The Detroit Lions were able to overcome a lot of defensive penalties Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks, with cornerbacks Carlton Davis and Terrion Arnold the most-flagged offenders. Arnold's issues with penalties are well-documented by this point, with the spotlight on him because he's a rookie. But Davis was flagged just once over the first three games this season.
Davis was called for four penalties on Monday night, three pass interference and a defensive holding. One of the pass interferences was offset by a penalty on the Seahawks, and all came when Davis was defending Seahawks' wide receiver DK Metcalf.
After one particular penalty in the third quarter, which some could have called ticky-tack because it didn't truly impede Metcalf, Davis lost his cool and at least two teammates efforted to keep him away from the officials and making things worse.
Davis, of course, had plenty to say about the flags in the post-game locker room.
Carlton Davis calls out officiating vs. Seahawks
"I don't want to get fined because they are sensitive about this, but honestly bro…I feel like they were on the Seahawks' side today," Davis said. "Maybe I should take them to dinner or something, follow them on Instagram. I don't know, but today was not my day."
"They were calling PI’s where I’m not even grabbing, it’s not even like, 'Oh my gosh!' It was just touch-touch, bang-bang stuff, which is football, Davis said. "We’re just battling. And DK is a physical receiver. That’s going to happen when you get a physical corner and a physical receiver. You just got to let us play ball."
Davis lamented how the flags on him kept the Seahawks in the game longer.
"They're driving down the field, and these flags are keeping them in the game. It's extending these drives, Davis said, via SI.com.
And finally, as a seven-year veteran, Davis thinks he should be given more leeway (h/t to 97.1 The Ticket) to play a physical brand of coverage.
"Hopefully I can have a chat with them guys, we can sit down and just come to (the same) page, because we beefing, and I don’t like that," Davis said. "It’s not good for business."
Lions fans like to lament how the officials are against them, even now that the team is good. Whether he has an overall good point or not about the rash of flags against him on Monday night, it took Davis four games to channel that sentiment to suggest the officiating crew was "on the Seahawks side."
