Commanders vs Lions: What to watch for

“Stay Medium”

Who would have thought those words of wisdom from the ‘Jim Zorn Experience’ would become a motto, nay, a mantra, for the early part of the Washington Commanders 2022 season?

The Commanders beat the Jacksonville Jaguars to open the season 1-0. It wasn’t pretty and at times it was dicey, but it sets up a tantalizing September scenario. Beat another feisty but inferior team in Detroit and visions of an undefeated September become more realistic.  

First though, the Lions, so here are five things to watch for at kickoff.

The Run Defense

There’s no good way to say this: it wasn’t good. The Jaguars gashed the front seven for 123 yards on 18 carries to the tune of a 6.8 per carrying average. The Lions like to run the ball and ran it well against Philadelphia last week. 

Lions QB Jared Goff is also at his best working off-play action so look for Detroit to try and establish the run game early. That will put a lot of pressure on a unit that is suddenly very thin up front.

Jamin Davis

As if he didn’t have enough to worry about supporting the run defense, he wasn’t very good in pass coverage either.

The former first-round pick let Christian Kirk run by him for a bug gain on the game’s first series and were it not for an overthrown pass from Trevor Lawrence, Davis would have been watching Travis Etienne run into the end zone for a first-quarter touchdown. 

The clock is ticking on Davis. Throughout training camp, coaches talked about how the game has slowed down for him. It needs to happen between the lines. And soon. 

Can Jahon cook?

All of a sudden, the Commanders’ receivers are getting some love from the national media and the rest of the league. One big reason is rookie Jahon Dotson. In his NFL debut, he caught two touchdowns and was targeted five times. Not a bad ratio. He won’t sneak up on the Lions though, so let’s see how he responds with a target on his back.

But don’t forget about Scary Terry

Not that anyone will, but McLaurin was, a distant fifth in targets last week. Curtis Samuel led the team with 11 as Scott Turner seemingly tried to make up for the lost season of 2021. It meant McLaurin saw a lot less double coverage than he did last season. 

Samuel showed that defenses will need to account for him or risk suffering the consequences. That could leave McLaurin open for an even bigger day than last week.

Rollercoaster of Wentz

Commanders fans got the entire tao of Carson in one game. At times he was brilliant (two possessions, two touchdowns to open the game), then he was brutal (two passes, two interceptions), and then he was clutch (two fourth-quarter touchdowns to win the game). 

This is the Wentz the Commanders traded for. He will be up and he will be down and not every game is going to turn out the way Week 1 did. 

That brings us back to the inferior opponent. 

Detroit should give good Wentz enough breaks to overcome bad Wentz. Can he and the Commanders take advantage of it? 

We’ll find out Sunday at 1 pm.