The second week of the NFL season 2025 begins with a battle between two NFC heavyweights, the Washington Commanders and the Green Bay Packers.
The Commanders and Packers are both off to a 1-0 start after their respective victories over the New York Giants (21-6) and the Detroit Lions (27-13).
In the Washington debut, Deebo Sam accumulated 96 yards total and scored a touchdown. Jayden Daniels threw for 233 and ran for 68. The Commanders rushed for 220 yard and held their opponent scoreless for the first time in 2020.
Josh Jacobs also scored a touchdown for Green Bay. Jordan Love threw two touchdowns for the Packers. Micah Parsons, in his Packers debut, got the loudest cheers when he chased Jared Goff down for a sack. Green Bay’s defence sacked Goff 4 times and picked him up 1 time.
You can find out where to watch the showdown on Thursday night, along with the keys of that game and a forecast.
What you need to know about the commanders at Packers
Parsons has another great opportunity. Parsons’ 10.5 sacks in his career against Washington is nearly twice as many against any other team. He played twice against the Commanders a year while he was a Cowboy, so it’s no surprise that he will be causing havoc against Josh Conerly Jr., a rookie right tackle. Oregon’s product made a mixed debut, and gave up one sack to Brian Burns.
Can Daniels return to form? Daniels, while happy with the win against New York, called Washington’s offense “sloppy”, citing six penalties as well as several dropped passes and misfires. Terry McLaurin only had two catches and Daniels and McLaurin couldn’t make a connection on a deep ball when McLaurin was behind the defense.
Strong rushing defences vs. a good rushing attack: Washington’s rushing yardage of 220 was its second highest in a season-opener since 1970, and the 74 yards it allowed were a huge improvement on last year’s struggles. Green Bay did even better by limiting Detroit’s rushing yardage to 46 after a good 2024.