Commanders' defense scoops and scores, offense mostly just scoops
Final: Commanders 13, Detroit Lions 17
Final Thoughts
This one had all the hallmarks of a preseason game that Washington was never really built to win outright, and it played out that way. The lone series for Jayden Daniels and the starting offense ended in a three-and-out, and the backups spent the rest of the night trying to patch together enough offense to hang around. They mostly couldn't. Beat writers pegged the offensive line as the main culprit, with Tashan Reed calling the starting O-line "not so much" encouraging and flat out labeling the group "a *problem*" at halftime, a read backed up by Jared Wilson's unit allowing sacks on L.Altmyer on three separate series and again on S.Hartman and even J.Daniels himself on the opening series.
What went right was almost entirely on defense and in a couple of individual flashes. Washington's first score came off the defensive line, with Joshua Josephs scooping a forced fumble for a touchdown on the opening series. Quan Martin picked off Jayden Daniels' preseason understudy Jared Dobbs equivalent (Detroit's J.Dobbs) early, and Reed noted the pass rush "looks really good," making life easier on the secondary and creating turnovers even with starters out. Athan Kaliakmanis was the offensive bright spot, finishing 11 of 14 for 162 yards, flashing poise in the pocket under pressure per John Keim, and uncorking a 55-yard strike to Nick Nash that had Doug Williams saying he sees "a lot" in the rookie.
The turning point was ugly and self-inflicted. After Washington had clawed within a field goal, Robert Henry Jr. fumbled a kickoff return that Detroit recovered at the Washington 25, and Tashan Reed flatly said that fumble "will probably do it" for the Commanders. Detroit converted the short field into the Julian Kaho equivalent... no, into a field goal that iced it, and Washington's final possession ended in kneel-downs. Detroit also cashed in a long Tr.Williams-led fourth quarter drive kept alive by a Washington neutral zone infraction and a defensive pass interference penalty that handed them 20 free yards, showing the same kind of momentum-killing flags that plagued Washington's O-line drives (false starts at 32, 82, 89, 111, 132, 133).
Overall this was a game Detroit controlled for long stretches with a heavier run-game diet from Blackshear and Williams late, while Washington's competitive stretches came almost entirely from turnovers and Kaliakmanis's arm rather than a sustained, complementary attack. The 63 yards across the first three possessions that Reed flagged set the tone early, and the fumbled kickoff return in the fourth quarter sealed it.
Two Live Wire Awards a game: Hero for the single biggest positive impact, Goat for the single biggest negative one.
The Live Wire Award · Hero
He turned a J.Dobbs sack into a scoop-and-score before the Lions had even finished setting up their concession-stand order, giving Washington points on a drive that otherwise produced negative yardage.
The Live Wire Award · Goat
Robert Henry Jr.
He turned a promising 21-yard kickoff return into a turnover at his own 25, and Tashan Reed basically wrote his postgame headline for him: "that'll probably do it".
This looked like preseason clock-killer football until it very much wasn't. Washington opened the quarter still down 13-17 and immediately cashed in on Athan Kaliakmanis's arm: a 55-yard strike deep right to Nick Nash set up the drive at the Detroit 20, with Ben Standig calling that connection "a sweet throw" and pointing to it as evidence the seventh-round rookie is helping his case for the QB3 job. After a delay of game penalty stalled things briefly, Kaliakmanis kept finding Nash and Jaylen Jones on short completions to move the chains, and Drew Stevens capped the drive with a 32-yard field goal to tie the game. The Commanders' Twitter account gave Stevens the "Drew puts us back on top" treatment, though a made field goal from 13 only ties it rather than actually putting Washington ahead. John Keim noted Kaliakmanis had been facing pressure but staying composed in the pocket, and JP Finlay was sufficiently impressed by an 11-of-14, 162-yard day that he went and looked up the rookie's Rutgers stats, with Tashan Reed and other observers echoing that this was clearly his best week of camp.
Detroit answered with a long, penalty-choked drive that ate most of the middle of the quarter. Back-to-back false starts and a defensive pass interference call on Washington's Chris Vigers bailed out a stalled series and kept it alive, but the Lions still had to punt it away after Luke Altmyer misfired on a pass to Dominic Lovett. Washington's ensuing possession went nowhere fast: Sam Hartman found Jaylen Jones for a nice 24-yard gain, but the drive died on 4th down when Hartman overthrew Chase Reynolds, a miss Tashan Reed reported left Hartman visibly upset with himself. Detroit then flipped the field again, this time getting L.Altmyer sacked for a 9-yard loss before he bounced back with a 16-yard completion to Malik Cunningham and a scramble-and-connect series to Jaylen Meeks that pushed them into scoring range. A neutral zone infraction on Washington gave the Lions a free five yards, and after a few short Tr.Williams runs stalled the drive around the 18, Jake Bates knocked through a 37-yard field goal to make it 13-20. Washington's return then imploded immediately: Reid Henry brought the kickoff back 21 yards only to fumble it away, recovered by Detroit's Ephesians Hunter at the Washington 25, handing the Lions the ball right back with under two minutes left. Detroit ran out the clock from there behind Blackshear (with a Washington timeout in between) and Altmyer took two kneel-downs to end it.
