Week 4 of the NFL season came to a close on Monday night with another double-header, with one encounter between teams flying high and the other between two looking to kickstart their seasons in earnest.
Sunday’s action was filled with dramatic finishes, outstanding individual performances and shock results, and while Monday’s lacked the late drama, it was perpetuated with interesting notes and history being made.
Here are the main storylines from Monday’s two games:
Jared Goff has perfect, historical evening
If Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff could have drawn up how he wanted Monday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks to go, how it actually played out was probably too good to imagine.
The 29-year-old didn’t throw a single incompletion in the 42-29 win, going 18-for-18 for 292 yards and two touchdowns, including a 70-yard TD toss to Jameson Williams.
In doing so, Goff became the first QB in NFL history to attempt more than 10 passes in a game without throwing an incompletion, according to the NFL.
When asked about his perfect accuracy on the evening by ESPN’s Lisa Salters, Goff didn’t even realize he hadn’t missed a pass. And after having some time to think about it, he was understated in his reaction.
“Awesome. Yeah, really cool,” Goff said of making history. “It’s a cool thing to have, I guess, but I’m happy we got the win.”
On top of that, the evening got even better for Goff when he caught his first ever touchdown pass on a trick play as Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown tossed him the ball midway through the third quarter.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell said he felt “awful” after already giving the game ball to Williams before being told of Goff’s historic evening.
“I knew he played a heck of a game. I did not realize he was perfect. I did not know he was literally 18-for-18,” Campbell told reporters. “But I knew he played really well; you could feel it.
“He really found his rhythm early, and I thought he was seeing the field, played with rhythm, he had to move a little bit in the pocket. … Just a number of huge throws. Played with poise.”
The Lions needed a full team performance to put away a previously-unbeaten Seahawks squad that arrived at Ford Field with plenty of confidence.
Seattle quarterback Geno Smith tried valiantly to keep up the pace with the home team, cutting the lead to seven with a touchdown on the first drive of the second half.
But while the teams exchanged scores, Detroit’s early advantage meant it held on for the win, improving to 3-1 while the Seahawks slipped to the same record.
Smith threw 38-for-56 for 395 yards, one touchdown and an interception, while Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III had three rushing TDs.
Aidan Hutchinson continued his excellent season on the Detroit defense with a career-high 10 pressures, the most pressures by any player in a game this season, per the NFL.
After the loss, Seattle’s first-year head coach Mike Macdonald touched on his team having plenty of room to grow.
“I wouldn’t say (facing Detroit on the road is) a litmus test, it just shows us we’re not the team that we need to be at this point,” Macdonald told reporters. “I mean, that’s what it is. Just wasn’t good enough.
“They did what they did to win the game. They did a great job, they had a great plan, and we came up short. So it’s how do we move forward right now as a football team and take the next step because we’ve got a short week coming up and there’s urgency – I mean, there’s always an urgency, but we’ve got to go to work here over the next few days and make this right.”
Titans battle injuries to notch first win of season
It wasn’t a classic, but Tennessee is finally off the mark this season.
The Titans picked up their first win of the season thanks to a 31-12 victory over the Miami Dolphins, a game in which Tennessee lost starting quarterback Will Levis to injury in the first quarter.
Levis suffered a shoulder injury after battling for a first down and was quickly ruled out of the rest of Monday’s game. Head coach Bill Callahan said Levis will undergo an MRI for what is thought to be an acromioclavicular (AC) joint issue.
Even during his brief stint on the field, the second-year passer threw an interception to continue his streak of turning the ball over in every game so far this season.
But despite backup QB Mason Rudolph stewarding the team to the win, Callahan said afterwards that Levis is the team’s starting quarterback when he’s healthy.
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“It was not a decision based on anything other than his health and protecting him, particularly with the bye week,” Callahan said. “The shoulder didn’t feel great. I didn’t want to put him back out there, and I knew I was gonna run the ball quite a bit, so that was really what factored in. But he’s our starter when he’s healthy and we’re ready to roll with him.”
Levis was replaced by Rudolph and, although he only threw 9-for-17 for 85 yards, the veteran backup was able to lead seven scoring drives during his time on the field.
Titans kicker Nick Folk was perfect on the evening, hitting all five of his field goals as well as both his extra points.
Tennessee’s two touchdowns came via running backs Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears as the duo racked up 127 yards on the ground.
For the Dolphins, it was another underwhelming performance with starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa still absent with a concussion.
Miami started Tyler Huntley in place of Tagovailoa, but he struggled for consistency, throwing 14-for-22 for 96 yards. He did run for the team’s only score of the night midway through the fourth quarter.
The Dolphins made some history of their own on Monday, becoming the first team since the 2017 Cleveland Browns to not hold a lead through the first four games of the season. Miami’s only win – a 20-17 Week 1 victory against the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars – came when Jason Sanders kicked the game-winning field goal as time ran out.
