Even the most ardent supporter of the Burgundy and Gold did not have this playoff run on the calendar before the season. Washington has continually defied gravity en route to this game. Five times in a row this team has won the game on the last play from scrimmage. Five. And, these weren’t meaningless games against scrub teams. (Ok, Dallas qualifies at the moment as a scrub team. Yes, that was gratuitous…but, it felt good to see it in print.) It has been a wonderful ride. Now things get much, much harder. Tampa Bay is a fine football team. Detroit is an excellent one.
Two Ships
These are two storied franchises. Detroit’s began NFL life in 1930 in the bustling city of Portsmouth, Ohio as the “Spartans.” A move to the rapidly expanding Detroit happened in 1934. Along with the move came the name change to “Lions.” Owner George Richards picked the name because the Lions would be “Kings of the NFL.” Get it? Also in 1934 Richards, a radio executive cut a deal with NBC to do national broadcasts of his Thanksgiving Day game. Detroit won the Championship in 1935. Then they went into almost two decades of irrelevance before going to the Title Game some four times in six years, winning three during the 1950s.
Detroit’s best player during that 1950’s run was Bobby Layne. As noted above he was injured for the 1957 championship run. After the season he was traded to Pittsburgh for Earl Morrall and two draft choices. As he left the facility he told George Wilson that the franchise would not win another title for fifty years. The “Curse of Bobby Layne” was more effective than he realized. This is year 67…and counting.
The Washington franchise story is well known among the fanbase. Starting as the Boston “Braves” in 1932 the Owner changed the name to “Redskins” in 1933 to avoid confusion with the Boston baseball Braves. In 1937 they moved to Washington and won the Championship right off the bat. After 1,318 games the team sits only 7 games below .500. Detroit has played 1349 games and sits at 103 games below .500. The winningest coach in their history is Wayne Fontes who finished with a losing record. Should they go on to win the Super Bowl they will have reduced the deficit to an even 100 games.
Different Strokes
Both of these franchises have had decades of irrelevance. The Washington misery under former owner Dan Snyder is well known. It has been brought up a number of times this week. Detroit has had more than its fair share of woe also. That changed when Sheila Ford Hemp took the ownership reins in 2020. After yet another losing season she endorsed the hire of Dan Campbell. If you’re not familiar with Campbell he is a former NFL Tight End who is equal parts Wild Child and iconoclast. His basic approach is to pursue audacity to the point of recklessness…then keep going. It cost his team a trip to the Super Bowl last year. The media analysts vacillate between shock/awe and disdain. It depends on the week and the latest result.
Campbell’s first year was pretty brutal. Going 3-13 gets people fired in this league. The next season started 1-5. Sports journos were salivating that Campbell was going to get axed mid-season. There’s an element of ghoulishness in that business. Excitement hit a fever pitch when Sheila called a short-notice Presser. She shocked the mob by telling them no one was going anywhere. Put your pitchforks away. It was a short Master Class in Ownership. Campbell’s medicine was starting to work after that. The team rallied to a winning 9-8 record.
Well, not everyone was staying. Campbell was purging the building of any player not getting on the bus. When Ms. Hemp-Ford hired Dan she also hired Brad Holmes to be General Manager. His first #1 pick was Penei Sewell. He is arguably the best Offensive Tackle in Football. Nice place to start. The next year he drafted Defensive Tackle Aidan Hutchinson and Receiver Jameson Williams in the first round. Then the next year he drafted Jahmyr Gibbs, the ultra talented Running Back at #12 overall. There were groans in the building when he did that. No one is groaning now. Getting this picture? While Ron Rivera was drafting tomato cans the Lions were stocking up on Thoroughbreds.
Washington’s return to the radar screen started a year ago this week with the hire of Adam Peters as General Manager. By hook or by crook they got the right Head Coach to come change the culture in Dan Quinn. The day he was hired NFL Radio Analyst and former General Manager Pat Kirwan went on a long soliloquy about how great a hire it was. Other media types, including Tony Kornheiser called the hire “Uninspired.” One year in it’s pretty obvious who had the better vision.
Washington fans, you are going to grow to love Danny Quinn
Pat Kirwan, NFL Radio February 2, 2024
Basketball Guys
Being it’s Detroit for the opponent this week it would be remiss to not mention “Johnson-Gate.” Ben Johnson is the Offensive Coordinator for the Lions. He’s the White-Hot Head Coaching candidate for the second year in a row. Washington’s Head Coaching search had a team that had people like Rick Spielman, the former Minnesota Vikings GM, some of the minority team owners, GM Adam Peters, and Bob Myers, formerly the GM of the Golden State Warriors basketball team. This group ran a tight ship. There wasn’t much leakage coming out of the search. But, a narrative arose that Johnson was the top choice. To this day we don’t know if that’s true. Spielman was asked point-blank about that and declined comment.
