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Week 8 Game Recap: Washington Redskins 25, Detroit Lions 17
What you need to know
| Washington Redskins |
QB Jason Campbell took advantage of facing the soft Detroit defense to put together a big day with only five incompletions on almost 30 pass attempts, a TD and no interceptions.
RB Clinton Portis went through a roller-coaster day that saw some huge plays, but also some frustration with his playing time that led to a sideline run-in with his head coach.
WR Santana Moss was the primary beneficiary of Campbell's huge day, and he racked up 140 yards and a passing TD. In addition, he added an 80 yard punt return for a score.
| Detroit Lions |
QB Dan Orlovsky got off to a slow start, but as the game progressed improved his performance. While he only tallied one passing TD and just over 200 yards, he avoided any dumb plays or turnovers.
The Detroit running game never got on track, and while RB Rudi Johnson did notch a score on the ground, neither he nor rookie RB Kevin Smith did much of anything else all game long.
As the Lions' only real offensive weapon, WR Calvin Johnson saw lots of defensive attention. Given his skill set, however, he was able to break free for a couple of big plays including a 17 yard TD reception.
What you ought to know
| QB Jason Campbell, Pass: 23 - 28 - 328 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - -2 - 0 |
Any QB who has the Detroit Lions on their schedule has probably circled that date on their calendar. Sunday, it was Campbell's turn and he did not disappoint. Despite dropping back to pass 31 times (that's including those plays called back due to penalty), Campbell finished the day with only five incompletions. Three of those came on a single second quarter drive, but even two of those would have been complete to WR Santana Moss along the left sideline if Moss had been more careful with his feet on the first, and wasn't forced out on the second. The rest of the day Campbell seemed unstoppable as he fired passes all over the field. He always seemed to find the open man and place the ball exactly where it needed to be. His longest single pass was also his single TD throw of the day. It came late in the third quarter as he hit a streaking Moss along the right sideline for a 50 yard score. If there was a downside to Campbell's day, it was his inability to hold onto the ball when hit in the backfield. Two out of the three times that Campbell was sacked, he lost control of the ball, losing it to the Detroit defense on one occasion.
| RB Clinton Portis, Rush: 24 - 126 - 0, Rec: 1 - 6 - 0 (1 targets) |
Portis owners were likely salivating over this match-up against the Lions' defense, and early on it looked as if Portis was in for a monster day. On his first two carries Portis showed impressive speed as he burst through the line and zig-zagged for 17 yards each time. After these runs, however, the Lions' defense seemed to buckle down and Portis had a much more difficult time gaining ground. While he would sporadically break free for an eight or ten yard gain, these instances were definitely the exception and not the rule. As a result, the Washington coaching staff called QB Jason Campbell's number more and more often as he displayed a hot hand in the passing game and rotated fellow RB Shaun Alexander in regularly. At one point in the second quarter cameras captured a moment of tension between Portis -- who was clearly unhappy with his limited usage -- and his head coach, Jim Zorn. Finally, after almost three quarters of Washington playing from behind, the Redskins took the lead and thus turned back to Portis to chew up yards and the clock. During Washington's only possession in the game's final period, Portis took the hand-off on four consecutive plays, with the last going for 31 yards.
| WR Santana Moss, Rec: 9 - 140 - 1 (11 targets) |
There are probably high fantasy expectations owners have when they play an NFL team's #1 WR against the woeful Detroit pass defense. Whatever those expectations might be, Moss certainly met them, and it began on the first play of the game as he hauled in a 20 pass along the left sideline. Sixty minutes later, he had ended the game as QB Jason Campbell's favorite target, and not only notched 140 receiving yards and a TD, he added a second TD on an electrifying 80 yard fourth quarter spinning-and-weaving punt return for a score. Up until that return, Detroit had been giving the Redskins a fight -- indeed Washington had only managed to take the lead in the game for the first time with less than 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter. Washington took that lead on Moss' receiving score where he scooped in a 25 yard pass along the right sideline and then outran the pursuing defensive backs to make it into the end-zone.
