he never made contact with him,” Smith said.

Macdonald went for it again on fourth-and-goal from the Detroit 3 with 2:09 to go and Geno Smith threw a fourth straight incompletion.

The Lions took advantage and went ahead by 15 points with 5:23 left when Goff a high pass to St. Brown, who leaped for the catch and got both feet in the end zone.

Jahmyr Gibbs ran for two touchdowns in the second quarter and finished with 78 yards rushing. David Montgomery started the scoring barrage with a 1-yard touchdown run, capping a 10-play, 93-yard drive that took 7-plus minutes off the clock in the first quarter, and had 80 yards from scrimmage.

Smith was 38 of 56 for 395 yards with a 9-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end AJ Barner in the third quarter on a drive he extended with a sneak on fourth down. He threw an interception in the end zone to Kerby Joseph with a minute left, sealing Seattle’s first setback this season.

“Even when we were down 14, we knew we had a chance to come back,” Smith said.

DK Metcalf had seven catches for 104 yards and a costly fumble at the Detroit 37 in the first quarter.

Kenneth Walker, who gained 80 yards on 12 carries, had a career-high three touchdowns rushing.

INJURIES

Seahawks: DB Julian Love left the game with a thigh injury, another blow for a defense without banged-up DEs Uchenna Nwosu and Leonard Williams along with LB Jerome Baker.

Lions: DB Brian Branch was inactive with an illness, taking a key player out of the secondary, and Pro Bowl C Frank Ragnow was out with a pectoral muscle.

UP NEXT

Seahawks host the New York Giants on Sunday night.

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LIONS 42, SEAHAWKS 29

Seattle 0 7 13 9—29

Detroit 7 14 14 7—42

First Quarter

Det—Montgomery 1 run (Bates kick), 3:11. Drive: 12 plays, 93 yards, 7:21. Key Plays: Montgomery 11 run; Goff 10 pass to J.Williams; Goff 17 pass to St. Brown; Montgomery 13 run; Gibbs 20 run. Detroit 7, Seattle 0.

Second Quarter

Det—Gibbs 3 run (Bates kick), 14:58. Drive: 3 plays, 14 yards, 00:53. Key Play: Goff 10 pass to Wright. Detroit 14, Seattle 0.

Sea—Walker 1 run (Myers kick), 10:08. Drive: 11 plays, 70 yards, 4:50. Key Plays: G.Smith 10 pass to Smith-Njigba on 3rd-and-6; G.Smith 10 pass to Walker; G.Smith 29 pass to Metcalf. Detroit 14, Seattle 7.

Det—Gibbs 1 run (Bates kick), 5:11. Drive: 10 plays, 70 yards, 4:57. Key Plays: Gibbs 10 run; Goff 13 pass to LaPorta on 3rd-and-3. Detroit 21, Seattle 7.

Third Quarter

Sea—Barner 9 pass from G.Smith (Myers kick), 9:46. Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, 5:14. Key Plays: D.Williams kick return to Seattle 25; G.Smith 4 pass to Smith-Njigba on 3rd-and-5; G.Smith 2 run on 4th-and-1; G.Smith 10 pass to Metcalf on 3rd-and-8; G.Smith 16 pass to N.Fant. Detroit 21, Seattle 14.

Det—Goff 7 pass from St. Brown (Bates kick), 6:57. Drive: 6 plays, 70 yards, 2:49. Key Plays: Goff 40 pass to Montgomery; Goff 23 pass to Patrick. Detroit 28, Seattle 14.

Sea—Walker 1 run (pass failed), 3:03. Drive: 9 plays, 80 yards, 3:54. Key Plays: Walker 28 run; G.Smith 11 pass to Smith-Njigba on 3rd-and-8; G.Smith 29 pass to Lockett; G.Smith 10 pass to Bobo. Detroit 28, Seattle 20.

Det—J.Williams 70 pass from Goff (Bates kick), 2:52. Drive: 2 plays, 55 yards, 00:11. Detroit 35, Seattle 20.

