First Quarter
Washington opened the game on offense, with the opening drive starting at the 26-yard line after a return by Noah Igbinoghene. The first play of the game is a 6-yard run by starting running back Chris
Rodriguez.
On 3rd & 2, Marcus Mariota, starting in place of the injured Jayden Daniels, scrambled to his left before launching an incomplete pass deep downfield, missing TE Zach Ertz by a few yards. Three & out. On the TV, loud chants of “Let’s go Lions” can clearly be heard, indicating the makeup of the crowd in the stands.
After the punt, the Lions offense started their first drive at their own 22-yard line. They open up with a pair runs by Jahmyr Gibbs, earning a first down, then using a fake to Gibbs to set up a 16-yard pass to Amon Ra St-Brown.
They quickly matriculated the ball to the WAS 35-yard line, where, on 2nd & 5, Jonathan Jones broke up a pass at the goal line before, on 3rd down, Goff completed a 14-yard pass to earn another first down at the 21-yard line.
On 2nd & 3, Jahmyr Gibbs caught a pass, covered by Jordan Magee, and walks into the end zone.
After the PAT, Detroit leads 7-0 with 8:24 left in the first quarter.
Washington’s 2nd drive began at the 48-yard line after a 46-yard return by Igbinoghene.
The good guys get into Lions territory with a 13-yard pass completion to Trey Burks.
Two plays later, running from a ‘pony’ formation and no-huddle offense, Jeremy McNichols earned another first-down at the 29-yard line.
On 2nd & 10, Mariota just missed Robbie Chosen inside the 5-yard line against very tight coverage.
Following a false start by Josh Conerly, on 3rd & 15, Burks caught a pass for 8 yards. After a good drive, Matt Gay came out to attempt a 44-yard kick, which goes right down the middle. Score is 7-3 with 5:43 on the clock.
The Lions return the the field at the 35-yard line after the touchback.
A quick pass to St-Brown; a run by Montgmery — a pair of first downs. Ball at WAS 37-yard line. Lions RT Penei Sewell was shaken up on the play and walked off the field, replaced by Dan Skipper.
TE Sam La Porta had a 14-yard catch & run.
A PBU by Wagner and a short run forced 3rd & 7 at the 20-yard line. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but a pass to the tight end across the middle on 3rd down earned the 1st down.
On 2nd & 7, Jacob Martin nearly sacked Goff, forcing an incompletion. On 3rd & 7 inside the 10 yard line, Goff hit St-Brown for Detroit’s 2nd TD of the first quarter with just under 2 minutes on the clock.
Chants of “Jared Goff…Jared Gofff” are audible on the game broadcast as the scoreboard says DET 14 – WAS 3.
Marcus Mariota and the offense take the field for the 3rd time at the 27-yard line after another Igbinoghene return.
Bill Croskey-Merritt gets his first carry of the game, going for 6 yards. Robbie Chosen caught a 17-yard pass at the left sideline for an easy first down.
On 3rd & 9 (with 1 second left on the clock in the 1st quarter) Mariota spun out of pressure, but then got sacked for a loss of 13 yards. D’oh!
Second Quarter
The Commanders open the quarter punting on 4th & 22 from their own 38-yard line, trailing by 11 points.
The Lions start their third drive of the game at the 13-yard line after great punt coverage by Washington special teams.
Lots of eye candy from the Lions offense on the first play, but a straight ahead run on 2nd down; the result is 1st down at the 30-yard line.
On the next play, Gibbs crossed midfield on a 27-yard run off of left tackle.
The next play is a nice pass deflection by Frankie Luvu, sending the pass straight up in the air, but it falls harmlessly to the grass between two diving burgundy jerseys.
After a completion to Gibbs, on 3rd & 2, Gibbs ran for 2 yards and another 1st down. That was followed by a 13-yard completion to Kalif Raymond.
On 2nd & 5, Jahmyr Gibbs scores the Lions 3rd touchdown in as many possessions on a 13-yard run.
“Let go Lions” rings out as Luvu limps off the field and Trey Amos is helped off the field by a pair of trainers.
Daron Payne was ejected from the game for punching Amon Ra St-Brown after the play was over.
