The Sports Xchange

SEATTLE — Two games into Kam Chancellor’s return, the Seattle Seahawks sure are glad the strong safety is back.

Chancellor, whose holdout over a contract dispute led him to miss the season’s first two games, came up with a win-preserving play Monday night.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson was approaching the end zone for a go-ahead touchdown in the final minutes, but Chancellor punched the ball away, saving the Seahawks’ 13-10 victory in a defensive battle at CenturyLink Field.

Trailing by three points with 6:23 remaining, the Lions drove from their own 9-yard line to the Seattle 11. On third-and-1, quarterback Matthew Stafford hit Johnson with a short pass on the left side. Just as Johnson was reaching for the goal line while being tackled by free safety Earl Thomas, Chancellor knocked the ball away from the receiver and through the end zone, resulting in a touchback.

“It’s exactly what this team stands for,” Chancellor said. “We fight to the end. We fight for each other because we’re brothers. … We have faith in each other and faith in our ability.”

The big play was not without controversy, which has been known to occur during “Monday Night Football” games in Seattle. On Chancellor’s strip, Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright knocked the ball out of the back of the end zone.

According to the NFL rulebook, an illegal bat occurs if “any player bats or punches a loose ball (that has touched the ground) in any direction, if it is in either end zone.” Had the penalty been called, Detroit would have got the ball back inside the 1-yard line.

What we learned about the Seahawks:

1. The Seahawks like the national spotlight. Seattle is 22-8 in Monday night games and has the best winning percentage of any team in those contests (.733). Since Pete Carroll took over as head coach in 2010, Seattle is 14-2 in prime time games during the regular season, including a 5-0 mark on Monday nights. The Seahawks won their 10th consecutive Monday night game, the second-best streak of all time.

2. The offense misses Marshawn Lynch. Quarterback Russell Wilson was the Seahawks’ leading rusher for most of the night before rookie Thomas Rawls overtook him late in the game. Rawls finished with 48 yards on 17 carries. Lynch, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, was inactive for a game for the first time since he came to Seattle in 2010.

3. The Seattle defense is still one of the league’s best — especially at home. A week after posting a shutout against Chicago, the Seahawks’ defense allowed just three points by the Detroit offense. (The Lions also scored a defensive touchdown on a fumble recovery.) It no doubt helps the Seahawks having safety Kam Chancellor return after he skipped the team’s first two games while seeking a restructured contract. Chancellor made a pivotal strip late in the game at the goal line to help preserve the Seahawks’ victory Monday night.

Etc.

–CB Marcus Burley, Seattle’s nickel back, left the game in the first half with a thumb injury and did not return.

–RB Thomas Rawls gained 48 yards on 17 attempts in his first career start. The rookie started in place of Marshawn Lynch, who missed the game with a hamstring injury.

–RB Fred Jackson injured an ankle after having a Detroit defender fall on it, and he did not return to the game. Jackson finished with 21 yards on three carries and two receptions for 33 yards. X-rays on Jackson’s ankle after the game were negative.

–DT Brandon Mebane, who injured his groin in the first quarter of the previous game and did not return, was inactive for Monday’s game. Mebane missed the second half of last season with a torn hamstring.

–RB Marshawn Lynch, who injured a hamstring last week against Chicago, was inactive Monday. It was the first time Lynch was ruled inactive for a game since he came to Seattle in 2010. He was shown on the television broadcast watching the game from a suite.