The Washington Commanders took on the Detroit Lions in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs on Saturday and somehow came away with an upset victory. The Commanders were not expected to win that game, but when your defense has five takeaways, it’s hard for opposing teams to overcome that. You might wonder if all the talk about their poor run defense put a chip on their shoulders with the way they played Saturday night.
Jayden Daniels did his thing on Saturday, but his 299 passing yards and two touchdowns don’t happen without some help. The Commanders’ skill players did what they needed to do, especially the 182 rushing yards they put on the league’s third-best run defense.
On the defensive side of the ball, Mike Sainristil, Quan Martin, and Jeremy Chinn did everything in their power to take away the Lions’ passing game and created four turnovers in the process (including Martin’s pick-six). It doesn’t matter how good your team is; every time you turn the football over, your path to winning gets exponentially more difficult.
Next, the Commanders will head to the NFC Championship game; their opponent has yet to be decided. Let’s take a quick look at the best and worst performances from the divisional playoff game as graded by Pro Football Focus.