The first of the Seattle Seahawks’ four primetime appearances in 2024 did not go as planned. A multitude of defensive line ailments put Seattle at a disadvantage against the Detroit Lions, and the Seahawks unsurprisingly fell 42-29 on Monday Night Football.
In front of a large national audience, this might have easily been a humiliating thrashing, but Geno Smith and the offense amassed nearly 500 yards, set a franchise record with 38 first downs, and managed to keep the game close far into the fourth quarter.
NFL on FOX commentator Mark Schlereth was among those who left with a more optimistic view of the Seahawks, despite their loss.
“They surpass my expectations,” Schlereth told Seattle Sports 710. “You hang 29 points up
And consider Detroit at this moment. They have elite players, in my opinion, at each of the three defense tiers. Furthermore, to display the offensive stats that you do, I was rather pleased.
Schlereth said, in part, “People just do not understand how much you have to communicate on a football field to actually be a really good team,” recognizing the challenges posed by the absence of so many defensive players. He was very complimentary about the offense’s performance as well.
Schlereth stated, “You walk away from that feeling pretty good about what you did offensively, not that you ever get a moral victory.” “You can turn away from that one and say, ‘Hey, listen, we lost.'” Yeah, we’d like
However, I believe that you sometimes leave those games with a positive outlook on your football club because I believe the Lions are real. They accomplish a number of things really well (on offense). They are talented. They can run. They’ve got all that stuff. And in the past few years, people have managed to heal themselves of various ailments defensively. They have an excellent football team.
Although a loss is still a loss, in this case, it could be considered a “good” loss considering the circumstances. This may have been a difficult game to win even at full strength, as it appears that the Seahawks and Lions will always end up in shootouts no matter how hard they try.
