3 Lions who were great and three that were not
By Roy J. Akers- www.skyviewsports.net
The Washington Commanders beat the Detroit Lions at their own game and scored 28 second-quarter points en route to a 45-31 victory. Three first-half turnovers by Jared Goff after the Lions held a slim 10-7 lead propelled the NFC’s sixth seed to the NFC Championship game. They also beat Detroit in that game 34 years ago.
Three Reasons Why Washington is Moving on
Jayden Daniels is one rare breed of player and is reason 1
Detroit could not stop the player who will be the NFL’s Rookie of the Year. Daniels is the No.1 rated rookie QB ever and he could not be stopped. Daniels connected on two fourth-down passes to sustain touchdown drives. “He’s so poised and so clutch,” Washington running back Austin Ekeler said of Daniels. “Every week, I’m like, man, this guy is really good. I know to expect it, but again and again he continues to show that, hey, he has a huge clutch gene, and it shows up all the time.” For the game, Daniels was 22-31 for 299 yards and scrambled his way out of trouble and rushed/scrambled for 51 more yards in the game and completed multiple 4th down passes against a leaky Detroit defense.
Detroit’s Five Turnovers was game over- Reason 2
Jared Goff committed three of Detroit’s five turnovers. Detroit was driving on two of those and there is NO way a team can win when your lead dog gives the ball away so frequently. Goff finished the game with a performance of 23-40 for 314 yards passing and three interceptions. His NFL QB rating of barely 59 percent will get your team bounced from the playoffs. “You turn the ball over five times … it’s just too much. It’s too hard against a team like that to come back, and we tried; we just couldn’t quite get over the hump,” Coach Dan Campbell said.
4th Down was golden for Washington- Reason 3
The Commanders went 3 for 4 on 4th Down against Detroit. Detroit committed a couple of other penalties in the red zone that extended Washington drives.
Three Lions who Shined
Jahmyr Gibbs was sensational – Reason 1
Jahmyr Gibbs accounted for 48 of 71 yards on Detroit’s first scoring drive. Big runs including a long of 18 yards and a 23-yard swing pass reception chewed up the Commander’s defense. For the game, Gibbs had 14 rushes for 105 yards and another 60 yards on six catches. Gibbs scored 2 TD’s during the game.
Sam LaPorta’s one-handed TD grab- Reason 2
Jared Goff’s scrambling and off-balanced throw from two yards out was clutch, but LaPorta’s one-handed TD grab was incredible. The trap was sprung by a tackle-eligible Dan Skipper being double-teamed by two Commander defenders. LaPorta rallied to a scrambling Goff to haul in a highlight reel 2-yard TD grab. For the game, LaPorta had six catches for 51 yards and a TD on seven targets. Looks like LaPorta found his groove in the second half of the season.
Reason 3- Jack Campbell and Alex Anzalone
Campbell had 14 combined tackles in the game including eight solo. Anzalone had 13 total tackles including 12 solos and two tackles for loss.
Three players/units who played poorly
The Lions secondary was not at their best- Reason 1
Between the penalties and 299 yards given up to Jayden Daniels, this unit could not cover the Commanders consistently, and for some players, not at all. Amik Robertson going down on the Commanders second offensive play with a broken arm forced Kinder Valdor into the game.
Jared Goff -You cannot beat anyone with 5 turnovers- Reason 2
We spoke on this earlier. Goff had a great year but a bad game when it mattered most. To Goff’s credit, he owned up to one throw in particular. “The pick-six is the one I’d really like back,” Goff said. “That was just a poor decision by me.”
Reason 3- The Lions defensive line.
Most likely, its equal parts Daniels for escaping the Lions rush and a lack of scheme in the game. The Lions had no sacks, two QB hits, two penalties and one TFL on the game. Detroit’s defense could not stop the Commanders all night, and Washington set a season high in points. Mike Florio of NBC Sports said the poor Lions defensive showing should not be a deal breaker in earning a 2025 coaching job if a team makes him an offer. He said Washington coach Dan Quinn coached a Dallas team last year as the DC where they gave up 48 points to the Packers. Bet no one in DC will remind him of that this week. If Aaron Gle
“The whole point of doing what you do is to get to the show, man. It’s why you play this game,” said Lions coach Dan Campbell, who was emotional throughout his postgame press conference. “And we fell short.”