There was also a penalty against Javon Kinlaw…unreal.
Dan Campbell decided to go for two, and Montgomery made it easily on the two-yard run.
The Washington defense had been non-existent up until now; I don’t suppose it can be any worse without Daron Payne and Trey Amos, with Luvu getting treatment on his shoulder.
The Commanders start the next drive at the 25 yard line and strike deep on the first play — a 41-yard completion to Jaylin Lane.
Chris Rodriguez is back in — the running back by committee has returned — and scampers for a 9-yard gain, then finishes the job with a 1-yard run on 2nd down.
On 2nd & 12, Mariota scrambles, and as he did earlier this season, sort of attempts a “hurdle” vs 3 tacklers.
He scrambles again on 3rd down, comes up short, and, with Lions fans scraming on 4th & 1 to make the stadium deafening, Mariota hits Zach Ertz at the 6-yard line for a tough catch to make it 1st & goal.
1st down — Jet sweep (kind of) to Deebo to the 1-yard line
2nd down – Rodriguez walks in for a badly-needed touchdown!!
After the PAT, the score is 22-10 with 03:39 left in the first half.
The Lions final drive of the half begins at the 33-yard line. Luvu is back on the field.
A pass to midfield was ruled incomplete — Dan Campbell threw the red challenge flag and won. First down at the 50-yard line.
Detroit’s center was injured on the next play.
On 3rd & 3, Montgomery was stopped just short of the line to gain as the 2-minute warning was given.
Following the time out, on 4th & 1, Goff, under pressure, hit TE Sam La Porta for a short pass and a good run to gain 14 yards.
Two plays later, on 3rd & 11 with 1:42 on the clock, Dan Quinn called time out, hoping to get a stop — which they got (kind of). After a 9-yard completion to La Porta, on 4th & 2, Goff got an easy completion to Kalif Raymond out of the slot set up 1st & goal at the 8-yard line.
Two plays later, on 3rd & goal from the 5-yard line, Goff missed St-Brown with 14 seconds on the clock.
On 4th down, Dan Campbell surprised me by sending out the field goal kicker, who nailed the 22-yard kick. Score: 25-10.
After the field goal, Quan Martin was flagged for a personal foul — apparently unhappy about something that Dan Skipper did or said.
With the ball at the 25-yard line after the kick off, Mariota simply took a knee to end the quarter.
The Lions will get the ball to open the 2nd half.
Halftime Stats
Statistics via ESPN
Third Quarter
If Washington’s offense was opening the half, it might feel like more of a game, but with the Lions, who scored on every 1st half possession, opening up with the ball and a 15-point lead, it’s hard to see how this goes well for Washington fans.
The Lions start their 5th offensive drive of the game at the 28-yard line. It looked like Ale Kaho may have been knocked unconscious on the tackle. He was helped to the blue tent. Trey Amos has been downgraded to OUT.
The first play was a 22-yard completion on a play action pass to the left sideline to Williams.
The next one was 11-yards to Teslaa on the left sideline to Washington’s 40-yard line.
The third play was a 14-yard run by Gibbs to the 25-yard line.
Next play was an 11-yard pass to Williams again. This is all just too easy for the Lions.
The 5th play of the drive was a touchdown by Williams on a ridiculously easy reception at the 3 yard line and a run into the end zone that ended with a forward-flip by Williams.
Oh yeah… the score is now 32-10 with 12 minutes left in the quarter. It feels like the remaining 27 minutes will be academic.
Croskey-Merritt is back in the game. One carry by him and a scramble by Mariota earned a first down at the 46-yard line.
Running with multiple tight ends on the field, Bill gets them to 3rd & 5; on that play, Marcus Mariota hit Trey Burks deep down the left sideline for a 38-yard gain to the 11-yard line. It was a beautiful pass.
A pair of runs by Bill got the ball to the 5-yard line. On 3rd & 4, Deebo carried to the left side to the 4-yard line.
On 4th & 3, Mariota hit a WIDE OPEN Deebo Samuel in the end zone for another much-needed touchdown.
The 2-pt attempt was unsuccessful. Score is DET 32 – WAS 16 with about 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
Good kick coverage stopped the Lions return at the 18-yard line — Tyler Owens credited with the tackle.
