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Free Press sportswriter Dave Birkett highlights the best and worst performances from the Detroit Lions' 42-29 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night at Ford Field.

Play balls

QB Jared Goff

Dan Campbell didn't give Goff a ball on Monday, but no one contributed more to the Lions' victory than their quarterback, who went a perfect 18-for-18 for 292 yards.

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Goff struggled with four interceptions in the first three weeks as Campbell said he tried too much on the field at times. That wasn't a problem on Monday – Goff let the game come to him. He worked on his checkdowns when nothing was open deep down, and he struck big when the Seahawks hit six balls and left Jameson Williams offside in one-on-one coverage.

“I don’t want to speak for Jared, but I would bet that he knew he was going to have a good game,” Campbell said. “I felt like he got back into balance last week, back to center. Take what's there, be smart with the football, play fast, play efficiently and beforehand: “Maybe I'll try to do more than I have to do.”…And that's how I felt after last week , that this will be the week where he finds that happy balance and, man, he really did. He came to life.”

LIONS LEVEL: Perfection gets an A for Jared Goff

LB Jack Campbell and S Kerby Joseph

In a shootout, Campbell and Joseph forced crucial turnovers that secured the Lions' win.

Campbell forced a fumble from DK Metcalf late in the first quarter, whereupon 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 on fourth down as he fought for extra yards. Joseph credited his development to his maturity as a player and his understanding of situational football. The Lions hadn't forced many turnovers in the first three weeks despite being one of the best defenses in the NFL. They didn't play their best defensive game on Monday, but Campbell and Joseph made big plays.

Goats

CB Terrion Arnold

Arnold is still developing, but four games into his career he is piling up penalties at an absurd rate.

Arnold was cited twice for defensive holding and once for pass interference Monday, giving him eight penalties in four games this season. Two of his penalties Monday came in the red zone, two helped keep shots on goal alive, and he also lost control while trying to break into a block on Seattle's longest run of the game.

The 24thTh As an April draft pick, Arnold has done some good things this season, but opponents will keep picking on him until he learns to deal with his physical game.

Whoever invented 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 close to perfect (158.3) on a day in which the Lions scored six touchdowns.

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

Goff may have been better on this day in 2018; he passed for 465 yards and five touchdowns. But it's hard to imagine him extending his attempts any further on Monday.

“This system is strange, but whatever,” Goff said. “Maybe if we hadn’t taken the safety and I hit the guy wide open that I couldn’t hit, it might have done it.”

Dave Birkett will be signing copies of his new book, “Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline,” at the Pro Sports Zone at Laurel Park Place on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. Order it now from Reedy Press.

Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

On By John Fenwick

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