Washington (13-5) at Detroit (15-2)
Saturday, 8 p.m. EST, Fox
BetMGM odds: Lions by 9 1/2
Series record: Washington leads 31-16, including a 3-0 record in playoff games at home.
Against the spread: Commanders 11-6-1, Lions 12-5
Last meeting: Lions beat the Commanders 36-27 on Sept. 18, 2022, at Detroit.
Last week: Commanders beat Buccaneers 23-20; Lions had a bye as NFC's No. 1 seed.
Commanders offense: overall (7), rush (3), pass (17), scoring (5)
Commanders defense: overall (13), rush (30), pass (3), scoring (18)
Lions offense: overall (2), rush (6), pass (2), scoring (1)
Lions defense: overall (20), rush (5), pass (30), scoring (7)
Turnover differential: Commanders plus-1; Lions plus-9
Commanders player to watch
CB Marshon Lattimore. He allowed a handful of catches, including a TD to Mike Evans when matched up against his longtime rival in the wild-card round. The coaching staff eventually put rookie CB Mike Sainristil on Evans and opted to double-team the star WR. Coach Dan Quinn called that a matter of limiting Lattimore's snaps coming off a hamstring injury. There's no time to rest Lattimore when Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams are on the field, so the Commanders need Lattimore to play at an elite level.
Lions player to watch
RB Jahmyr Gibbs. He was perhaps one of the team's best players over the past three games, averaging 162.3 yards from scrimmage and scoring six TDs while David Montgomery had a knee injury. Gibbs, who has been voted to the Pro Bowl in each of his two NFL seasons, has run for more than 100 yards in three straight games for the first time in his career. The speedy former Alabama star led the league with a franchise-record 20 touchdowns (16 rushing and four receiving) and ranked fifth in the league with 1,412 yards on the ground. He also had 517 yards receiving.
Key matchup
Detroit's running game against Washington's defense. Montgomery will play for the first time in a month, restoring one of the NFL's best backfields. Gibbs and Montgomery averaged a combined 138.5 yards rushing during the regular season. The Commanders ranked among the league's worst in run defense, allowing 137.5 yards rushing a game. They gave up 101 yards rushing in last week's win at Tampa Bay.
Key injuries
Commanders LB Bobby Wagner is expected to play through an ankle injury and rookie LB Jordan Magee (hamstring) is likely out. ... Lions rookie CB Terrion Arnold (foot) said he's ready to play after leaving the regular-season finale with an injury while guard Kevin Zeitler (hamstring) was held out of practice Wednesday and Thursday after being hurt in the previous game. ... CB Ennis Rakestraw was held out of multiple practices this week because of a hamstring injury and an illness.
Series notes
These franchises last met in the playoffs in the 1999 season. The previous times they played in the postseason (1982 and 1991), Washington went on to win the Super Bowl.
Stats and stuff
Washington is coming off its first playoff win in 19 years and is aiming for its first NFC championship game since 1991. ... The Commanders have won five in a row, all on the final play from scrimmage in regulation or overtime. Jayden Daniels' became the fourth rookie in NFL history to win his first career playoff start. Daniels was 24 of 35 for 268 yards passing and two TDs at Tampa Bay. He also ran 13 times for 36 yards to be the team's leading rusher. ... Commanders RBs Brian Robinson, Austin Ekeler, Jeremy McNichols and Chris Rodriguez have combined to run 85 times for 190 yards over the past five games, an average of 2.24 yards a carry. ... WR Dyami Brown had five catches for 89 yards and a TD in the wild-card win. ... Wagner led the team with 132 tackles and had eight at Tampa Bay. ... The Commanders sacked Baker Mayfield only once. ... Sainristil, a former Michigan star, led all rookie CBs with 14 pass breakups and was second with 90 tackles. ... K Zane Gonzalez made the game-winning, 37-yard field goal as time expired last week by banking his kick off the right upright and in. ... The Lions are the NFC's No. 1 seed for the first time in franchise history and are the conference's only team in the divisional round for a second straight year. ... They have not won a playoff game in two straight years since 1952-53. ... Detroit won a franchise-record 15 games and back-to-back division titles for the first time. ... The Lions are 37-10, including a 2-1 mark in the playoffs, since Week 9 of the 2022 season and only two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City has more victories during that span. ... The Lions have an NFL-high 151 fourth down attempts under coach Dan Campbell, the first coach to go for it that many times since at least 1991. ... The Jared Goff-led offense scored an NFL-high 33.2 points per game. ... Gibbs ran for a TD in all three playoff games last season and has 34 in 35 career games. ... LB Jack Campbell had a team- and career-high 125 tackles. ... In five home games, DE Za'Darius Smith had four sacks.
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