It’s week 10 of the NFL season, and the 3-6 Washington Commanders will be facing a 5-3 Detroit Lions team at home in Northwest Stadium in Landover, MD this Sunday at 4:25 pm ET. After rebounding from a very poor week 1 matchup against the Packers, the Lions have blown out most opponents this season, though they have hit a bit of a recent slump, having lost two of their most recent three games to the Chiefs and the Vikings.
On offense, the Lions are coached by HC Dan Campbell and OC John Morton. Morton served
as Senior Offensive Assistant under Campbell in 2022, then served a couple of years in Denver as Passing Game Coordinator, before returning to Detroit as OC. As a result, it’s fair to guess how much of the current Lions offense is the brainchild of Dan Campbell vs John Morton. The most notable difference between the Lions offense of last year and this year is that it has become much more boom-or-bust and dependent on long explosive plays to gain points. At the same time, it has struggled to achieve consistent first downs, a problem acknowledged by the Lions own pass-game coordinator. Overall though, it has produced an offense that is 14th in passing yards and 14th in rushing yards so far.
On defense, the Lions are coached by DC Kelvin Sheppard, an internal promotion and disciple of former DC Aaron Glenn. Much like Glenn, Sheppard has favored multiple defensive line fronts with a heavy emphasis on twists and stunts. Also similar to last year, the Lions secondary has been shredded with injury, playing without their entire starting secondary recently vs the Bucs. Despite the injuries, the Lions have allowed the 9th fewest yards passing and 8th fewest yards rushing in the NFL so far this season.
I asked Ryan Mathews of Pride of Detroit five questions to better understand the state of the Lions and what to look for in this game.
1) The Lions have been blowing out most teams, but got beat last week by a Vikings team that were 8.5 point underdogs. How’d the Vikings manage to pull off that upset?
Brian Flores turned the trick last week against Jared Goff and a Lions offensive line that just wasn’t up to the challenge. Goff was pressured on a whopping 47.6% of his dropbacks according to NFL Pro–20 of his 42 dropbacks! When Goff was kept clean, he was on point, completing 19 of his 22 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns. The problem that plagued the Lions the most, however, was how quickly those pressures were getting to Goff: 15 of those 20 pressures got home to the quarterback in 2.5 seconds or less. Considering Goff’s athletic profile, those quick pressures are a death sentence for any play because there’s virtually no shot for him to evade a defender and make a play.
In the end, Flores did a great job devising a gameplan where simulated pressure had both Goff and the Lions offensive line confused and prone to making back-breaking mistakes. Had the offense not underperformed, Detroit wouldn’t have suffered their third loss of the season.
2) The Lions lost both their OC and DC in the offseason. What have you seen out of their replacements and how have they changed their respective sides of the ball?
The offense has gone through moments of brilliance, pouring it on against the likes of the Chicago Bears, Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, and Cincinnati Bengals. In those games, they found success running the football, throwing the football, and flexing their muscle for creativity and effectiveness. In other games, like against the Green Bay Packers and most recently the Minnesota Vikings, they’ve looked completely unprepared and nothing like the offense in those games where they hung 35+ points.
John Morton, the team’s new offensive coordinator, has a habit of not throwing the ball on early downs–last in the NFL–and running the ball on second-and-long, something the Lions are doing at the second-highest rate in the league. We’ll see how much he’s willing to change his ways over the second half of the season, but the frustration with what everyone felt like was a turnkey offense is starting to percolate.
On the defensive side of the ball, Kelvin Sheppard has shown to be a disciple of Aaron Glenn. He’s been aggressive in sending extra defenders to generate pressure–10th in blitz rate according to NFL Pro–but he has shown a real ability to game plan for an opponent from week to week. The defense has dealt with a ton of injuries in the secondary, but despite being without his starting cornerbacks and safeties against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7, Sheppard put forth his best gameplan, holding Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers to just nine points when Mayfield was at the center of so much MVP talk.
3) The Commanders hired Lance Newmark and Brandon Sosna away from the Lions front office two offseasons ago. Can you give us any insight into them or some moves they are credited with while with the Lions?
Newmark’s ties to the Lions ran deep, he had spent 25 years in Detroit’s player-personnel department, ultimately serving as senior director of player personnel for the last two years of his tenure. In that capacity he worked closely with GM Brad Holmes overseeing both college and pro scouting, helping implement the Lions’ draft and develop roster-building strategy.
Sosna was a key part of Detroit’s front office, serving as the Lions’ senior director of football administration and lead contract negotiator. He managed the salary cap and helped nail down major extensions for franchise cornerstones like Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Penei Sewell. Praised by GM Brad Holmes for his communication, foresight, and work ethic, Sosna was integral to the Lions’ collaborative roster-building process—working closely with Holmes and Dan Campbell to execute free agency plans and long-term deals that kept the team’s core intact.
4) Who is one Lions player on offense and one player on defense that Washington fans probably don’t know much about, but should?
Detroit’s offense is filled with a lot of names you’ve likely heard of before. The running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, the receivers Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta at tight end–these skill players represent 92.7% of the team’s targets and carries this season when you subtract Jared Goff’s 11 rushes and Kyle Allen’s two kneel downs.
There’s a chance rookie third-round pick Isaac TeSlaa becomes more involved in the offense on Sunday, but that will likely depend on how prepared he is coming out of this week’s practice. After a season-high 25 snaps on offense against the Kansas City Chiefs, he’s had just 12 snaps at wide receiver the past two games combined. TeSlaa has proven in spots to be an effective downfield threat, using his speed and size to gain separation at the catch point and bring in some impressive grabs.
On defense, someone you might be unfamiliar with on the Lions defense is linebacker Derrick Barnes. Detroit uses three linebackers in their base defense and Barnes helps make that possible with his ability to fit the run, drop into coverage, and be effective as a blitzer. Barnes’ 444 snaps on defense is fourth on the team, he’s third in the team in quarterback pressures (14) per PFF, and tied for second in run defense stops (11).
5) How should Washington go about gameplanning this matchup on both sides of the ball?
Washington’s defense will be successful against Detroit if they can muddy the middle of the field and hurry up Goff’s decision-making. If the Commanders are willing to play press-man to disrupt routes, and if they can disguise pressure, the offense line–and Goff–looked extremely rattled last week trying to handle that from the Vikings. But Washington better be prepared to stop the run, too. This Lions offense hasn’t been able to move the ball on the ground like they have in the past, so that feels like it could be a point of emphasis heading on the road this week.
To get to their defense, the Commanders will have to be willing to be physical up front in the run game. The Vikings refused to get pushed around by the Lions and had a solid enough outing in the ground game to give J.J. McCarthy opportunities to make throws. With the Lions getting healthier on the backend of their defense, they’ll feel more comfortable sending pressure. Detroit loves to contain and crush the pocket from a pass-rush standpoint, so Washington could have a plan to get Mariota on the move and in rhythm throwing the ball.
A companion article to this with my answers to Ryan’s questions can be found over at Pride of Detroit.
Thanks again to Ryan Mathews for taking time out of his day to answer our questions about the Seahawks.
