Seahawks Rapid Reaction: Geno Smith, Tre Brown Key Thrilling OT Win Over Lions

Putting the team on his back after clutch defensive plays willed the Seattle Seahawks into the lead in the second half, Geno Smith stuck the dagger into the Detroit Lions with a masterful touchdown drive to finish off a signature Week 2 road win.

Bouncing back in resounding fashion to capture their first win of the season, the Seattle Seahawks erased a halftime deficit with a 30-point outburst to tame the Detroit Lions with a 37-31 overtime victory.

Leading the charge, Geno Smith rebounded from a tough opener by throwing for 328 yards and tossing a pair of touchdowns to receiver Tyler Lockett. Ken Walker III scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground, while cornerback Tre Brown ended Jared Goff's historic streak without an interception by returning a pick for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Here are five quick takeaways from Seattle's exciting, gutsy overtime win at Ford Field:

1. Though he wasn't perfect, a phenomenal effort by Smith fueled a second half comeback and overtime dagger.

Getting the negative out of the way, Smith's decision to run around and hang onto the football while taking a 17-yard sack late in the fourth quarter gave the Lions incredible field position without burning any timeouts, all but ensuring overtime. But that miscue can be forgiven considering how outstanding the precise signal caller performed outside of that play, including a dominant final drive where he easily marched the Seahawks 70 yards by completing six of seven passes for 69 yards and a score to win the game.

After completing 80 percent of his passes in the first half, Smith kept humming in the final three periods, slinging the pigskin to receivers, tight ends, and running backs at a remarkably accurate clip. Helping the Seahawks take their first lead since 7-0 early in the fourth quarter, he dropped a dime to Lockett, who pulled off his patented over the shoulder grab while tip-toeing the back of the end zone for a touchdown. Then after Detroit knotted up the game to force overtime, he masterfully picked apart the Lions' secondary and showed off his clutch gene, eventually avoiding a sack and finding Lockett again for the game-winning score in one of the best performances of his NFL career.

2. Jake Curhan and Stone Forsythe shined under adverse circumstances.

Going into Sunday's game, the Seahawks understandably had major concerns up front with starting tackles Charles Cross and Abraham Lucas sidelined by injuries. Last week, Forsythe and Curhan struggled after being forced into action early in the second half, allowing the Rams to get frequent pressure on Smith throughout a dismal final two quarters. With a full week to game plan, however, both players looked much more comfortable with offensive coordinator Shane Waldron providing help from tight ends and running backs whenever he could.

Geno Smith was in full command on Sunday, in part due to excellent pass protection from backup tackles Stone Forsythe and Jake Curhan / © Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press

From the opening series of the game, Seattle mixed in multi tight end formations to provide support, especially for Curhan off the right side dealing with standout rusher Aidan Hutchinson. The third-year tackles responded beautifully, giving up only two combined pressures and no hits on Smith, allowing the quarterback to work through his progressions while completing 16 of his first 20 pass attempts. Both players also showed up in key situations in the run game, including Curhan making a nice block on a 4th and 1 conversion in Seattle's own territory by Walker, which led to a Jason Myers field goal in the third quarter.

On the one occasion where Curhan got smoked off the edge on the final play, Smith helped his young blocker out by escaping the sack and hitting Lockett to ice the game.

3. After being shut out for two quarters, Seattle's pass rush finally finds life in the second half.

Unfortunately continuing off a disappointing performance against the Rams last weekend, the Seahawks did little to make Jared Goff uncomfortable in the first two games. After only getting two quarterback hits on Matthew Stafford in the opener, they didn't generate a single hit in the first half on Sunday, allowing the veteran quarterback to complete 11 out of 15 passes for 141 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Lions built a seven-point halftime advantage.

But at the tail end of the half, defensive tackle Dre'Mont Jones did force Goff of his spot to draw a third down holding call, leading to a Detroit punt. In the second half, the rush found traction with a mix of blitzes and four-man rushes, including sacks by Jones and Brown, who registered the first sack of the day right before his crucial pick six temporarily turned the tide of the game. They racked up seven quarterback hits in the final two quarters, building momentum they hope to carry into upcoming games as the defense continues to deal with consistency issues.

4. With tons of yards in between, Brown and the defense came through with clutch stops all day long.

There's plenty to nitpick looking at Seattle's defensive outing, starting with the facts that the team allowed Detroit to convert six out of 11 third downs and surrendered 418 yards of total offense, marking the second straight game allowing more than 50 percent conversion rate and over 400 yards. Rookie Devon Witherspoon also got burned on a flea flicker, learning a harsh lesson in his first NFL game giving up a 32-yard touchdown to Khalif Raymond in the second quarter.

But taking the yardage out of the equation, unlike a week ago, the Seahawks found ways to make critical stops when the team needed them most. Witherspoon broke up a fourth down conversion attempt in the first half to turn the Lions away without points and later had solid coverage on another fourth down attempt in Detroit territory, setting up Smith's first touchdown to Lockett. Seconds into the second half, Jarran Reed recovered a fumble forced by Uchenna Nwosu, and Walker scored shortly after to tie the game. Then in the fourth quarter, after registering a sack on Goff the previous play, Brown jumped a poorly thrown pass behind the intended target for a 40-yard touchdown, extending Seattle's lead to 31-21 with under 10 minutes to play.

5. It’s an odd year and unfortunately, that isn’t good for Jason Myers.

It's well-documented that Myers has been a far better kicker in even-numbered years, including making 90-plus percent of his field goals in 2020 and 2022, but has not been near as effective in odd years. Through two games, that trend has continued into 2023, as Myers badly missed two attempts in the second quarter that came back to haunt the Seahawks in the closing minutes as the Lions knotted the score with the fourth quarter clock expiring. These two misses came on the heels of clanking a 39-yard field goal off the right upright in last week's opener.

It's still very early and Myers has time to turn things around, but his two misses can be directly tied to Seattle not finishing the game in regulation. So far, he's only made 50 percent of his field goal attempts in a dreadful start to the season after signing a multi-year contract earlier this year.