Pride of Detroit
Well, you can’t win them all, right? Not only did the Detroit Lions lose last week, but my bold prediction came up short, as wide receiver Jameson Williams only gained 66 yards and a touchdown, coming up 34 yards short of my guess. I’m sticking with the offense once again, as they’ve been struggling and seem like the unit that’s due for a breakout game.
What also helps Detroit this week is who they play against, the Washington Commanders. Washington has caught the injury bug heavily this season, losing players left and right. Now, they lost their starting quarterback, Jayden Daniels “indefinitely” and it’s not looking like their top wide receiver, Terry McLaurin, will play this week either, missing practice on both Wednesday and Thursday.
While the Commanders’ offense will be down multiple starters, it’s their defense that will have a tough task this week. The Lions’ offense hasn’t scored over 24 points since Week 5. With the Lions coming off a disappointing loss and the offense needing to clean things up, I think they’ll have possibly its best performance of the season.
Stop me if you heard this before, but did you know the Lions haven’t lost back-to-back games since October of 2022? Yes, it’s becoming a stat that is overly discussed, but it can’t be ignored. Detroit is really good at addressing its issues and making sure they are corrected for the following week. Coming off their loss to the Minnesota Vikings, it was a collective defeat, and no unit outshone another; it was clear that the offense had one of its worst games of the season.
Earlier this year, after the team came out flat against the Green Bay Packers, they exploded for 52 points at home against the Chicago Bears. The Lions have a chance to repeat those efforts against the Commanders, given their history in revenge games and how they’ve responded to losses before.
Ever since the Lions avoided losing two games in a row for the past three years, they’ve rebounded after a loss with a strong performance by the offense to get them back in the win column.
Out of the 12 games in which Detroit avoided back-to-back losses, only once did Detroit score under 20 points. In four games, 33 percent of the time, Detroit puts up 40+ points. This team avenges those losses by punishing its opponents and putting up points.
Detroit comes in as the second-highest scoring team in the NFL this season, scoring an average of 29.9 points per game. They’re facing a banged-up Commanders defense that has allowed the second-most passing yards in the NFL with 2,417 and tied for the fourth-most passing touchdowns allowed with 19. This secondary for Washington is ranked with the second-worst coverage grade at 40.2 according to PFF.
Another thing that motivates the Lions is the idea of getting revenge. In “revenge” games under Lions head coach Dan...
