Quick, what’s worse than trying to stop Jayden Daniels and the Commanders? It’s having to stop that relentless offense on four downs, not just three. Before Aaron Glenn leaves to become a head coach, the Lions’ defensive coordinator faces that daunting assignment this week.
But Glenn and the Lions (15-2) should be familiar with that assertive offensive philosophy when they host Washington (13-5) on Saturday night (8 p.m. ET, FOX). After all, Dan Campbell is the NFL’s poster child for fourth-down aggression. Don’t expect many punts at Ford Field in their divisional-round showdown.
In Washington’s dramatic, 23-20 win at Tampa Bay in the wild-card playoffs, Washington was 3-for-5 on fourth downs. They used fourth-down conversions to either score or set up each of their two touchdowns. Daniels was his normal even-keel self, after leading the Commanders to a 20-for-23 fourth-down success rate during the regular season. That 87.0-percent mark was the best effort by any NFL team with more than 10 fourth-down attempts in league history.
Daniels threw for two touchdowns on fourth-down passes during the regular season, then fired a fourth-down score to Terry McLaurin to retake the lead, 20-17, against Tampa Bay. The Commanders had a 146.4 regular-season passer rating on fourth-down passes.
Detroit, meanwhile, finished tied for seventh during the regular season with a 66.7-percent conversion rate (22 first downs on 33 fourth-down attempts). And in a sign that Campbell’s philosophy has changed the league, Cleveland (44), Chicago (38) and the New York Giants (37) actually had more fourth-down attempts than Detroit (33). The Lions, however, have been the only team with a winning record to consistently go for it on fourth downs during Campbell’s four seasons at the helm. They were 21-for-40 in 2023 (52.5 percent), 20-for-37 in 2022 (54.1 percent and 21-for-41 in 2021 (51.2 percent).
The Lions should also return a fourth-down option this week. Campbell said running back David Montgomery is on track to play against the Commanders, five weeks after Detroit thought it had lost him for the season with a torn MCL.
If his return is anything like that of linebacker Alex Anzalone in the Lions’ last game, a statement season-finale victory over Minnesota in Week 18, look for Ford Field fireworks on Saturday. The Lions are slowly returning to health just in time for a run at the franchise’s first Super Bowl berth. Aidan Hutchinson has had Feb. 9 circled on his calendar for months.
But before that happens, Detroit needs to deny Daniels, who has the most fourth-quarter comeback wins by a rookie in NFL history.
For more information on the Lions and Commanders, visit the Detroit and Washington team pages at ProFootballPost.com.
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