In his previous 21 NFL games, cornerback Carlton Davis had been flagged for defensive pass interference once.

But on Monday night, the former Auburn defensive back drew three flags for defensive pass interference, plus a defensive-holding call, in the Detroit Lions’ 42-29 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.

“I don’t want to get fined because they are sensitive about this,” Davis said when asked about the penalties. “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.

“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 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.”

Davis spent much of the game matched against the Seahawks’ top wide receiver – 6-foot-4, 235-pound DK Metcalf. Metcalf had seven receptions for 104 yards on Monday night. The 6-foot-1, 202-pound Davis made seven tackles, recorded one tackle for loss, broke up three passes and recovered one fumble. Davis returned the fumble 49 yards to the Seattle 14-yard line in the first quarter to set up the Lions’ second touchdown.

“DK’s a physical receiver,” Davis said, “so that’s going to happen when you get a physical corner and physical receiver. You got to let us play ball, so that’s that. …

“They look to push off. It’s a physical game. That first one, they were like, ‘Both of you guys did it.’ Like, ‘What the?’ Just let us play ball. Don’t throw the foul, unless it’s like a grab or you can clearly – come on, let us play ball.”

Davis was asked if he found one of the calls “particularly egregious.”

“Every one,” Davis said. “And I lost my cool. I did. But it was rightfully so because I just can’t control it. It’s an emotional game. The stakes are high. They’re driving down the field, and these PIs are keeping them in the game. It’s extending these drives, so that’s where the passion is coming from. Come on, man, let us play ball, and if they can’t get open, then it is what it is.”

Twelve penalties for 101 yards were marked off against Detroit on Monday night. But Lions coach Dan Campbell thought Davis played the way he needed to contain Metcalf.

“Carlton’s battling, man,” Campbell said. “That’s a good receiver he’s on, and that guy’s a physical receiver, and we needed to be physical. And Carlton was physical. And we played ball, man. And I’m not discouraged about that one bit. I’m just not. So there’s things we got to clean up. We can’t have this many, but by the same token, we’ll figure out what that is and we’ll keep working one-on-ones, we’ll keep working our craft. We can’t survive 12 penalties every game. But I know this: We needed to be physical.”

Davis said he would like to come to an understanding with the officials.

“We beefing, and I don’t like that,” Davis said. “It’s not good for business.”

Each team came out of Monday night’s game with a 3-1 record.

“It was huge,” Davis said of Detroit’s victory. “They was 3-0, coming in hot, and we handled it. Let’s go, Lions.”

Detroit has an open date this week. The Lions return to the field against the Dallas Cowboys at 3:25 p.m. CDT Oct. 13 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.