NFC Divisional Round: Washington Commanders (13-5) @ Detroit Lions (15-2)

[Sports_Freak]

37 minutes ago, number20 said:

Gibbs was unstoppable the entire night. He was the one player Washington had no answer for. Only 4 carries in the 2nd half was the other indictable crime against Johnson  

 

Agreed. Knowing how bad Washington is against the run screams to keep the ball on the ground. And with our OL, Gibbs could have scored from any position on the field. 

[Sports_Freak]

11 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Putting up 31 points despite 5 turnovers and his star QB ****ting the bed and now Ben sucks.  That’s bull****.   Everyone is in part to blame but there are at least 10 people on that list before Ben.  

But the only reason Goff threw those picks is because those pass plays were called against a defense that can't stop the run. And Jaymo throwing into double coverage? Bad play call and design. Jaymo should never be allowed to throw a pass. His ability to make decisions is very questionable.

[Hongbit]

47 minutes ago, number20 said:

Gibbs was unstoppable the entire night. He was the one player Washington had no answer for. Only 4 carries in the 2nd half was the other indictable crime against Johnson  

 

 

6 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

Agreed. Knowing how bad Washington is against the run screams to keep the ball on the ground. And with our OL, Gibbs could have scored from any position on the field. 

When was that supposed to happen?

They had one great Lions drive to start the half.   Washington got the ball and drove it for 8:00 and scored to go up 10.  The Jamo int happened on the 3rd play of the next drive.   After they score again, Lions are down 3 scores with 7:00 to go.   You can’t run the ball in that situation.  Ben’s credit he still managed to get the ball to Gibbs in the pass game a few times.    

Edited Sunday at 07:02 PM by Hongbit

[KnoxP]

9 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

 

When was that supposed to happen?

They had one great Lions drive to start the half.   Washington got the ball and drove it for 8:00 and scored to go up 10.  The Jamo int happened on the 3rd play of the next drive.   After they score again, Lions are down 3 scores with 7:00 to go.   You can’t run the ball in that situation.  Ben’s credit he still managed to get the ball to Gibbs in the pass game a few times.    

Wash did to us what we did to others. Made us one dimensional. The D couldn’t control the game and we played from behind. Bad game, disappointing as hell.

[lordstanley]

I kept expecting Washington to make a big mistake, an unforced error.  Not because Daniels is a rookie quarterback, but because they’re a good not great team that won a wacky number of games on the final possession. And were playing on the road. But they kept converting 4th and short (excepting on their opening drive) and took few penalties (except a phantom facemask which should have been the break the Lions needed) and had no turnovers. Going into the game, on a 4th and 2 in a 3-point game I would have expected the penalty would be an illegal procedure on the Washington offense rather than a too many men by the Lions defense.  It was a perfect storm.

So on a totally sucky day a few points: a) thank God the team that knocked out the Lions was Washington not Green Bay, as I have nothing against the Commanders; b) with the defense again getting exposed and the Minnesota game looking like an outlier, even if the Lions had pulled it out I would have favored Philly vs the Lions; and c) a close flukey loss might have been even tougher to take, as last night so many facets stunk that I have hard a time saying that “if only this one play had gone differently….”  

Edited Sunday at 07:50 PM by lordstanley

[romad1]

2 minutes ago, lordstanley said:

I kept expecting Washington to make a big mistake, an unforced error.  Not because Daniels is a rookie quarterback, but because they’re a good not great team that won a wacky number or games on the final possession. And were playing on the road. But they kept converting 4th and short (excepting on their opening drive) and took few penalties (except a phantom facemask which should have been the break the Lions needed) and had no turnovers. Going into the game, on a 4th and 2 in a 3-point game I would have expected the penalty would be an illegal procedure on the Washington offense rather than a too many men by the offense.  It was a perfect storm.

So on a totally sucky day a few points: a) thank God the team that knocked out the Lions out was Washington not Green Bay, as I have nothing against the Commanders; b) with the defense again getting exposed and the Minnesota game looking like an outlier, even if the Lions had pulled it out I would have favored Philly vs the Lions; and c) a close flukey loss might have been even tougher to take, as last night so many facets stunk that I have hard a time saying that “if only this one play had gone differently….”  

