Game Overview ::
By Mike johnson >>
- This game is a rematch of last season’s Divisional Round game where the Commanders upset the Lions and ended their 15-2 season.
- Detroit enters this week off a surprising home loss to the Vikings in Week 8.
- Washington lost QB Jayden Daniels to a significant elbow injury on Sunday night, forcing them to turn back to Marcus Mariota for the foreseeable future.
- The Commanders will also be without wide receivers Terry McLaurin and Luke McCaffrey for this game, as they are
- Washington’s defense has only held two of nine opponents below 24 points and has been extremely beatable this season.
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How detroit Will Try To Win ::
The Lions came out of their Week 8 bye with a whimper at home against the Vikings, struggling to get anything going offensively throughout the majority of the game with the exceptions being their first and last drives. Detroit opened things up with a 6-play, 72-yard touchdown drive and their last possession was a 5-play, 69-yard touchdown drive. In the middle, they scored only 10 points and amassed 164 yards on 51 plays as Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores confused and stifled them and left them searching for answers all game. They only turned the ball over once, but Jared Goff was under pressure often and took 5 sacks. This was a somewhat surprising result, but we have seen the Vikings get the best of teams before and it isn’t necessarily a signal of problems for Detroit going forward. We also often see teams struggle a bit to get back in rhythm after their bye week, something the Lions will look to get back on track with in Week 10.
They will certainly have the opportunity to bounce back in this matchup with Washington, who is dealing with injuries on both sides of the ball and was shredded by the Seahawks on Sunday night. The Commanders rank 30th in the NFL in yards per play allowed, as only the Bears and Bengals defense are worse than the 6.2 yards an average play against Washington goes for. The Lions offense, on the other hand, ranks 7th in the NFL at 5.8 yards per play. Detroit’s offense thrives when their running game gets going, as it opens up all levels of their offense and keeps Jared Goff with clean pockets. The Commanders have allowed 128 or more rushing yards in all but two games this season, and Detroit’s elite offensive line should have no trouble opening up lanes for the dynamic RB pairing of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. Washington has missed the second most tackles in the NFL, with the dynamic duo likely able to get to the second level often from their blocking and scheme they should have chances to break free for chunk plays on the ground this week.
Detroit should have success against the Commanders through the air as well with advantageous matchups throughout their passing game. Amon-Ra St. Brown is very good against all coverages, but is especially dangerous against man coverage that is less than elite. Washington plays the 8th highest rate of man coverage in the league and ranks 31st in PFF coverage grade. ARSB should have no trouble getting open in the intermediate areas of the field and helping the Lions sustain drives. Tight end Sam LaPorta and wide receiver Jameson Williams are the other primary targets and this could be a matchup that allows Williams to shake free after we saw the success Seattle found downfield last week. The Lions offense will revolve their running game and build out from there. The backfield and ARSB will be the focal points, with both likely finding success early and often. Expect some calculated deep shots as well as the Lions should have early down success that opens up the playbook on second or third and short. Goff is likely to have a similar low-volume, high-efficiency outing like Sam Darnold was able to do last week.
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