The Detroit Lions desperately need a win. Losing six out of their last seven games has driven the team, and the loyal fans, to dire straits.
Thankfully the NFL schedule brings good tidings to Detroit in the form of the Washington Redskins in Week 12.
Washington is 1-9 and in chaos. They fired coach Jay Gruden earlier this season. They’re in a battle with their best player, left tackle Trent Williams, over mishandling his cancer diagnosis. Their point differential of minus-128 is 100 points worse than the 3-6-1 Lions bring to FedEx Field.
They haven’t even led in a game since Week 6, whereas the Lions are one of three teams to hold a lead in every game. In short, the Lions might not be playing very well, but Washington is on a different level of bad football.
Here are four reasons why the Lions will snap the losing streak and beat back the host Redskins on Sunday.
Dwayne Haskins isn’t as good (yet) as Jeff Driskel
This will be Haskins’ third start as a rookie quarterback for Washington. The first two did not go all that well.
Haskins completed a fair amount of his passes (34-of-57), but they don’t move the ball all that well. Those stats are also padded by two garbage-time TD drives at the end of last week’s game when they were down 34-3 to the Jets. His net yards per attempt is half a yard lower (6.3 to 6.8) than Driskel’s, and Lions fans know Driskel doesn’t challenge down the field often enough.
His inability to handle or escape pressure is a big reason. Haskins was sacked six times in Week 11 by the Jets. Haskins gets sacked on 15.1 percent of his dropbacks, a figure more than double Driskel’s 6.5. To put his sacks into better context, Case Keenum started seven games behind the same offensive line and was sacked just 12 times. Haskins has already been sacked 14 times in over 100 fewer attempts.
Then there are the interceptions; Haskins currently sits with a ratio of two TDs to five INTs. Driskel is at 3-to-1.
Haskins still has a bright future, but his NFL career is off to a rough, unimpressive start.
Washington’s defense can’t get off the field
The Skins have major problems getting stops on defense when they really need one.
Yes, the Lions have the same issue. But Washington is worse and has done it while playing lesser offenses than Detroit has faced. The Redskins are dead last in third-down defense, allowing foes to convert 49.3 percent of all attempts. Detroit is 30th at 46.1.
Where it really shows is in time of possession. Washington is also dead last in opposing time of possession at 33:25 per game. That’s more than three minutes worse than Detroit’s figure (30:15). They give up more second-half rushing yards than any other team, too.
What does that mean? When — not if — the Lions get a lead, they should be able to successfully milk the clock against Washington’s toothless defense.
As bad as Detroit’s defense is, Washington’s offense is worse
Washington’s offense is futile. There’s no other word for it. The Redskins are terrible at pretty much everything.
Take a look at their rankings through Week 11, courtesy of Team Rankings:
They have not scored more than 17 points in a game since Week 2. They hit 17 last week by scoring touchdowns on the final two drives after falling behind 34-3. Prior to that, the Skins scored 9, 9, 0, 17 (a win over then-winless Miami), 7 and 3.
They’re not even good at kicking. Dustin Hopkins has made just 75 percent of his field goal attempts and has two misses inside 37 yards.
History favors the Lions
Washington dominates the all-time series history with Detroit, winning 27 of the 41 regular-season meetings and all three postseason contests. But the Lions have roared lately.
Detroit has won the last four meetings going back to 2009. That includes the first victory for Jim Schwartz’s Lions following the dismal 0-16 season in 2008. It was Matthew Stafford’s first career victory.
The following season, a 1-5 Lions team knocked off a 4-3 Redskins team that had won three of its last four. Detroit would follow up that win…by losing five in a row. Even a poor Lions team in the midst of a terrible stretch could handle a Washington team that was much better than the 2019 edition.
Detroit captured the last meeting in Washington back in 2013. The Lions survived a pick-six from DeAngelo Hall to prevail 27-20 in a game where both Calvin Johnson and Nate Burleson topped 100 receiving yards.
The most recent matchup was in 2016, and it was a memorable one. Anquan Boldin capped off a frantic last-minute drive with an 18-yard TD reception from Stafford, putting the Lions ahead 20-17 after Kirk Cousins had just given Washington the lead with a long run around right tackle. It was one of eight game-winning drives authored by Stafford that season.
