Every week during the regular season Tim Twentyman will answer 10 good questions from his X account @ttwentyman in a feature we call "10 Questions with Twentyman."
20man: It's great to see David Montgomery back because he is a tone-setter for the Lions' run game. He gives Detroit a physical presence and a boost between the tackles and in short-yardage situations. Though we should credit Craig Reynolds for playing that role pretty well the last three weeks as a complement to Jahmyr Gibbs.
Gibbs rushed for 365 yards with five touchdowns and added another 122 receiving yards and a touchdown in the three games without Montgomery. I think Gibbs has become the lead back and I'd suspect we see him continue to get more carries with Montgomery easing back into action a little bit and playing a complementary role.
I asked Montgomery about Gibbs on Tuesday, and this is what he said: "Jah is special. He's a generational talent. I didn't expect anything less of him. Jah is going to roll. Whatever he needs from me, I'm going to make sure he has but this is kind of his show."
That's a great teammate right there.
20man: It's a good question. In the playoffs the officiating crews are blended from the best of the best. Coaches look at and break down tendencies from each official. What do they call most? That's communicated and talked about with the players and they know what specific officials are looking at more closely so they are cognizant of it. Does this official call a lot of pass interference penalties? Is this official heavy on holding calls? Teams break it all down and have a detailed report for the players heading into the game.
20man: A lot of teams struggle against mobile quarterbacks. Let's be clear about that right off the top. It's not just the Lions. That's why those versatile signal callers are in such demand.
Daniels rushed for 891 yards and six touchdowns this season to lead the Commanders in rushing. He's terrific in that regard.
Detroit is 2-1 this season against quarterbacks I would consider to be mobile. Buffalo's Josh Allen handed them a defeat in Week 15, but the defense was able to contain Arizona's Kyler Murray in Week 3 and Indianapolis' Anthony Richardson in Week 12.
With all quarterbacks who use their legs as a weapon, the more a defense can keep them in the pocket and force them to be throwers first, the better off they'll be. The edge players have to be really disciplined in a game like this. They can't rush too far up the field or past the quarterback to open those lanes to get wide. It will be a really big game for Za'Darius Smith, Josh Paschal and others to play really disciplined on the edge. This is one of those games they may need to sacrifice sacks in some regard for containment.
20man: The Lions went for it on fourth down 33 times this season. That was fourth most behind Cleveland (44), Chicago (38) and the New York Giants (37). Detroit converted 22 of those for a 66.7 percentage.
Washington was middle of the pack going for it on fourth down 23 times, but they led the NFL with an 87 percent conversion rate, getting the first down 20 of those 23 times.
Washington head coach Dan Quinn was aggressive in the Wild Card game, going for it five times, including their first possession at the Tampa Bay 20-yard line. Washington converted three of the five attempts.
I expect both coaches to be aggressive knowing touchdowns have to be at a premium and the team that is better on fourth down Saturday night will go a long way in determining a winner.
20man: It was good to see Terrion Arnold as a full participant in practice Wednesday and Thursday. When the injury happened in the third quarter of the Vikings game, it looked worse than it ended up being. Great news for Detroit's secondary.
I expect the Lions to play Arnold and Amik Robertson outside with Brian Branch in the slot in nickel situations with Kerby Joseph and Ifeatu Melifonwu at safety. In base defense, I expect Joseph and Branch at safety with Arnold and Robertson out wide. Kindle Vildor is the next man up on the outside if needed. If the Lions needed another slot corner due to injury, that's maybe an opportunity for the rookie Ennis Rakestraw Jr., but he's only played 46 snaps on defense all season. He's played 20 in the slot, 24 out wide and two in the box.
20man: I really like the newness of the this matchup just from a reporting perspective.
One thing Lions head coach Dan Campbell has talked about in the locker room after a lot of their wins is how this Lions team is 'built for this moment.' I agree. This is a mostly veteran group that has played in big games and everything they have been through over the last four years has built up to this. The losses in 2021. Falling just short of the playoffs in 2022. Losing the NFC Championship last year. That journey has hardened the core of this football team and prepared them for the moment.
This is pretty new for Washington going from four wins to 12 in one year. They are a great story and could certainly come into Ford Field Saturday and give the Lions all kinds of problems, but that experience over the last four years should count for something from a Detroit perspective.
20man: Hopefully guard Kevin Zeitler's hamstring can get to a point where he can play Saturday night. If not, the Lions have shown throughout the course of the last two years they have good depth inside. I thought rookie Christian Mahogany played really well when he was asked to step in and start in the second game vs. Chicago on Dec. 22. He's got a nastiness to his game that fits right in with this group.
We've already seen Kayode Awosika step in and play well in big games — the NFC Championship Game last year is a great example of that. Let's hope Zeitler can play, but if not, the Lions have a lot of confidence in their depth along the inside of the offensive line.
20man: It's a 15-2 Lions team with the No. 1 offense in the NFL playing at home with a nine-year veteran quarterback, who has been there, done that and seen it all.
Washington won 12 games this season but a lot of those over the last month and half have been one-score games coming right down to the end. And as good as Daniels has been, Las Vegas still looks at him as a rookie playing on the road in the toughest environment in the NFL in Ford Field.
20man: Look no further than Campbell.
"I know who we are, I know what we're about, I know how we have to prepare, I respect the opponent, and now it's time to go to work, that's how I look at it," he said this week about the pressure that comes with being the No. 1 seed.
"I don't look at anything else, I don't think of, 'What if it doesn't, what if the – 'The what ifs, man, I couldn't sleep at night if I lived that way, there's no freaking way. So, no, I don't think of that. We're the one seed, we earned the one seed, we've got a good opponent coming in and we're going to be ready to play. That's how I look at it."
Talking with the players this week, I didn't feel like it was a nervous group. I got a really confident vibe in the locker room.
20man: I got a similar question a couple weeks ago, but it's worth bringing up again.
From the offensive perspective I think a lot of that has to do with offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and his scheme. He's terrific at getting players in space and relies heavily on run after catch for big plays. There's not a lot of 50-50 balls throughout the course of the game when you watch this offense and it's those kinds of plays that typically draw interference calls.
Defensively, the Lions play man coverage more than anyone else and they're aggressive in doing it. It's their style and their mentality. With that will come some pass interference penalties, but also some takeaways and big plays. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn will live with some of the interference calls playing that style of defense.
Glenn said Wednesday the bye week allowed them to do some self-scout defensively and he is excited about some of the things they came up with to throw at Washington in this matchup.