On 2nd & 7, Goff played pitch & catch with Jameson Williams for 41 yards down the left sideline.
Two plays later, on 3rd & 1 near the WAS 30-yard line, Goff hit Williams again — this time in the middle of the field — for 17 yards.
After stuffing a Gibbs run on 2nd down, on 3rd & 8 a the 10-yard line, Goff threw the ball away under pressure from Von Milller, beating Penei Sewell, who is back in the game.
On 4th down, the Lions kicked a 28-yard field goal to move the score to 35-16 with 2:30 left in the quarter.
Trailing by three scores, the burgundy & gold offense re-takes the field at the 21-yard line after Igbinoghene made a bad decision to return the ball from the end zone when he could have downed the ball and given the offense the 35-yard line instead.
The drive opened with a sack for a loss of 5 yards followed by a completion to Zach Ertz for 12 yards to bring up 3rd & 3 at teh 27-yard line.
What looked like a good pass to Deebo on 3rd down was broken up at the last minute by Maulet. Again, the “Let’s go Lions!” chants broke out. 3 & out.
Commanders special teams continued to do well, with a 55-yard punt and a -1 yard return — Tyler Owens on the tackle again.
Goff hit St-Brown for 15 yards on 2nd & 8 to bring the quarter to an end.
Fourth Quarter
Gibbs, Raymond, La Porta — in three plays, the Lions move the ball into Washington territory with chants of “Jared Goff!” again audible on the broadcast.
On 1st & 10 at the WAS 43-yard line, Jahmyr Gibbs went wide right, and scampered untouched into the end zone for his 3rd touchdown of the game!
Special teams comes up with another play by blocking the extra point attempt. The score is 41-16 with about 13 minutes left in the game. The scoring drive covered 84 yards in 6 plays. The Lions have over 500 yards of offense and have scored on every possession of the game.
The next Commanders possession begins at the 19-yard line following a penalty on the return. Lions fans are clearly audible on the broadcast. I imagine most Washington fans are in cars or on trains and on the way home by now.
Zach Ertz made a lovely catch for a 30-yard gain on 2nd & 7 to put the ball into Lions territory. A false start penalty on the next snap pusthed the ball back to Washington’s side of the field.
McNichols is now the ball carrier.
On 3rd & 5, Robbie Chosen dropped a pass on the right sideline and wanted a flag for DPI.
On 4th & 5, Deebo made a fantastic one-handed catch under tight coverage for a 19-yard gain down the left sideline. The Lions challenged the play. It appears to be a bad challenge. It was — play stands as called.
Bill is back in the game; he’s had 8 carries, Rodriguez has had 6 and McNichols 3.
On 3rd & 3, McNichols earned the first down, running 9 yards to the DET 9-yard line, 1st & goal.
Another run by McNichols pushes the ball to the 4-yard line.
On the next play, Mariota faked a handoff to Bill, then hit Ben Sinnott for an easy touchdown!
The 2-point attempt ended with a sack of Mariota, but a defensive holding call resulted in another chance for the Commanders. On the do-over, Bill was stopped short. The score is 41-22 with about 7 minutes left to play.
The Lions sit Jared Goff down and put in former-Washington QB Kyle Allen.
After a failed onside kick, the Lions took over at the WAS 45-yard line.
It looks as if Kyle Allen is just going to hand the ball off to burn as much clock as possible, but attempts a play action pass, so apparently Dan Campbell wants to keep adding to the score.
On 3rd & 9, Jamison Williams dropped a sitter that would have sustained the drive. Dan Campbell sent his kicker out for a 48-yard attempt which he made. The current 44-22 score looks familiar for some reason. 4:34 left on the clock.
With the ball at the 28-yard line, Josh Johnson takes over at quarterback. Mariota is done for the day.
Bill Croskey-Merritt, who has 9 carries for 31 yards, is back on the field adding to his attempts.
On 4th & 7, Tress Way punts again.
With 2:09 left in the game, the Lions take the field for what is hopefully going to be the final short offensive drive of the game.
Three runs and a kneel-down mercifully ended the slaughter.
Full Game Stats
Statistics via ESPN
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