Carlton Davis III felt like he played clean defense against DK Metcalf in the Lions' win over the Seahawks Monday night. But he was flagged four times for pass interference or holding, part of the 12 penalties called against the Lions.
The veteran cornerback was especially angry with the officials after a pair of penalties in the second half, pleading with them to "let us play ball."
"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, I feel as if they were just on the Seahawks' side today," Davis said. "I don’t know what I did, maybe I should take ‘em to dinner or something, I don’t know, follow them on Instagram. But today was not my day."
Once the Lions jumped ahead in the first half, Davis said the refs "just started throwing the flags" as if they wanted "to keep the game extended."
"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. 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, so that’s that," said Davis.
Davis pointed to his first penalty as an example. He felt like Metcalf initiated the contact downfield and said the referees told him, "Both you guys did it," but Davis was the only one who got flagged.
Davis really got hot in the second half when he was called for pass interference on Metcalf on back to back drives. First on a shot down the seam where Davis thought he was in good position, leading to a Seahawks touchdown on the next play, then on a two-point conversion attempt where he was battling Metcalf for position on the boundary of the end zone.
Davis got in the face of the official after the first call, loudly objecting to the decision. And he had his hands on the same official after the latter call, which he could have been flagged for as well, trying to demonstrate his defensive technique.
Asked if there was a particular flag that he disagreed with, Davis said, "Every one. And I lost my cool, I did. But it was rightfully so. I just can’t control it, it’s an emotional game, the stakes are high, they’re driving down the field and these PI’s are keeping them in the game, extending these drives. That’s where the passion is coming from, like, c’mon man, let us play ball. And if they can’t get open, then it is what it is."
After the pass interference on the two-point conversion attempt, Seattle went after Davis again on a similar throw to Jake Bobo. When Davis shut it down, he said he looked at the ref and said, "You gonna call PI now?" As a seven-year vet, he feels like should be afforded more leeway from the officials to play his physical brand of defense in 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."
Dan Campbell defended Davis after the game, commending him for playing the way he needed to against the 6'4, 235-pound Metcalf.
"Carlton’s battling. That’s a good receiver he’s on, 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," Campbell said.
"That’s just who I am, bro," said Davis. "I can’t change that sh*t. Even if I wanted to, it’s like, what the fu*k, I’m not about to do that. I’m about to play my game, keep playing and it is what it is."
Davis did finish with three pass breakups to balance out the pass interference calls. But it was a long day for Detroit's defense, which was on the field for 90 snaps and yielded over 500 yards in a lopsided game for time of possession. Geno Smith completed 38 of 56 passes for 395 yards and the Seahawks went 5-for-10 on third down.
"We gotta get off the field on third down, that’s it," said Davis. "That was the problem. On third down, we were bad today. We gotta get back to work on that because that could have eliminated a lot of those passing attempts."
And maybe some of those penalties.