Detroit Lions at Washington Commanders: How to watch and 3 things to watch in the Week 10 matchup

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● What: Detroit Lions at Washington Commanders

● When: Sun., Nov. 9, 4:25 p.m.

● Where: Northwest Stadium, Landover, Md.

● How to watch: Fox (Albert/Vilma/Olivi)

● How to listen: 97.1-FM The Ticket in Metro Detroit or any number of network affiliates around the state.

● Line: Lions -8

● Injury report: The Lions ruled out safety Kerby Joseph for a third consecutive game. Also out are defensive tackle Pat O’Connor and return man Jacob Saylors.

Five other Lions players are questionable for the contest, including offensive tackles Taylor Decker, Penei Sewell and Dan Skipper.

● Officiating assignment: Scott Novak’s crew

● Last meeting: The Commanders knocked the Lions out of the playoffs in the Divisional Round last season, scoring 31 points in the first half on the way to a 45-31 win.

Three things worth watching

● After allowing pressure on 18 of Jared Goff’s 42 dropbacks last Sunday, including a season-high five sacks, Detroit’s pass protection will be looking to get back on track against a Commanders team that has dumped opposing quarterbacks behind the line of scrimmage 22 times through the first nine games.

That’s a respectable tally, but not reflective of the Commanders’ current situation. Leading pass rusher Dorrance Armstrong Jr. is done for the season with a knee injury.

Without him, they registered a paltry four pressures in last week’s loss to Seattle. The rush is now led by Jacob Martin, who has averaged fewer than 4.0 sacks during his eight-year career, and a long-in-the-tooth Von Miller, who is playing just 23 snaps per game.

This is a get-right opportunity for the Lions, but they’ll be incorporating a new piece into the mix with Christian Mahogany sidelined by a broken bone in his leg. Presumably that’s Kayode Awosika, who stepped in for Mahogany in the second half of last week’s game against Minnesota.

Awosika has started at least two games for the Lions each of the past three seasons, with nearly all of his 366 snaps coming at left guard. In that playing time, he’s allowed 39 pressures and 2.0 sacks. That could be an issue against a formidable interior tandem of Javon Kinlaw and Daron Payne.

● With quarterback Jayden Daniels and top wideout Terry McLaurin sidelined by injury, the Washington offense lacks punch. Expect them to lean on one of their few bright spots this season, rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt.

A seventh-round draft pick out of Arizona, he appeared in just one game for the school last season before declaring for the draft. The previous year, with New Mexico, the speedster averaged 6.3 yards per carry and scored 17 times with just 189 carries.

His explosiveness has translated to the NFL, and even though he’s not seeing big carry tallies, he’s churning out 4.7 yards per carry, with a lot of that damage coming after contact.

“I know that player’s upbringing now,” Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said this week. “It’s no surprise to me when I turn on the tape why he runs hungry.”

Detroit’s defense had some issues against Aaron Jones in last week’s loss to Minnesota, who runs with a similar slashing style. If the Lions can do a better job bottling up the rookie, it could be tough for the Commanders to accomplish much of anything on offense.

● We’ve heard this a few times this season, but the Lions are once again saying they’d like to get rookie receiver Isaac TeSlaa more involved on offense.

It can’t be worse than last week, when he drew just three snaps, matching his season-low workload from the opener. TeSlaa has been targeted once in the past three games and hasn’t hauled in a pass since his 12-yard touchdown in Detroit’s Week 5 win over Cincinnati.

Detroit’s third receiver was never going to see a massive target share when sharing the field with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Sam LaPorta. Tim Patrick drew 44 targets and caught 33 balls a year ago. Between TeSlaa and Kalif Raymond, they’re on pace for 40 targets, but just 26 receptions.

Raymond has done all the little things right, particularly as a blocker, earning a continued role, as well. Still, with the offense struggling, getting TeSlaa more involved, especially on third down, could offer a much-needed spark.