NFL underdog report: NFC divisional playoffs

In fact, only Buffalo’s Josh Allen (87.8) and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson (84.3) had better QBR scores than Daniels (80.3) last weekend. More importantly, Daniels was perfect during Washington’s final two drives, accounting for 61 of the team’s 74 yards, with six straight completions and a touchdown.

As good as the Lions have been, their defense allowed the third-most yards per game (244.0) in the regular season. Detroit held the Vikings to nine points in their regular season finale but needed to blitz on 56% of Minnesota’s drop-backs to do it, per ESPN’s Seth Walder.

That probably won’t work against the Commanders. Daniels had 584 yards on scrambles in 2024, more than any other quarterback as his scramble rate of 12.5% was well above the league average of 5.5%.

If Daniels gets a little more help from running backs Austin Ekeler and Brian Robinson Jr., who combined for 43 yards against the Bucs, Washington may have just enough to pull the upset over the heavily favored Lions.

Los Angeles Rams at Philadelphia Eagles (-6) 

The Rams could have the league’s best set of pass-catchers in wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, but they needed neither one to dominate Minnesota on “Monday Night Football.” Together, the pair caught six passes for 73 yards, nine fewer yards than the team’s defense had in sacks.

L.A. sacked quarterback Sam Darnold nine times for 82 yards and a score while holding the Vikings to nine points and 269 yards of total offense in their wild-card matchup. Of course, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts is harder to catch than Darnold, but his numbers have also been down.

After completing his first six passes, Hurts threw seven straight incompletions against the Packers on Sunday, finishing with 131 yards passing as Philadelphia accounted for 290 yards of offense, the fewest of any team remaining from the wild-card round.

Hurts looked rusty after missing the team’s last two regular season games with a concussion, but his regular season numbers really weren’t much better. Aside from the Week 16 game he suffered his head injury, Hurts threw for under 200 yards six times, including a 179-yard performance against the Rams in Week 12.

The Eagles beat the Rams 37-20 that day, thanks to a 255-yard, two-score performance from running back Saquon Barkley, but may not be so lucky this time around. Barkley had 119 yards against Green Bay last week but the Rams held running backs Aaron Jones and Cam Akers to 87 yards on Monday.

In fact, L.A. hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher since the Saints Alvin Kamara put up 112 yards against them in Week 12. If the Rams can slow down Barkley and take down Hurts, they could easily advance to next week’s NFC Championship Game.