Washington's third quarter opened with Kaliakmanis at the controls, and per Ben Standig, his camp case got stronger by the drive. After Reynolds' 23-yard kick return got wiped back by a holding call, Kaliakmanis found Jaden Bradley deep for 30 yards to move the offense into Detroit territory. John Keim noted the rookie's poise in the pocket despite pressure all afternoon, and it showed as Washington navigated a false start and a defensive offside penalty to keep the chains moving. A 21-yard strike to A.Williams and an 8-yard Allen run pushed into the red zone, and Kaliakmanis hit Bradley again for 12 before finding Williams for 10 more down to the Detroit 9, with Tashan Reed marveling that Bradley hauled in a one-handed grab while literally being held. The drive stalled just short of the end zone and Stevens connected from 27 to trim the deficit to 14-13.
Detroit answered with a sustained ground-and-check-down drive behind Blackshear and Dobbs, chewing through Washington's defense with a mix of runs (8, 3, 13, then a -1) and a Dobbs completion to Martin, but three straight incompletions and a false start forced a Lions punt after Blackshear's momentum stalled at the 47. Washington's own follow-up drive with Hartman under center went nowhere, and Tashan Reed reported Hartman was visibly frustrated after overthrowing Chase Reynolds on what turned into a fourth-down miss, leading to a Way punt. Detroit then methodically drove the field to close the quarter, with Dobbs finding Tr.Williams for 24 and Jackson for gains of 6 and 9, before a string of Williams runs, including a 4-yard pickup with Detroit forced to burn a timeout, set up a 1-yard touchdown plunge with nine seconds left that flipped the score to Lions 21, Commanders 13 heading into the fourth. The Commanders' social team flagged Nick Nash making a play on special teams late, though a penalty on him did tack yardage onto Detroit's ensuing return.
This looked like backups-and-sacks football for most of the second quarter, and the Commanders defense kept teeing off on whoever Detroit trotted out at quarterback. Lucas Altmyer's drive opened well enough, with completions to J.Meeks and T.Conklin (including an 18-yarder) moving the Lions into Washington territory, but the drive died in a hail of sacks. T.Maguranyanga got him for -9, and after a few short runs from J.Saylors the pressure came again, first J.Jean-Baptiste for -9, then M.Hurst for -8 on the very next series to force a Detroit punt. Ben Standig noted the defense had four sacks and two turnovers over a game-and-a-half, and, fittingly, that stat was already stale by the time he posted it since Tashan Reed had it at four sacks moments later and it kept climbing. Standig also flagged the feel-good angle on one of them, a former Zimbabwean rugby player turned edge rusher getting in on the fun, and the Commanders' own account counted "1 drive, 3 sacks" off that stretch.
On offense, Athan Kaliakmanis took over at QB per the team's account and led a modest possession, hitting V.Jefferson twice (4 and 13 yards) and drawing praise from JP Finlay for escaping pressure to convert a third down on the move, though Finlay wanted to see more from there. That drive stalled and Washington punted again. Detroit's answer, still with Altmyer, mixed in Tr.Williams runs (4, then 14 yards) and a 10-yard completion to T.Kennedy to reach midfield, but WAS's J.M'ba went down injured on the 14-yard gain, and the possession fizzled into Jake Bates missing a 55-yard field goal wide right. Washington got the ball back with the two-minute warning already burned and could only muster a Ricky Henry loss and a Sam Hartman-to-A.Williams 10-yarder before the half ended under review. Tashan Reed's midgame math summed up the offensive half of the story succinctly: 63 yards across three possessions, while noting the pass rush was making life easy on the secondary and the offensive line was, in his words, "a problem". The score stayed knotted at 7-7 through it all.
This one opened in bizarre fashion. After Detroit's Jonathan Kennedy returned the opening kickoff to the 23 and Jahmyr... er, this was preseason personnel, so it was Jared Saylors and J.Dobbs running Detroit's offense to start. Dobbs was promptly sacked for a 9-yard loss and fumbled, and Washington's Joshua Josephs scooped it up and rumbled in for the score, with @Commanders confirming Josephs got the touchdown himself. Ben Standig noted the defense already had two turnovers and four sacks about 1.5 quarters into the game, which tells you all you need to know about how lopsided the trenches were early. Detroit's D.Stevens added the extra point and Washington got the ball back trailing 7-0 briefly before things evened out.
Washington's answer came on a drive that mixed Dobbs' arm and legs. A short completion to B.Wright and grinding runs from Saylors and J.Small pushed things along, though Dobbs also threw an incompletion deep to T.Martin before that same route combo turned disastrous, with Q.Martin intercepting a short middle pass intended for T.Martin and returning it to midfield. JP Finlay flagged Jayden Daniels drawing quarterback duty on the ensuing series with "OK AK show something," and Daniels was immediately sacked for a 10-yard loss by D.Wonnum before Washington had to punt away, with Standig crediting the rugby-player-turned-edge-rusher storyline for the pressure up front. Detroit tried to answer with K.Allen and J.Small chipping out gains of 11 and 7 before a Dobbs completion to C.Wilson went for 17 yards on a deep middle shot, but Wilson was hurt on the very next play and did not return. Two plays later Dobbs broke a 50-yard touchdown run on the left edge to answer Washington's opening score, with J.Bates knotting things at 7-7 on the extra point. JP Finlay's "Great pressure from big TJ, big hit" and the Commanders' own "TJ takes him down" post both point to more pressure off the edge continuing to define the game as the quarter wound down, with Athan Kaliakmanis eventually entering at quarterback for Washington and leading a long, grinding possession of scrambles, a sack erased by a Detroit holding penalty, and a False Start on Washington's own C.Okonkwo, before the clock expired with Detroit's Cole Reynolds and Luke McCaffrey chewing up yardage toward midfield.