'Monday Night Football' live updates: Lions win 42-29 over Seahawks, Titans beat Dolphins 31-12

‘Monday Night Football’ live updates: Lions win 42-29 over Seahawks, Titans beat Dolphins 31-12

Posted by Admin September 30, 2024 Football

Week Four of the NFL season came to an end Monday with two games that were case studies of the separation occurring between the league’s best and worst teams.

One month into the season — a time in the schedule when teams’ true capabilities are being revealed — the Lions and Seahawks went back and forth in an offensive showcase in Detroit that suggests both could be playoff factors.

Detroit’s 42-29 win, which knocked Seattle (3-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten and improved the Lions to 3-1, followed Tennessee’s 31-12 slog of a victory in Miami. It was a matchup of two teams looking up in the standings, with both forced to use backup quarterbacks due to injured starters.

The Lions won despite not being perfect. Statistically, however, their quarterback was: Jared Goff completed all 18 of his passes for 292 yards and two touchdowns, didn’t turn the ball over and even caught a seven-yard touchdown pass on a trick play thrown by Amon-Ra St. Brown.

According to NFL research, Goff is the first quarterback in league history to attempt at least 10 passes without throwing an incompletion.

And still, it almost wasn’t enough to hold off the Seahawks and quarterback Geno Smith’s 38-for-56 passing for 395 yards, all of which set career-highs.

Smith found 10 different receivers, led by D.K. Metcalf’s seven catches for 104 yards.

Yet Metcalf was responsible for one of the game’s crucial plays when he fumbled in the first quarter, a turnover Detroit turned into a second touchdown for a 14-0 lead.

From there, Seattle was playing catch-up. Despite producing 17 more first downs and 127 more total yards than Detroit, Seattle suffered its first loss.

The game in Miami was nowhere near as exciting.

The Titans won 31-12 in a game in which neither offense impressed. Tennessee averaged a meager 3.9 yards per play and still won comfortably.

Mason Rudolph came in at quarterback for Will Levis after Levis hurt his shoulder in the first quarter, and Rudolph threw for only 85 yards. He didn’t need to do much, however, as Tennessee took advantage of an inept offense on the other side. The Titans did run for 142 yards, albeit on 40 attempts.

Compared to Miami, Tennessee’s offense — which scored five field goals and two touchdowns — looked like the Greatest Show on Turf. If there was a star of the game it was running back Tony Pollard, who ran for 88 yards on 22 carries. Forty-one of those yards came on a third-quarter run that set up the Titans’ first touchdown of the game, giving Tennessee a 16-6 lead that felt (and ultimately was) insurmountable.

The Dolphins’ offense was atrocious.

Miami amassed only 184 yards, averaging 3.4 yards per play. The Dolphins couldn’t sustain a drive until the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late.

Tyler Huntley — signed in the aftermath of Tua Tagovailoa suffering a concussion in Week 2 and making his first start of the season — threw for 92 yards. Miami ran for 106, but averaged only 3.5 yards per carry. (Which was still higher than their 3.3 yards per pass.)

The Titans’ first win of the season improved their record to 1-3. The Dolphins have lost three straight and are 1-3 themselves.

Tagovailoa will miss at least two more games before he can return from injured reserve.