After Geno Smith’s 2-point conversion pass to Jake Bobo went incomplete in the corner of the end zone, Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III approached field judge Sean Petty and asked him a question.
“I look at the ref and I’m like, ‘You going to call a P.I. now?'” Davis recalls. “(He said), ‘No, you good.’
All right, whatever.” Davis was irritated by what he thought was sloppy refereeing in the Lions’ 42-29 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Monday at Ford Field.
The Lions, who moved to 3-1 with the win, were penalized 12 times for 101 yards, with Davis and teammate cornerback Terrion Arnold drawing seven of those penalties.
LIONS GRADES:Perfection brings an A for Jared Goff. Davis was flagged three times for pass interference, once for a failed 2-point attempt before Geno Smith overthrew Bobo in the end zone, and once for defensive holding. Arnold, a rookie who began Monday with a team-high five fouls, was penalized twice for holding and once for defensive pass interference.
“I lost my cool, I did,” Davis said. “But it was rightfully so cause not about to — I just can’t control it. It’s an emotional game, and the stakes are high.
They’re driving down the field and these PI’s are keeping them in the game. It’s extending these drives. So that’s where the passion is coming from. Like, come on man, let us play ball and if they can’t get open then it is what it is, you know what I mean?”
Davis spent most of Monday’s game matched with Seahawks receiver D.K. Metcalf, one of the most physical pass catchers in the NFL at 6 feet 4 and 235 pounds.
Metcalf caught seven passes for 104 yards Monday — and drew all three of the pass interference penalties on Davis.
He was ruled out of bounds on a 2-point play after Kenneth Walker III’s touchdown with 3:03 left in the third quarter that would have cut the Lions’ lead to 28-22.
Davis, who finished with seven tackles, three pass breakups, and a fumble recovery, was flagged for pass interference on the play, and one play after the Seahawks failed in their next attempt to Bobo from the 1-yard line, Jared Goff threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams to blow the lead open for the Lions once more.
CARLOS MONARREZ:David Montgomery earns early season MVP for Detroit Lions after amazing catch. “Twelve’s a lot (of penalties),” Lions coach Dan Campbell explained. “Look, I’ll have to check the tape, but I can tell you that Carlton is battling in almost every one of them.
That’s a good receiver he’s got, and he’s a physical receiver, which we needed, and Carlton was. We also played ball. That does not deter me at all. “I am just not.”
Detroit Lions CB Carlton Davis III: ‘I felt as if (refs) were just on the Seahawks side’
Portrait of Dave BirkettDave Birkett
Detroit Free Press
After Geno Smith’s 2-point conversion pass to Jake Bobo sailed incomplete in the corner of the end zone, Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III walked directly to field judge Sean Petty and asked him a question.
“I look at the ref and I’m like, ‘You going to call a P.I. now?'” Davis said. “(He said), ‘No, you good.’ All right, whatever.”
Davis was frustrated with what he thought was ticky-tack officiating in the Lions’ 42-29 win over the Seattle Seahawks on Monday at Ford Field.
The Lions, who improved to 3-1 heading into this week’s bye with the victory, were penalized 12 times for 101 yards, and Davis and fellow cornerback Terrion Arnold drew seven of those penalties.
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Officials flagged Davis three times for pass interference, including once on the failed 2-point attempt the play before Geno Smith overthrew Bobo in the end zone, and once for defensive holding.
Arnold, a rookie who entered Monday with a team-high five penalties, was flagged twice for holding and once for defensive pass interference.
Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III (23) tries to block a pass intended for Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf (14) during the second half at Ford Field in Detroit on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.
“I lost my cool, I did,” Davis said. “But it was rightfully so cause not about to — I just can’t control it. It’s an emotional game, and the stakes are high.
They’re driving down the field and these PI’s are keeping them in the game. It’s extending these drives.
So that’s where the passion is coming from. Like, come on man, let us play ball and if they can’t get open then it is what it is, you know what I mean?”
Davis spent most of Monday’s game matched with Seahawks receiver D.K. Metcalf, one of the most physical pass catchers in the NFL at 6 feet 4 and 235 pounds.
Metcalf caught seven passes for 104 yards Monday — and drew all three of the pass interference penalties on Davis.
He was ruled out of bounds on a 2-point play after Kenneth Walker III’s touchdown with 3:03 left in the third quarter that would have cut the Lions’ lead to 28-22.
Davis, who finished with seven tackles, three pass breakups and a fumble recovery, was flagged for pass interference on the play, and one play after the Seahawks failed in their next attempt to Bobo from the 1-yard line, Jared Goff threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Williams to blow the lead open for the Lions again.
Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis III (23) runs after recovering a fumble made by Seattle Seahawks during the first half at Ford Field in Detroit on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.
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“Twelve’s a lot (of penalties),” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “Look, I’ll have to watch the tape, but I can tell you just about every one of them that I saw, Carlton’s battling.
That’s a good receiver he’s on and that guy is a physical receiver and we needed to be physical, and Carlton was physical. And we played ball. I’m not discouraged about that one bit. I’m just not.”
Davis said he didn’t get a good enough look at Arnold’s penalties to have an opinion on the legitimacy of those calls.
“But the flags were everywhere,” he said.
Asked which of his penalties he took particular offense to, Davis said “every one” of them.
“I don’t want to get fined because they are sensitive about this, but honestly bro, I can’t say what I want to say, but honestly it’s just like I felt as if they were just on the Seahawks’ side today,” he said. “I don’t know what I did. Maybe I should take them to dinner or something, I don’t know.
Follow them on Instagram, I don’t know. But today was not my day. They were just calling PIs that’s like not even, I’m not even grabbing. It’s not even like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ It was just like touch-touch, bang-bang stuff, which is football, which is battling.
And D.K. is a physical receiver, so that’s going to happen when you get a physical (corner) and a physical receiver, you got to let us play ball.”
Campbell said the Lions have “things we have to clean up” from a penalty standpoint, but he has no intention of asking his cornerbacks to tamp down their physical play.
That’s fine by Davis, who doesn’t intend to curb his physicality, either.
“I mean that’s just who I am, bro,” he said. “I can’t change that (expletive). I mean, even if I wanted to, but what the (expletive)? I’m not about to do that.
I’m about to play my game, about to keep playing and it is what it is.”
