DETROIT — A part of Dan Campbell felt remorseful on Monday night — after he didn’t save a piece of NFL history.
His quarterback, Jared Goff, threw a perfect game, setting an NFL record by completing all 18 of his passes to help the Detroit Lions defeat the Seattle Seahawks, 42-29, for the first time since 2012.
By the time Campbell realized the significance of Goff’s all-time efficient performance, it was too late — he had already rewarded wide receiver Jameson Williams and safety Kerby Joseph with game balls in the locker room.
“I just gave the game ball to somebody else, so I feel awful,” Campbell said. “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, but I knew he played really well. You could feel it. He really found his rhythm early.”
Kurt Warner held the previous NFL record for passes without an incompletion, going 10-for-10 for Arizona against Houston in 2005.
Goff couldn’t recall another time at any level of his football career that he finished a game with perfect passing.
“Never. I don’t think I’ve ever done it. I knew I did it in the first half last week, so I was aware of it then,” said Goff, who threw for 292 yards with two touchdowns. “And I was kind of aware of it today, about the middle of the third quarter. I was like, ‘I couldn’t think of one,’ but then I threw the one out of bounds that ended up being offensive pass interference and I was like, ‘does that count?’ I didn’t know if that counted or not. But yeah, it’s a good day.”
It was a special day all-around for Goff. During the third quarter, he caught his first career receiving touchdown off a short-left pass from Amon-Ra St. Brown, something that also had never happened since Goff started playing football at 7 years old.
That play helped the Lions become the first team with a 100% completion percentage in a game while having multiple players throw a pass since at least 1933, per ESPN Research.
Goff and St. Brown said the play was nicknamed “Alcatraz,” by offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, and the duo was happy to execute it on the primetime stage after practicing it on several different occasions, but never trusting the game situation to pull it off.
“It wasn’t too hard of a route. It was like a little wheel route, late leak. For that route, I’ll give him a 7 out of 10,” said St. Brown, who caught six passes for 45 yards with a receiving touchdown. “It wasn’t too hard to deal.”
Although Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow was ruled out with a partially torn pectoral muscle, Detroit’s offensive line stepped up with veteran lineman Graham Glasgow shifting over to center and Kayode Awosika starting at left guard.
Goff benefitted from time and space inside the pocket, where he went 14-for-14 for 270 yards with two touchdowns.
His receivers also found space and he was able to complete 8 wide-open passes with 5 or more yards of separation, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
One of those resulted in a 70-yard touchdown bomb to Williams at 2:52 in third quarter that gave Detroit a 35-20 edge entering the fourth.
“I just gave the game ball to somebody else, so I feel awful. 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.”
Lions coach Dan Campbell
Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs scored a pair of rushing touchdowns with 78 yards, but also didn’t realize Goff’s perfect day until later.
“That’s just crazy, I didn’t even realize it until the end of the game. I was like, ‘I haven’t seen the ball hit the ground yet,'” Gibbs said. “That’s when I found out. It’s cool. I’m happy for him.”
After the victory, Goff found humor in Campbell awarding the game balls to other players on the roster. He exited Ford Field with his head held high as the Lions improved to 3-1 entering their bye week.
“That’s OK. We’ll see, maybe he’ll make it up, but that’s OK,” Goff said. “I’m just happy we got the win.”
