Dave Birkett's takeaways from Detroit Lions' preseason win vs Commanders
Detroit Free Press' Dave Birkett shares his takeaways from the Detroit Lions' 17-13 preseason win vs the Washington Commanders at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026.
Video Transcript
Dave Birkett here, Detroit Free Press.
Ford Field after the Lions' second preseason game.
The Lions beat the Washington Commanders 17-13 to even their record at one and one this preseason.
We're not gonna talk too much about the final score or the end result.
It's preseason, that stuff doesn't matter a whole heck of a lot.
What does matter, the Lions got some of their starters their first and probably only action of the preseason.
Not Jared Goff, Aidan Hutchinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Those guys all sat out.
They didn't play.
There's no reason to play them in the preseason.
But some players that will play key roles for the team this fall, and the one thing that stood out most to me was the pass rush.
Lions had a couple sacks today.
They had one by DJ Wonnum.
They had one by Derek Moore, second-round pick, who made his preseason debut.
It wasn't just those, those two rushes, it was the way they used their blitzes to cause havoc against the Washington Commanders team that played most of its first team offense, including Jayden Daniels, for the first series, and a couple of those starters stayed in there, a little bit later on into the game.
But look, this is something that we've seen from the Lions all preseason.
I've written about it in my observations throughout camp.
This pass rush is creating havoc, and part of what's going on is they're doing it with various blitz packages.
We all know Kelvin Sheppard likes to dial up some exotics.
He did it today.
The very first play from scrimmage for the Commanders, the Lions got a pressure.
They brought Devin White up the middle.
DJ Wonnum dropped out.
It was a four-man rush.
Incomplete pass.
Next play, DJ Wonnum comes off the edge.
He gets a sack.
It was a five-man pressure.
Derek Barnes was, was blitzing, off the other edge.
So the Lions did some-- They had, one, one play later in the game where they had a seven-man rush, I think it was on third down, to get off the field, maybe force a field goal, if I remember the situation right.
But that's something that Kelvin Sheppard has shown a lot of this preseason.
He's bringing the, the slot.
He's bringing the linebackers.
Devin White looks really good blitzing.
I think he's gonna be the, the third starting linebacker right there.
Jack Campbell, we've seen it from him at times this preseason.
He didn't play today.
Aidan Hutchinson is a force off the edge.
Alim McNeil has had a really good summer in the middle of that defense.
The Lions have this pass rush package where DJ Wonnum's gonna play a lot.
Derek Moore's probably gonna play a lot.
It was good to see him on the field today, the Lions' second-round pick.
This was his first action of the preseason, and he kind of continued what we saw in camp this week, that he can be a, a force off the edge.
He can help create some havoc.
And when the Lions are doing that, I think they're more equipped to win games or, or cause turnovers with that line at least, and win games with defense when they need to.
Look, they still have some issues in the secondary.
I think we did see some of that today.
Nick Whiteside, who's maybe he's the third cornerback, maybe he's the fourth cornerback, he got beat a couple times deep in coverage.
There are some limitations there.
We still don't know what Ennis Rakestraw's gonna be.
You know, DJ Reed had a nice play in run support.
He and Rocky Yin are probably your two starting safeties.
There are not a ton of playmakers on that back end, at least until Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch come back.
But I thought they got some really good play out of that defensive front, and if they can affect quarterbacks in the regular season, that pressure can go a long way towards helping that defense.
Couple other things that stood out to me, the play of the running backs, and, you know, I wrote this, I think you have to tip your cap to the offensive line, too, but it seemed like every running back who touched the ball had a nice big chunk run.
Looking at the stats here, obviously, we know Josh Dobbs had that fifty-yard touchdown, the Lions' first touchdown of the game.
Jacob Saylors ran for thirty-two yards.
Williams had thirty-six.
He had a fourteen-yard run where he-- Blackshear had a thirteen-yard run.
It seemed like when they needed a run, they put it in the hands of, of that running back group, and that's a-- I think Jacob Saylors is probably the number four running back, but the Lions have some good depth there.
Jabari Small in concussion protocol.
He really had been repping behind Saylors in the rotation a lot.
Cione Vake didn't play.
But the Lions look like they have some depth there.
We all know about the depth that they have at receiver, too.
Cedric Wilson Jr.
Suffered an injury today, knee injury.
Dan Campbell said he's worried about it.
I thought Wilson would probably be the number five.
He's just the, the most trusted of those, those back-end receivers fighting for a, a roster spot, at least when it comes to offense.
So that could be costly.
You know, you want, you want that number five to be a, a reliable guy and, you know, maybe he was the guy that would fill in for, say, an Isaac Tesla, Jameson Williams, even Amon-Ra if they got hurt and had to miss time.
Never wanna see injuries.
It's a good thing at this point in, training camp that everybody, all the Lions' projected starters, save Cade Mays, are pretty healthy.
But, that could be a tough one losing Cedric Wilson today.
And then, you know, the, the last thing to point out, the, the quarterbacks.
Look, Josh Dobbs had that, that long touchdown run.
He had two turnovers on his first two series.
This was his first time playing.
He said, you know, he looked up on the, the fumble that he had that the Commanders, recovered for a touchdown, and he said, "Man, my receiver's wide open.
Where's the cornerback?"
Next thing you know, the cornerback's hitting him in the chest.
So the Lions have some, some things that they need to clean up there.
I thought Luke Altmyer did some good things playing as the number three quarterback.
It's still probably Josh Dobbs's job as a backup, but, you know, we'll see exactly how that, that shakes out.
You-- If anything happens to Jared Goff, the Lions are probably in some trouble, but I thought both Dobbs and Luke Altmyer did some good things today.
Ultimately, though, Lions' defense didn't allow a touchdown.
Lions got some good pressure from that, that defensive front.
That's a thing that maybe carries over into the regular season, and that's what matters here most in exhibition play.
That'll do it for me.
I'm Dave Birkett, freak.com.