Yeah, we kept begging for at least one unforced error in this game and the only one that comes to mind is the first 4th down play.  Their kicker missed a FB at the end but pffft.   That was just a physical error.

[Sports_Freak]

46 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

 

When was that supposed to happen?

They had one great Lions drive to start the half.   Washington got the ball and drove it for 8:00 and scored to go up 10.  The Jamo int happened on the 3rd play of the next drive.   After they score again, Lions are down 3 scores with 7:00 to go.   You can’t run the ball in that situation.  Ben’s credit he still managed to get the ball to Gibbs in the pass game a few times.    

1st half...Lions up 10-7, 3rd down and 1. Pass thown, intercepted. Run the ball against a weak run defense.

And you answered your own question...why have a WR throw a pass? Especially Jaymo, who always makes questionable decisions? Run the ball...

[Hongbit]

7 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

1st half...Lions up 10-7, 3rd down and 1. Pass thown, intercepted. Run the ball against a weak run defense.

And you answered your own question...why have a WR throw a pass? Especially Jaymo, who always makes questionable decisions? Run the ball...

He said only 4 carries in the 2nd Half was unforgivable and you agreed.   

 

 

[CMRivdogs]

 

[Sports_Freak]

1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

He said only 4 carries in the 2nd Half was unforgivable and you agreed.   

 

 

And I've been saying since last night that the Lions offensive game plan was very poor. Washington was 30th in the league defending the run. We should have run the ball, and then run the ball and then? Run the ball some more. Use the clock to limit our defense being exposed. But whatever, the season is history. Time to look forward.

[Motown Bombers]

31 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

And I've been saying since last night that the Lions offensive game plan was very poor. Washington was 30th in the league defending the run. We should have run the ball, and then run the ball and then? Run the ball some more. Use the clock to limit our defense being exposed. But whatever, the season is history. Time to look forward.

You can't use the clock when you are down multiple scores late in the game. 

[Hongbit]

45 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

And I've been saying since last night that the Lions offensive game plan was very poor. Washington was 30th in the league defending the run. We should have run the ball, and then run the ball and then? Run the ball some more. Use the clock to limit our defense being exposed. But whatever, the season is history. Time to look forward.

Any gameplan where you score 31 points with a red zone fumble and your QB playing atrocious is a damn good one.  

Ben was not why they lost this game.  

[number20]

3 hours ago, Hongbit said:

Putting up 31 points despite 5 turnovers and his star QB ****ting the bed and now Ben sucks.  That’s bull****.   Everyone is in part to blame but there are at least 10 people on that list before Ben.  

I’m a little curious… what is meant by 'before Ben’? And I’m unclear as to which list you’re referring. Is there supposed to be some sort of priority order in which we all point out things about the game?

Also wondering who said anyone was posting opinions based on what order-of-relevance they need to be posted to begin with. It wasn’t me

[number20]

1 hour ago, Sports_Freak said:

And I've been saying since last night that the Lions offensive game plan was very poor. Washington was 30th in the league defending the run. We should have run the ball, and then run the ball and then? Run the ball some more. Use the clock to limit our defense being exposed. But whatever, the season is history. Time to look forward.

The galactically stupid Jamo pass play was the backbreaker for me. This is just my utterly useless opinion, but rather than trying to be the Marx Brothers with the football, maybe sticking to riding their strength - Gibbs and the OL - controlling the clock, attacking Washington where they were weak… that likely would’ve led to desperately needed points at that time. Instead, it was yet another promising drive thrown in the trash, a momentum killer, and another turning point in Washington’s favor

 

[Motor City Sonics]

6 minutes ago, number20 said:

I’m a little curious… what is meant by 'before Ben’? And I’m unclear as to which list you’re referring. Is there supposed to be some sort of priority order in which we all point out things about the game?

Also wondering who said anyone was posting opinions based on what order-of-relevance they need to be posted to begin with. It wasn’t me

Team loss.   A lot went wrong.   Ben was just part of it.    It was the defense more than anything.  When you score 31 points in a playoff game, even with 5 turnovers, you should win the game.       The defense had been teetering on disaster for several weeks and the team was able to overcome it because they played inept QBs.   But when they played QBs who were cool under pressure, they folded.    They could only hold so long with half the defense being backups.     Now, that's not really an excuse.   The failure, at it's core, is that their pass rush was a one-man endeavor and that guy went down in the Dallas game.  Smith was not nearly the factor we'd hoped he'd be.    They have to solve that.   That's their offseason.   If they can solve that and hopefully get health with the D-Line, the Secondary would look a lot better.   No secondary is going to hold for over 5/6 seconds a play.  

