Week 20 Rushing Matchups

Go here for this week's Passing Matchups. 

Top 3 Rushing Matchups

Detroit vs Washington

After their bye last week, the Lions get a significant boost to their rushing attack as they’ll get David Montgomery back this week after the running back has missed the last three games. With Montgomery, this takes some burden off of Jahmyr Gibbs, who had averaged 25.6 touches per game in Montgomery’s absence compared to an average of 16.0 touches per game with Montgomery active. The Lion's committee backfield, along with one of the league’s best offensive lines, make this an incredibly difficult offense to deal with, even before factoring in the passing threat that the Lions pose to opposing defenses. Detroit has run for 146.4 yards per game, which is the sixth-most in the NFL this season, and is second in rushing touchdowns, with Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery combined for 32 touchdowns this season. One thing to watch this week is the health of right guard Kevin Zeitler and left tackle Taylor Decker, who missed practice on Wednesday. Decker seems extremely likely to play, as he missed due to the birth of a child, while Zeitler is dealing with a hamstring injury. If he were to miss, it would be a major loss as the veteran is having one of the best years of his career.    

Washington has been one of the weaker run-stopping units in the NFL this season. While Bobby Wagner continues to be one of the game’s elite run-stopping linebackers, he can only do so much behind this defensive line. This was a defensive line that was built to rush the passer while sacrificing the ability to stop the run. The team brought in Jer’Zhan Newton as they hoped he would solidify the defensive tackle position, but he has struggled against the run. Both Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen are liabilities at this point against the run and far from the elite defensive linemen that we saw early in their careers. Washington is allowing the fourth-most rushing yards to opposing running backs this season, as they’re allowing 114 per game. Having Wagner at middle linebacker does help eliminate some of the big games as only five running backs have topped 100 yards, two of which were Saquon Barkley, but almost every running back they’ve faced has had some level of success, as 18 running backs have topped 50 yards against this defense this season.

Baltimore at Buffalo