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It was quite the ride through the NFL Wild Card Weekend. We had a few tremendous matchups throughout the AFC and NFC, but now it is time to turn the page to the NFL Divisional Rounds of the playoffs. We have a great matchup for Saturday, with the Washington Commanders traveling to Detroit to take on the Lions. Keep reading as we break down each team’s regular season run and Wild Card Playoff performances and make a Commanders @ Lions game pick.
The Commanders had a tough road test to kick off their 2025 playoff run. They traveled to Tampa Bay to take on Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers. It took four quarters to get it done, but the Commanders won 23-20 on a Zane Gonzalez 37-yard field goal attempt that went in after doinking off the upright.
Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels continued his strong play in his first-ever playoff appearance. He went 25/35 for 268 yards and two touchdowns. The Commanders never had to punt in this game, and the only other quarterback to lead their team to do that in a playoff game is the great Peyton Manning.
Daniels played as well as you could expect from a rookie in a road playoff game. He had composure for the most part, except when the Bucs put heavy pressure on him. But the rookie kept his composure and led the game-winning drive.
Something even more impressive about Daniels in this one was that he spread the ball around. Five pass-catchers had at least 3 catches, while Terry McLaurin and Dyami Brown led the receiving group with 89 yards apiece.
One part of the offense that could not get going was the running game. Daniels led the team in carries with 13 for 36 yards, while Brian Robinson Jr. had 10 carries for just 16 yards and was completely inefficient with his attempts. The running game will need to improve if they want to keep advancing.
Looking at the Lions, they are coming off a first-round bye after going 15-2 in the regular season. Dan Campbell has done an outstanding job leading this team. Plus, his offensive coordinator (Ben Johnson) and defensive coordinator (Aaron Glenn) are top names in head coaching searches across the league.
The offense is led by QB Jared Goff, who had a career year in the regular season. He threw for over 4,600 yards and 37 touchdowns compared to just 5 interceptions. The pairing between him and Ben Johnson has been a match made in heaven.
With Goff having a great year in the passing game, his pass-catchers impressed. He had two 1,000-yard receivers in Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, while his tight end Sam LaPorta had over 700 yards and 7 touchdowns.
But perhaps the best part of this Lions offense is their running attack. Unfortunately, they will not have both “Sonic and Knuckles” in this one because David Montgomery is out with a knee injury. They still have RB Jahmyr Gibbs, though, and this guy is electric. Gibbs had 250 carries, even while splitting time with Montgomery and finished with over 1,400 yards and a whopping 22 total touchdowns. Both sides of the ball took a massive leap this season.
Any game that features two head coaches like Dan Campbell and Dan Quinn is must-watch TV. Both guys are as intense as can be and are both the definition of “leaders of men.” Both offenses and defenses took big leaps from where they had been in recent years, and that is a testament to the coaching. It felt like the Lions had one injury after another, including star pass-rusher Aidan Hutchinson on defense, but it did not matter in the regular season.
These two teams did not meet in the regular season, so we are working off a clean slate. This game is going to be a tough environment for Jayden Daniels to come into because Ford Field is going to be rocking. The Lions’ pass defense has been very stout this season, which does not bode well for Daniels through the air.
The Lions allowed just 18 passing touchdowns on the season and had 16 interceptions. One area where the Lions are susceptible is against rushing quarterbacks. They have allowed opposing quarterbacks to rush for the 4th-most yards in the league and the 3rd-most touchdowns. Now, that does bode well for Jayden Daniels.
That said, I expect the Lions to take care of business and win this game. However, our Commanders @ Lions pick is Jayden Daniels to rush for more than 56 yards in what we expect to be a tremendous football game.
Dylan has had a love for sports since he was a kid. Four years ago, he decided to dive into the sports content-creating industry specializing in Fantasy Football, NFL and NBA. He has since had his work published on sites that include Fantasy Alarm, Fansided, and Fantasy Six Pack.