The Detroit Lions (1-0) will travel to the nation's capital (well, Maryland actually) to take on the Washington Redskins (1-0) at 7:30 PM ET at FedEx Field. Just the second game of the preseason, starting units for both teams aren't expected to play more than a series or two on the night.
The Lions, coming off a solid 11-5 season in which they sported the best defense over the first half of the year, come into the 2015 season with a few question marks. Most notably is the absence of All-Pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who left for the Miami Dolphins in free agency. Detroit moved quickly to replace him, trading fourth- and fifth-round picks for five-time All-Pro DT Haloti Ngata earlier this season. Although Ngata is 31, he can still pressure the quarterback as well as play the run. It's no surprise that Detroit is already trying to lock him up to a contract extension. The team will continue to get an idea of their defense post-Suh in tonight's game.
Another Lions storyline to keep your eye on is rookie second-round running back Ameer Abdullah's quest to unseat Joique Bell as the lead back. Although undrafted rookie back Zach Zenner recently said that Bell is "still set up to be the starting running back at this point," Abdullah has impressed coaches throughout training camp and enjoyed an impressive debut last week. The rookie rusher carried the ball seven times for 67 yards (9.5 YPC) and displayed good speed and vision. Bell, meanwhile, is coming off a so-so year in which he failed to crack 4.0 YPC and posted a career-low 322 receiving yards. Their position battle will be an interesting one to watch.
Speaking of interesting, everyone's favorite lightning rod QB Robert Griffin III will start again for the Redskins tonight. Griffin is entering a crucial year of his tenure with Washington. Although new general manager Scot McCloughan exercised the fifth-year option (which will pay him $16.15 million in 2016) on his contract, the Redskins can easily get out of it if Griffin struggles this season. On the brink of irrelevance, Griffin is entering a true make-or-break year.
The same goes for head coach Jay Gruden. Gruden slogged through a disappointing 4-12 rookie head coaching season last year in which he was, at times, too open with the media about his embattled quarterback. Throw in the fact that Gruden is not McCloughan's handpicked guy and Redskins fans know that the temperature of Gruden's seat is steadily rising. Given the solid defensive signings in free agency and the expected improvements along the offensive line, Washington likely needs to finish this year around .500 to save the coach's job.
Detroit and Washington will not meet each other in the regular season.
You can check out the live stream for tonight's game here and listen to the radio broadcast here (DET) and here (WAS).
