Three games are on Friday’s National Football League preseason schedule with a pair of contests beginning at 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time, the Cleveland Browns at Carolina Panthers and Detroit Lions at Atlanta Falcons. A half hour later, the New England Patriots host the Washington Commanders.
Two teams that enjoyed strong regular seasons last year, the Lions and Commanders, open their 2025 preseason on the road. The Lions built on a near Super Bowl appearance two years ago, before getting run down in the second half at San Francisco in the 2023 National Football Conference Championship Game, by posting an NFL best 15-2 regular season. Then got upset by the Commanders in their only postseason game.
Washington, behind first-year head coach Dan Quinn and rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, surprised the football world last season and advanced all the way to the NFC Championship Game before falling to eventual Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia.
So, the Lions are entering a third straight season with legitimate Super Bowl hopes and the Commanders are hoping for another stellar season.
Both are facing major obstacles.
When a team enjoys the kind of success the Lions have under head coach Dan Campbell their coaching staff becomes prey for organizations looking to match their success. After their 2024 campaign two of their key coaches accepted head coaching positions elsewhere. Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson is now with the Chicago Bears and the Lions defensive coordinator from 2024, Aaron Glenn, is now leading the New York Jets.
Losing top assistants is the price of success. It is something Bill Belichick had to deal with on a consistent basis while in New England … and he was routinely able to fill the vacancies with competent replacements. The Lions are looking for continued success on the offensive side of the ball behind first-year coordinator John Morton. He was most recently on the Denver Broncos staff.
To fill the defensive coordinator position the Lions hired from within their organization with Kelvin Sheppard, who is serving a fifth season on Campbell’s staff.
In addition to filling key roles on their coaching staff the Lions are challenged in the NFC North Division by what could turn out this season to be three quality foes, the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears.
The Commanders have a different major hurdle to clear in 2025. They are coming off a season in which rookie quarterback Daniels put together one of the best seasons ever for a first-year signal caller and success that outdistanced any preseason expectations. When a team rises from dismal seasons for a first breakthrough campaign, like Washington did last season, the follow-up campaign is often disappointing.
Their success last year was gained while overcoming years of dismal play, now they have to build off a winning season. Often, for a team not used to winning, this creates expectations that exceed actual talent levels and all sorts of motivational pitfalls.
So, we are not as high as most pundits on the Washington Commanders prospects this season. But what does that mean in the preseason?
The Lions, off their solid 2024 campaign came up flat in their first preseason game last week in a decisive loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, 34-7, in the Hall of Fame Game. The Commanders open their summer schedule tonight in Foxboro against the New England Patriots.
What we have here is a Patriots team under first-year head coach Mike Vrabel looking to rebound from a down season last year in a perfect position to take advantage of a team coming off a breakthrough campaign.
Yes!
Give me the Patriots and laugh all the way to the bank.
But here is the rub: while the Commanders are getting nearly 80% of the betting action, the point spread on this game has gone up on the other side like the temperature in Arizona in August. The Patriots opened as a 1½ point favorite, but before most people had a chance to wager on them the line had risen to 2½ points … and continued to rise all week to where today New England is favored by 6½ points.
Okay, the books are fishing for Commanders money so we take the Patriots.
Right?
Not so fast Maxwell.
The spread move takes away too much of the value on this game. It is difficult to have a good play with a bad line.
Another night of preseason football for viewing purposes only.