PFN’s Playoff Predictor gives the Detroit Lions a 64.6% probability of beating the Washington Commanders.
However, NFL legend and seven-time All-Pro linebacker Luke Kuechly has a recipe for Jayden Daniels to follow and make their defense’s life difficult.
Luke Kuechly Points Out Lions’ Defensive Achilles Heel That Jayden Daniels Could Use
Kuechly was a guest with Kay Adams on her “Up & Adams” show on FanDuel TV recently. The Panthers legend spoke on a range of playoff topics through his appearance.
The 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame nominee noted that the Lions have one major defensive frailty — their inability to pressure mobile quarterbacks. In reply to Adams’ question about the Commanders’ path to an upset, Kuechly showed how Washington could take down the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
“I think you give the Lions a lot of credit for what they’ve been able to do on the defensive side of the ball – Aaron Glenn. I think if they (Washington) have to win, they have to help their defense out by controlling the football.”
#Commanders fans you’ll wanna hear THIS @lukekuechly nugget about the Lions 👀🤔🔊
“I think that’s ONE THING Detroit’s struggled with… quarterbacks that SCRAMBLE.” @heykayadams @Commanders | #RaiseHail pic.twitter.com/iC7G36hjRe
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) January 16, 2025
“Can they keep drives going? I’m not gonna say they have to run the football. I think they just have to convert third downs and continue to get fresh sets of downs and run the ball with Jayden Daniels.
“I think that’s one thing Detroit’s struggled with, it’s quarterback scramble. You look at Detroit, they’re top 10 in pretty much everything on the defensive side of the ball. It’s hard to pick Detroit apart on the defensive side.”
One of the few holes in the Lions’ roster is their lack of a dominant edge rusher within their ranks. Losing Aidan Hutchinson in October has left the NFC North champions without their most consistent defensive performer.
While Glenn has undoubtedly schemed them into winning positions time and again through the 2024 NFL season, it is something the Commanders’ coaching staff can take advantage of throughout the game.
Glenn has been one of the more frequent blitzers in the NFL on third downs this season. This aggressive style will face a tough test against Daniels.
Including the playoffs, Daniels has thrown 12 touchdowns to just one interception against the blitz and 13 touchdowns with zero interceptions against man coverage. He ranks second in EPA per play against the blitz (0.30) and 12th against man coverage (0.16).
Daniels is No. 9 (just ahead of Patrick Mahomes) in PFN’s QB+ metric, which assigns a letter grade to every quarterback performance and factors in a number of stats such as success rate when pressured, third-down conversion rate, pocket production, and clutch performance.
Containing Daniels in man coverage could prove especially challenging for the Lions. The Commanders rookie has averaged 7.7 yards per rush on scrambles against man coverage while scrambling a league-high 12% of the time in those situations.