This past Sunday the Detroit Lions set out to prove that their Week 1 rushing performance, in a hard-fought defeat at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles, was no fluke. They managed to gash the Washington Commanders for 191 yards on just 24 attempts; that’s an average of 8.0 yards per attempt, including a 58-yard run from Amon-Ra St. Brown. Star RB D’Andre Swift, who was hampered by an ankle issue throughout the week, managed to chip in with two huge plays, including a 50-yard run and a 22-yard TD reception (despite being on a noted snap count).
The Commanders on the other hand had major issues offensively, just getting their run game ignited for a couple of drives. RB Antonio Gibson never was allowed to get started from the first drive. The Lions’ defensive front 7 played their best on Sunday holding Gibson to just 28 yards on 14 carries. The lack of overall touches was primarily due to the early 22-0 deficit Detroit placed on them. Washington had a dreadful first half offensively with only 56 total yards on 27 plays run and giving the Lions short fields leading to big plays.
Rookie Aidan Hutchinson bounced back from a rough first career game with a performance that showed exactly why he was taken 2nd overall. The edge rusher racked up 3 sacks, 8 QB pressures, and 6 tackles for a defense that held the Commanders scoreless in the first half and rendered their downfield attack obsolete for the majority of the game outside of three plays. QB Carson Wentz was under duress all game, against a Lions pass rush that was given the opportunity to pin back their ears and go hunt, due to Washington’s inability to generate any threat on the ground (not to mention safeties DeShon Elliot and Tracy Walker were sniffing around the line of scrimmage routinely.
St. Brown and QB Jared Goff did most of the heavy lifting on the offensive side of the ball for the most part by starting and closing the show. St. Brown was a thorn in the Commander’s side to the result of 9 catches for 116 yards and 2 TDs. He and Goff have had an excellent connection since day 1 so it’s no surprise that St. Brown set an NFL record recording 8-plus catches and a TD in six straight games. It wasn’t completely clean nor pretty but when the bell needed to be answered, Goff and the passing game came through. The Commanders were able to make a second-half run that would eventually reach a 29-21 score with 7:08 remaining in the 4th until Goff found St. Brown on a quick out for a 12-yard TD pass with 7:00 minutes on the clock, pushing Detroit ahead 36-21 after the extra point and applying more pressure to the Commander’s offense. They would score another TD later, but it wasn’t enough, as the Lions would stage off the late rally and defeat the Commanders to improve their record to (1-1) on the short season.
Inside the Numbers
Commanders
- 6 Rushing First Downs
- 1st Half Possessions: 6 Punts, 1 Fumble/Safety
- Avg. Starting field Position: Own 23
- Carson Wentz 46 Attempts
- O-Line Surrendered 5 sacks, 11 Hurries, and 11 QB Hits
- Defense gave up 3 Plays of 50+ Yards
Lions
- Jared Goff Rating 121.1
- DJ Chark: 0 Catches
- 4/4 XP, 2/2 FG, 1 Penalty 5 yards
- Avg. 7 yards per play
- Avg. Starting field Position: Own 35
- 0 Turnovers