[number20]

7 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

Down 10 late in a playoff game, I still don't like putting the ball in Williams hands to throw. 

👆

This

 

[Motor City Sonics]

2 minutes ago, number20 said:

The galactically stupid Jamo pass play was the backbreaker for me. This is just my utterly useless opinion, but rather than trying to be the Marx Brothers with the football, maybe sticking to riding their strength - Gibbs and the OL - controlling the clock, attacking Washington where they were weak… that likely would’ve led to desperately needed points at that time. Instead, it was yet another promising drive thrown in the trash, a momentum killer, and another turning point in Washington’s favor

 

That was a stupid play, but if it had worked we'd be marveling at the genius of it.     That was how they got to 15-2, doing crazy stuff like that.   Why change?    It just didn't work this time.     

[4hzglory]

21 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

That was a stupid play, but if it had worked we'd be marveling at the genius of it.     That was how they got to 15-2, doing crazy stuff like that.   Why change?    It just didn't work this time.     

No, that one would still be stupid.  Down 10 needing to score for any realistic chance, with the weapons the Lions have and they way they were able to move the ball, you don’t have a wr having to make a decision to pass or throw it away.

the end round and Montgomery shovel pass to St Brown are the ways the lions got there,-safe plays with very little risk of disaster-not WR throwing passes down 10 at the end of the 3rd quarter 

Edited Sunday at 11:08 PM by 4hzglory

[Stanley70]

They still put up over 500 yards of offense, Ben wasn't the problem. With how bad the defense was playing he probably felt they needed to take some chances to keep up.

[4hzglory]

Just now, Stanley70 said:

They still put up over 500 yards of offense, Ben wasn't the problem. With how bad the defense was playing he probably felt they needed to take some chances to keep up.

I don’t think Ben was the problem, but I do think the Jamo pass was a disaster of a decision that ended any realistic chance of comeback.   
 

the decision to pass on 3rd and 1 ended up being wrong, but was defendable.

[Stanley70]

3 minutes ago, 4hzglory said:

I don’t think Ben was the problem, but I do think the Jamo pass was a disaster of a decision that ended any realistic chance of comeback.   
 

the decision to pass on 3rd and 1 ended up being wrong, but was defendable.

The fact the Jamo threw the pass to a covered receiver was the problem. Not sure how they coach that play but if the WR is covered he should either tried to run or throw it away.

[lordstanley]

3 minutes ago, 4hzglory said:

I don’t think Ben was the problem, but I do think the Jamo pass was a disaster of a decision that ended any realistic chance of comeback.   
 

 

Right, and completely unnecessary. Still a full 12 minutes to go and 1st down at the Lions 45. A standard mix or running and passes could have got the Lions into the endzone and down only 3 with around 9 minutes or so to go. Even if the Commanders went on a 6-minute FG drive after that, the Lions still would have got the ball back with time and a chance to win it. It was too soon to get desperate. Ben could have saved those trick plays for a tougher defense like Philadelphia. 

[lordstanley]

1 minute ago, Stanley70 said:

The fact the Jamo threw the pass to a covered receiver was the problem. Not sure how they coach that play but if the WR is covered he should either tried to run or throw it away.

Jamo is extremely talented but still a bit of a goofball. Who else on the Lions starts sticking the ball out and prancing around when still 15 yards from the end zone, like he did on his long touchdown. That’s on the coaches for putting Jamo in that position in that time and place. Might as well be throwing to Sewell or Skipper in that situation, not that I would’ve recommended that either!

[Stanley70]

Jamo had already taken and end around for a TD earlier, they probably hoped the DB's would all be worried about that and maybe left a receiver open. He just shouldn't have thrown that up for grabs.

[holygoat]

5 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Calling a pass on 3rd and 1 early in the game was a terrible play call. 

It's not that they called a pass play there, it's that they telegraphed it was a pass play by going empty set. The defense didn't have to respect anything other than the pass.