By Justin Stulpe
Playoff football is in full swing, and the NFC’s top-seeded Detroit Lions (15-2) will host the Washington Commanders (13-5) with a trip to the NFC Championship on the line. The divisional round matchup is set for 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 18, at Ford Field, with the game airing on FOX. Both teams are expected to deliver fireworks in what is expected to be a thrilling contest.
The Lions enter the matchup after posting the best regular season in franchise history, setting a new mark for most wins in a season. They also earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC for the first time in the Super Bowl era. With that success, Detroit enters the divisional round with high expectations—something that has rarely been the case for the Lions—and the team currently holds the best odds to win the Super Bowl.
Detroit comes into their first playoff bout with some serious momentum, being winners of their final three contests in the regular season, including an emphatic victory over their NFC North division rival in the Minnesota Vikings to secure the division and No. 1 seed for a first-round bye.
Lions fans knew the importance of locking up the No. 1 seed for the extra week of rest was crucial for the team, as the Lions had been pretty banged up with injuries on both sides of the ball, especially the defense. Even with the list of players sidelined because of injuries growing by the day, the fact that Detroit was still able to achieve the one seed has instilled confidence in their ability to perform when key contributors finally come back healthy and ready for action.
GRCC student Diego Diaz, 18, of Grand Rapids, said that the team having so many injuries and still being able to be as successful as they were is a testament to how strong the team is at full strength. “We found a way to come back, regardless of all of the injuries,” Diaz said.
The confidence level for the Lions being able to win against the Commanders is quite high, as the momentum from the contest against Minnesota in the final game of the regular season is a driving factor for supreme confidence in the team to come out victorious.
“I feel pretty confident, we held the Vikings to a no-touchdown game,” Diaz said.
As such, Diaz predicts that the Lions will defeat the Commanders 34-10 in a dominant showing, and advance to the NFC championship.
The first obstacle that stands in the way of the Lions is the upstart Washington Commanders, who narrowly escaped with victory in the Wild Card round against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a game-winning field goal, 23-20. Washington is led by rookie phenom Jayden Daniels, who was the No. 2 overall pick in this past year’s draft and has completely revitalized the Commanders franchise who finished last year with a putrid 4-13 record.
Daniels, the Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite, led the team to an impressive 12-5 record in the regular season behind the resurgence of their offense stemming from his capabilities in both the passing and rushing game. Posting 3,568 passing yards and 25 passing touchdowns through the air, along with 891 rushing and six more scores on the ground to lead a balanced attack that has given many teams a tough time in trying to stop them.
The rushing capability of Daniels is what makes GRCC student Luke Amash, the 18-year-old Grand Rapids native, slightly nervous when facing the Commanders, as he notes that the rookie sensation’s ability to carry the ball himself is something that the diminished Detroit defense must hone in on in order to be successful.
“I’m a little scared of Jayden Daniels because he is a running quarterback and our defense has been depleted,” Amash said.
However, even when slightly worried about the Lions being able to hold Daniels in check, Amash still possesses the utmost confidence in the Lions’ ability to come out of the game victorious, when he said “I feel confident, I feel that this team is ready to make that next step and be in the NFC championship, and then potentially (win) the Super Bowl.”
Amash believes that the Lions will win 35-21 in a high-scoring affair, with Montgomery getting into the endzone in his return, along with star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown scoring twice to help lead Detroit into the next round.
For the Lions, bringing the momentum from the regular season into the postseason will be crucial in their quest for their ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl, and something that will definitely help in the journey is the return of star running back David Montgomery.
Montgomery, who missed the final three regular-season games due to what was initially thought of as a season-ending knee injury, is set to make his return against the Commanders on Saturday night. He will rejoin his backfield partner Jahmyr Gibbs to rekindle the “Sonic and Knuckles” tandem that wreaked havoc on the league through the majority of the season.
In addition to Montgomery returning, the Lions’ offensive dominance and defensive improvements over the course of the season will be tough for the Commanders to match, as the Lions enter the game as over a touchdown favorite against Washington. With the game being played at Ford Field, as not only the city of Detroit, but the entire state of Michigan being fired up for the Lions’ first playoff game of the season, the Lions should be able to flaunt their offensive prowess and hold the rookie quarterback in check enough to come out with a win.
Amash believes that the Lions will win 35-21 in a high-scoring affair, with Montgomery getting into the endzone in his return, along with star wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown scoring twice to help lead Detroit into the next round.
The Lions squaring off with the Commanders is sure to be an action-packed game filled with exciting plays that everyone should tune in for, to not only watch some great football but to also root on the Lions in their path to achieve a feat for the first time in team history, winning the Super Bowl.