| WR Antwaan Randle El, Rec: 3 - 47 - 0 (3 targets) |
While QB Jason Campbell had an impressive day throwing the ball, few of those pass attempts went Randle El's way. While he finished the day as the Redskin's third most targeted pass catcher, it was by a wide margin behind Santana Moss (11) and Chris Cooley (10). Fortunately for his owners, Randle El converted on each of the three passes thrown his way, and even more fortunately, the last of those three was a 31 yard third quarter reception. On that play Campbell hit Randle El on a 20 yard crossing pattern and the receiver added almost a dozen more yards by weaving through the Lions' defenders.
| TE Chris Cooley, Rec: 6 - 74 - 0 (10 targets) |
Cooley was the red hot QB Jason Campbell's second favorite target on the day as he was regularly able to either get open in Detroit's soft secondary or take short screens and bull through the defense. While the numbers he finished the day with were certainly worthy of one of the league's best receiving TEs, were it not for some unfortunate penalties as the first quarter wound down, Cooley would have added another two receptions an additional 36 yards. That would have been enough to push him over the century mark.
| PK Shaun Suisham 4 - 5 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 13 points |
Suisham had a busy day as he was called upon to kick five field goals. While he connected on four from the distances of 25, 47, 45 and 42, he missed a second quarter 50 yarder that he pushed wide right.
| WAS Rush Defense |
The Redskins' run defense was stifling all day long and prevented either Detroit RB from getting anything going. Of the 57 yards given up on the ground almost half came on two scrambles by Lions QB Dan Orlovsky and a reverse to WR Calvin Johnson. Detroit's RBs only gained only 33 yards on 12 carries all day. It was not a perfect performance, however, as the defense did give up an 11 yard TD run to RB Rudi Johnson at the end of Detroit's second drive.
| WAS Pass Defense |
While Washington registered a sack the second time that Detroit QB Dan Orlovsky dropped back to pass, it would be their only one of the day. While they were able to get some consistent pressure, it was not that intense and so Orlovsky, as the game wore on, was able to get more and more comfortable in the pocket. In the defensive backfield, the Redskins were unable to force any mistakes, and while they did as well as could be expected keeping WR Calvin Johnson under some semblance of control, they did give up plenty of shorter passes to other receivers and RB Kevin Smith. In the end, the Redskins' effort in pass defense could best be characterized as a successful bend but don't break performance.
| QB Dan Orlovsky, Pass: 21 - 35 - 223 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 17 - 0 |
It was clear during the first half of the game that the Detroit coaching staff was not eager to have Orlovsky airing the ball out, and he did little to change their minds on those occasions when he actually did drop back to pass. While he wasn't responsible for any turnovers, by the intermission Orlovsky had completed only three of his nine pass attempts -- though one was a 31 completion on a play-action pass down the left sideline to his team's best offensive weapon, WR Calvin Johnson, that set up Detroit's first TD on the following play, and another went deep over the middle to an open Shaun McDonald. In the second half, especially once Washington took the lead, Orlovsky was allowed a little more lee-way, and he responded reasonably well. While he was unable to do more than engineer three three-and-outs on Detroit's first few second half-possessions, as the game entered its fourth period Orlovsky seemed to find a groove, exploited the Redskins' softening defense and registered his single TD pass of the contest. Truth be told, the 17 yard TD was more a result of Calvin Johnson's play-making to get the ball across the plane than anything else, but Orlovsky does deserve some credit for giving his receiver a chance to make that play.
| RB Kevin Smith, Rush: 4 - 12 - 0, Rec: 7 - 50 - 0 (8 targets) |
Once again, Smith's value was established not in the rushing game (where he was only given four carries and racked up only 12 yards), but in the passing game. Smith regularly released out of the backfield to set up as QB Dan Orlovsky's safety valve either in the flat or underneath the coverage. In this role he saw plenty of opportunity as he tied for the team lead in targets. Of the eight passes sent his way, he caught seven and converted them into 50 yards.