Fourth Quarter

Sea—Walker 21 run (Myers kick), 14:48. Drive: 8 plays, 70 yards, 3:04. Key Plays: Walker 23 run; G.Smith 18 pass to Shenault. Detroit 35, Seattle 27.

Det—St. Brown 8 pass from Goff (Bates kick), 5:23. Drive: 7 plays, 80 yards, 3:34. Key Plays: Goff 29 pass to Patrick; Goff 30 pass to LaPorta. Detroit 42, Seattle 27.

Sea—safety, 2:01. Drive: 2 plays, -4 yards, 00:08. Detroit 42, Seattle 29.

Sea Det

FIRST DOWNS 38 21

Rushing 10 8

Passing 22 12

Penalty 6 1

THIRD DOWN EFF 5-10 3-6

FOURTH DOWN EFF 1-2 0-0

TOTAL NET YARDS 516 389

Total Plays 78 50

Avg Gain 6.6 7.8

NET YARDS RUSHING 133 116

Rushes 19 28

Avg per rush 7.0 4.1

NET YARDS PASSING 383 273

Sacked-Yds lost 3-12 3-26

Gross-Yds passing 395 299

Completed-Att. 38-56 19-19

Had Intercepted 1 0

Yards-Pass Play 6.5 12.4

KICKOFFS-EndZone-TB 5-4-4 8-7-6

PUNTS-Avg. 3-44.3 3-46.7

Punts blocked 0 0

FGs-PATs blocked 0-0 0-0

TOTAL RETURN YARDAGE 55 32

Punt Returns 2-1 1-6

Kickoff Returns 2-54 1-26

Interceptions 0-0 1-0

PENALTIES-Yds 9-70 12-101

FUMBLES-Lost 1-1 0-0

TIME OF POSSESSION 34:04 25:56

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Seattle, Walker 12-80, G.Smith 5-38, Charbonnet 2-15. Detroit, Gibbs 14-78, Montgomery 12-40, Goff 2-(minus 2).

PASSING—Seattle, G.Smith 38-56-1-395. Detroit, Goff 18-18-0-292, St. Brown 1-1-0-7.

RECEIVING—Seattle, Smith-Njigba 8-51, Metcalf 7-104, Lockett 5-61, Charbonnet 5-39, Walker 4-36, Bobo 3-30, Barner 2-27, N.Fant 2-26, Shenault 1-18, P.Brown 1-3. Detroit, St. Brown 6-45, LaPorta 4-53, J.Williams 2-80, Patrick 2-52, Wright 2-13, Montgomery 1-40, Raymond 1-9, Goff 1-7.

PUNT RETURNS—Seattle, D.Williams 2-1. Detroit, Raymond 1-6.

KICKOFF RETURNS—Seattle, D.Williams 2-54. Detroit, Raymond 1-26.

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS—Seattle, Knight 7-2-0, Dodson 5-5-0, Jenkins 3-2-0, Love 3-1-0, Witherspoon 3-1-0, D.Hall 2-2-1, Ja.Reed 2-2-1, Woolen 2-1-0, Jones 1-1-1, Adams 1-1-0, Bryant 1-1-0, Hankins 1-1-0, Bowser 1-0-0, Thomas 0-2-0, Wallace 0-1-0. Detroit, Robertson 8-0-0, Campbell 6-1-0, K.Joseph 5-4-0, Anzalone 5-2-0, B.Joseph 5-1-0, Davis 4-3-0, Arnold 4-1-0, Rodriguez 3-1-1, Onwuzurike 2-1-.5, Reeves-Maybin 2-0-0, McNeill 1-1-.5, Paschal 1-1-0, Reader 1-0-1.

INTERCEPTIONS—Seattle, None. Detroit, K.Joseph 1-0.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—Seattle, Myers 62.

OFFICIALS—Referee Alex Kemp, Ump Mike Morton, HL Robert Richeson, LJ Rusty Baynes, FJ Sean Petty, SJ Lo van Pham, BJ Scott Helverson, Replay Gerald Frye.