DETROIT — Dan Quinn’s club entered Saturday night’s Divisional Round tilt a heavy underdog. Afterward, the team’s simply a dawg.
Music bumped in the visitor locker room deep in the bowels of Ford Field after the Washington Commanders thwarted the No. 1 seeded Detroit Lions resoundingly, 45-31. It was a message from a nationally dismissed No. 6 seed.
“DJ Khaled said, ‘They didn’t believe in us but God did,'” rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil said after the contest. “All the belief we need is the belief within the team, the belief in each other, the brotherhood that we have here… That’s what led us here: the brotherhood, the bond, the camaraderie. We’re just playing for each other.”
Washington didn’t just walk into the No. 1 seed’s building — a place where the Lions had trounced opponent after opponent en route to a 15-2 season — to compete. No, the Commanders sought to make a statement.
“If we’re going to be heavy hitters, we’ve got to prove that we’re going to be heavy hitters,” running back Austin Ekeler said. “You got to beat heavy hitters to be a heavy hitter. So that was (Quinn’s) message today.”
The Commanders outraced the boat racers. They berated the league’s heaviest hitters.
The Commanders’ defense forced five turnovers, including four interceptions — two by Sainristil — a pick-six, and a pivotal early sack-fumble. Jayden Daniels led a big-play offense that tortured the Lions, generating 481 yards, punting a single time and leading five TD drives.
The big plays on defense curtailed a Lions offense that stacked yards (521) but couldn’t keep pace with Daniels and an unstoppable offense. Washington won all three phases of the game.
“It just doesn’t matter what anyone thinks but you,” Sainristil said. “All the belief you need is the one within the team. We believe in each other. The coaches