| RB Rudi Johnson, Rush: 8 - 21 - 1, Rec: 1 - 10 - 0 (1 targets) |
Despite the fact that the Lions were playing with the lead for almost three quarters of the game, and had QB Dan Orlovsky under center, the inability of the offensive line to regularly open any holes made the passing game the first offensive option for the Lions. As a result, the entire Lions' squad only rushed 15 times on the day, with Johnson getting the call on just over half. Johnson was unable to do much of anything with his eight opportunities. Fortunately, the one time he did break an impact run it went for an 11 yard score as he burst through the line and barely kept his knees off the turf as he stumbled across the goal-line. As usual, Johnson was not a factor in the passing game.
| WR Shaun McDonald, Rec: 5 - 68 - 0 (8 targets) |
With the Redskins defense focused on stopping fellow WR Calvin Johnson, McDonald ended the day tied with RB Kevin Smith as QB Dan Orlovsky's favorite receiver with eight targets. McDonald caught five of these to lead the team with 68 yards, but more than a third of the yards come on the Lions' first passing play of the second quarter. On that play McDonald was able to find some space between two defenders and make the easy grab.
| WR Calvin Johnson, Rush: 1 - 7 - 0, Rec: 4 - 57 - 1 (6 targets) |
As the Lions' sole legitimate offensive star, Johnson was the focus of the Redskins defense all day long. As such, his opportunities to make plays were few, and he saw only six targets on the day. When given the chance, however, Johnson did tend to make things happen. In the first half Johnson only saw two passes thrown his way, but he hauled in one of them for 31 yards on a play action pass down the left sideline that set up the Lions' first TD on the following play. On the second pass he just missed hauling in a 24 yard TD toss in the end-zone. In the second half, Johnson was again blanketed much of the time, but midway through the fourth quarter he took a short pass and fought through defenders for 17 yards before stretching out the ball while getting his head-wrenched around with a face mask to get it into the end zone for six points.
| WR Mike Furrey (6 targets) |
If Furrey was hoping to convince his coaches that he should be given more opportunities in Detroit's post-Roy Williams era, he failed miserably. Despite getting as many targets as fellow WR Calvin Johnson (and only two less than the team leaders) Furrey failed to catch a single one of them.
| TE Michael Gaines, Rec: 2 - 28 - 0 (2 targets) |
The TE is not a focus in the Detroit offense, and this game was no different. Gaines had the best day amongst Lions' TEs and yet he only received two targets -- both in the fourth quarter. While one of them went for a 21 yard completion, it would be a mistake to consider him a realistic option at his position.
| PK Jason Hanson 1 - 1 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 5 points |
Hanson made the only field goal he was called upon to kick -- a 43 yarder in the second quarter that gave the Lions a 10-3 lead.
| DET Rush Defense |
Early on the Detroit rush defense looked like they were in trouble as they gave up 34 yards on Washington RB Clinton Portis' first two carries. After that, however, they stiffened significantly and were able to keep the running game from getting out of hand -- including an impressive goal-line stand on the Redskins' first drive. While the Detroit defense really only gave up one more big rushing play (a 31 yard run late in the fourth quarter) the inability of the pass defense to make any stops meant the Redskins had plenty of opportunities to rush the ball and thus still racked up 135 yards.
| DET Pass Defense |
While they did notch three sacks of Washington QB Jason Campbell, the Detroit pass rush was sporadic throughout the game. More often than not, they were either unable to generate any meaningful pressure, or Campbell was able to avoid the rush. With all that time to look downfield, Campbell was able to shred the Detroit secondary and only five of his 28 passes fell incomplete with Detroit collecting no INTs.