The search team was in the Gulfstream jet flying to Detroit to either; A) ask a final set of follow up questions; or B) Offer Johnson the job. While in the air Johnson’s agent called Peters and withdrew Johnson’s name from consideration. It’s all speculation why he did that. Rumors have it that Ms. Hemp-Ford stroked him a fat check to stay. That’s certainly within bounds. And, it would explain it neatly. But, Johnson had burned bridges. The NFL is incestuous. There’s only 32 sets of jobs. It’s amazing how many former Head Coaches end up on sidelines as Coordinators or Position Coaches. Washington has two of them in Kliff Kingsbury and Anthony Lynn.
NFL people called Johnson out on the boyish move. His response was that he wasn’t impressed with Washington. “They’re just a bunch of basketball guys…too confident of their football opinions.” We have receipts.
They’re just a bunch of basketball guys
Ben Johnson Detroit Offensive Coordinator talking about the Washington Leadership
Once again Johnson is the glowing hot Head Coaching candidate. But, he’s said to be “picky” about where he wants to go. This guy has “Warning: High Maintenance” written all over him. It’s easy to be the superstar coordinator when you have more weapons than a Battleship. Norv Turner was a football Einstein when he had Troy Aikman handing off to Emmitt Smith or throwing to Michael Irvin behind an Iron Curtain Offensive Line. When he came to Washington with Heath Shuler Einstein ended up on Academic Probation. The reason there is a Head Coaching job out there is because the team stinks. He’s going to have to pull it up by the bootstraps. Rumors have it he’s going to take the Raiders’ job after being recruited by Tom Brady. If you’re wondering who their Quarterback is that’s ok. Everyone else is too. Have at it, Hot Dog.
The better Head Coaching candidate on that franchise is the Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn. He lost eight Starters on Defense. Somehow he coached up Practice Squad guys and Tuesday workout signings to the 7th-ranked Defense against points. That’s no mean feat. He also devised a plan that absolutely wiped out the Minnesota Vikings in the biggest game of the year for both squads. The Rams copied it. Now Minnesota is home watching the games on TV. Aaron Glenn is going to be a good hire for some team. Hopefully it’s not Dallas.
Any Chance?
Does Washington have any chance to beat Detroit? Yes, but…the odds are not good. The team is a 9.5 point underdog. That is a bit misleading, but, just a bit. Detroit is the bettors’ darling this year. So much so that gambling executives are mumbling about losing lots of money if Detroit wins the Super Bowl. The point spread is there to even the money for the two sides. The spread should be more in the 6-6.5 range.
Once again Washington is playing a team whose strengths dovetail neatly into their areas of weakness. Detroit has a powerful running game; Washington is poor against the run. Detroit has two fine Receivers and a terrific Tight End; Washington is better than they were against the pass, but still not good. Washington has one Blue Receiver in McLaurin, an effective albeit aged Tight End, and a run game that has gone into hibernation. Oh, and the Detroit Offensive Line is rock solid. Washington’s pass rush is sickly. And, that is the worst news of all.
Jared Goff was a #1 overall draft pick. He’s a good Quarterback. This weekend there are 8 starting QBs. If you did the old playground thing and lined all eight up to choose teams it says here Goff would be the next to last to get picked. Only Jalen Hurts would remain. The “But” and it’s a huge one is that Goff has that tremendous Line in front of him, a wonderful running game, and all those Receivers. As it is the team is #1 in the League for points. Put Jayden Daniels in that situation and the numbers would be dramatically higher. Put Goff in Washington’s Offense. Do you really think there would be 13 wins on the ledger?
Washington needs some tipped balls to fall their way in order to win. The conventional wisdom is that Washington can’t out-score Detroit. Given the weapons disparity that’s perfectly reasonable. The problem with reason is that in football is that it sometimes doesn’t verify. A lot of this season has been outside the bounds of reasonable expectations.
It’s going to take turnovers, some luck, and a lot of JD5 magic to win this game. Jayden Daniels is that type of mobile Quarterback that can give a team fits. He’s not going to stay in the pocket and fold up like Sam Darnold did. Jayden’s style is very similar to Lamar Jackson. NFC teams aren’t used to seeing that approach. Jackson’s record against NFC teams is 24-4. Detroit last faced Lamar in October 2023. They got boat-raced 38-6. Detroit will see Jayden for the first time Saturday night.
An early lead wouldn’t hurt either. All the pressure of this game is on Detroit. A loss for Washington would just be a growth ring on their development. A loss for Detroit would be cataclysmic. Washington’s task is to make them feel that pressure.
