Washington and Detroit have both rebounded from rocky starts to emerge as postseason threats in a stacked NFC. On Sunday, only one will be able to keep its recent winning streak alive.
Washington vs. Lions 2016 live stream: Game time, TV schedule and how to watch online
Matt Stafford is playing some of the best football of his career while rallying Detroit back to .500.
The Lions will welcome Washington to Michigan for a key showdown between two teams battling for playoff positioning. Detroit has overcome a 1-3 start to claw its way back to .500 and stake a claim as one of the league's most explosive offenses. Washington has been even better. An 0-2 start gave way to a four-game winning streak. Now, the team sits just one game behind the even-hotter Cowboys in the race for NFC East supremacy.
That streak came thanks to a less-is-more approach behind center. Kirk Cousins threw for nearly 347 yards per game in his team's 0-2 start, In his 4-0 push since, he's thrown for slightly over 250 per game. Second-year running back Matt Jones has been the beneficiary of Washington's shift away from a pass-dominant offense. He's run for 348 yards on more than 5 yards per carry to balance out his team's attack in those four wins.
Those wins have come against solid competition. In fact, five of Washington’s six games this season have come against teams with .500 records or better. That includes losses to division leaders Pittsburgh and Dallas to start the season before victories over New York, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. The last win on the ledger may be the most impressive; Washington blasted through a shaky Eagle offensive line to hit rookie passer Carson Wentz 11 times and send Philadelphia to its second straight defeat.
They’ll have to bring more pressure on Sunday to stop a Detroit offense rounding into form as the season progresses. Marvin Jones Jr. has stepped up as a major downfield presence in the Lions’ first year without All-Pro receiver Calvin Johnson. Jones, who was signed from the Bengals this offseason, is averaging 18.2 yards per reception and has emerged as one of the league’s top 10 wideouts in his fifth season in the NFL. He’s on pace for a 1,400-yard, 11 touchdown season as long as he can keep his connection with quarterback Matt Stafford alive.
Stafford has shed some of his gaudy passing stats this season but replaced them with increased accuracy in the Lions’ recent two-game winning streak. The veteran quarterback has completed a career-best 68.9 percent of his passes this fall and has seven touchdown passes in his last two games. His yards per pass attempt number has never been higher, and fans across Detroit have to be asking whether or not he’s finally matured from a talented quarterback into a true winner. At age 28, this has been the best Stafford the NFL has seen.
His counterpart Sunday will be Kirk Cousins, who has vacillated between rising star and quarterback mirage in 2016. His early-season struggles in the red zone cast doubt on his future in Washington, but he’ll have a place in the nation’s capital if he can keep his team’s winning streak alive.
That starts on Sunday when Washington heads north for an NFC matchup that could have a huge impact on this winter’s playoff race.
How to watch Washington vs. Lions
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Place: Ford Field, Detroit
TV: FOX
Announcers: Justin Kutcher, Charles Davis, Chris Spielman, and Peter Schrager
Online: Sunday Ticket, Fox Sports GO
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