It’s Week 12 on the NFL schedule and the Washington Redskins will be facing the Detroit Lions and looking to win their first home game of the season. The Redskins will also be looking for their first win over an NFC opponent this season.
Washington (1-9) enters the contest as 3-point underdogs. The game will feature the second home start for rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins.
Last week in a 34-17 home loss to the New York Jets, Haskins had an uneven outing that did show his potential, however. On the day the former Ohio State star was 19 of 35 for 214 yards with two touchdown passes and one interception.
Haskins and the Redskins offense will be matching up against a Lions defense that has been shredded through the air and allowed three passing touchdowns over five straight outings.
Detroit (3-6-1) enters the game trying to avoid their sixth loss in seven outings after starting the season 2-0-1. Pro Bowl and starting quarterback Matthew Stafford has been ruled out of Sunday’s game with fractured bones in his back. The injury could keep the former Georgia standout inactive for the remainder of the season. The Lions will start Jeff Driskel who has played well since being thrust into action. Driskel’s completed 58.3% of his passes for a respectable 478 yards. He’s also thrown for three touchdowns with just one interception. He’s also proven to be able to run (88 yards and a TD) and make plays with his legs.
Interim coach Bill Callahan spoke about Detroit’s’ use of man coverage on defense and if his offense can exploit the matchups while speaking to the media from the INOVA Sports Performance Center at Redskins Park.
“I think for the most part, the one-on-one matchups have to get exploited to the best of our abilities,” Callahan said. “I think [Offensive Coordinator] Kevin [O’Connell] has done a really good job in his design by putting our receivers in position to create that mismatch. When you face man coverage, there is plenty of options in the passing game. Whether you’re designing crossing routes, whether you’re creating vertical routes and creating separation on the top of your routes, deeper crosses, what we call out-breakers, in-breakers and there’s always a chance to run off a man defender without deep help down the boundary on a go route or what we call a nine-call. So, we’re doing everything we can. Not only from a perimeter aspect, from the backfield, from the wide position, I think all those positions get integrated into beating man coverage, reading the defense and defeating the man-type technique and then reacting to zone as well. I think the basic premise for a receiver in our league is anytime they’re on a route, they treat everything like man-to-man and they react to zone [coverage]. So that’s a day-one type of fundamental technique that has to get executed.”
The following is a breakdown of the Week 12 game with full media information.
Date: Sunday, November 24, 2019
Gametime: 1:00 p.m. EST
Location: FedExField (82,000) | Landover, Maryland.
Television: FOX Sports (TV channel 5 in Washington, D.C. market) and Prime Video
FOX Sports Commentators: Kenny Albert (play-by-play), Ronde Barber (analyst), and Lindsay Czarniak (sideline)
Radio: Redskins Radio Network (local channel’s in Greater Washington, DC area – The Team 980, 105.9 WMAL, ESPN 630)
Redskins Radio Announcers: Larry Michael (play-by-play), Chris Cooley (analysis) and Rick “Doc” Walker (sidelines)