The Lions will sq. off with the Washington Commanders at Ford Subject Saturday night time, with a visit to the NFC Championship Game on the road.
Detroit – which possessed a bye throughout final weekend’s wild-card playoff spherical – infamously misplaced final 12 months’s NFC title sport to the San Francisco 49ers, after blowing a 17-point halftime lead.
A 12 months later, the devastating loss nonetheless stings, and continues to function an additional supply of motivation for the Lions.
“I don’t suppose anyone in that room, myself included, has forgotten that feeling of flying again on that airplane from San Francisco,” Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson instructed reporters Wednesday. “And so, we’ve been, all 12 months lengthy, extraordinarily detailed, extraordinarily locked in, and to see it go up one other degree right here this week, it’s been actually spectacular.”
In the meantime, the Commanders, which triumphed over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers every week in the past, went 12-5 through the common season this 12 months after ending a dismal 4-13 in 2023.
It was a giant 12 months of development in 2024 for Washington, which benefited vastly from a brand new head coach (Dan Quinn) and a brand new quarterback (Jayden Daniels).
Daniels, the No. 2 total choose within the 2024 draft, took the league by storm through the common season. He accomplished 69 % of his passes, and threw for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and simply 9 interceptions. Plus, he recorded a 100.1 passer ranking and a 70.6 QBR, the fourth-best QBR in ‘24.
Then, in his playoff debut in opposition to Tampa Bay, he threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns on 24-of-35 passing, whereas producing a 110.2 passer ranking. Plus, he led the Commanders on a 10-play, 51-yard, game-winning drive, which was capped off by a 37-yard area objective from Zane Gonzalez. It was a formidable efficiency from the rookie signal-caller.
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And on high of his prowess as a passer, Daniels excelled as a runner in his first 12 months as a professional. The truth is, the LSU product led the Commanders in speeding yards with 891, and added one other six touchdowns on the bottom.
Daniels is the very definition of a dual-threat passer. And due to such, I would not be stunned if he poses a big-time problem on Saturday to Aaron Glenn’s protection, which has struggled mightily with cellular quarterbacks in latest reminiscence.
Daniels is complemented by a pair of stable operating backs in Brian Robinson Jr. and Austin Ekeler. The trio helped Washington produce the third-most speeding yards (2,619) and the fourth-most speeding touchdowns (25) through the ‘24 common season.
Daniels additionally has a 1,000-yard receiver at his disposal in Terry McLaurin. McLaurin completed this previous season with a career-best 13 landing catches, plus 82 receptions and 1,096 yards. It marked his fifth straight marketing campaign with at the very least 77 catches and over 1,000 receiving yards.
On the alternative aspect of the ball, Washington was most proficient at stopping the cross in ‘24. Particularly, it allowed the third-fewest passing yards (3,221).
Moreover, Quinn’s staff is supplied with a number of succesful defenders, together with linebackers Bobby Wagner and Frankie Luvu and security Jeremy Chinn. Wagner, who received a Tremendous Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks through the 2013 season, led all Commanders with 132 whole tackles and an 89.9 Professional Soccer Focus total grade throughout this previous common season.
The Commanders, using the momentum of six straight wins, together with a victory over the Buccaneers final week, actually have a fighter’s shot to tug off the upset Saturday. Nonetheless, I nonetheless imagine the Lions in the end emerge victorious on this divisional-round playoff conflict.
At this current juncture, I am going to give Detroit a 75 % likelihood to advance to the NFC Championship Sport for a second consecutive season.