Lions WR Sucker-Punched by Commanders DL Daron Payne

Washington Commanders defender has been ejected.

Washington Commanders cornerback Jonathan Jones (31) breaks up a pass intended for Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown | Peter Casey-Imagn Images

Things got testy on the field between Washington Commanders defensive lineman Daron Payne and Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.

After a touchdown scoring drive, the veteran defender was caught sucker-punching Detroit's top wide receiver.

As a result, Payne was ejected from the game.

The Commanders defense struggled to contain Detroit's offense in the first half. Detroit was able to find their footing rushing the football.

Running back Jahmyr Gibbs recorded two touchdowns and the Lions took a 25-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Offensive coordinator John Morton shared prior to the game what the keys needed to be to be able to run the football much more effectively.

“Yeah, I mean I kind of already said it. So, that’s just like with the passing game, right? It’s just about being consistent. We’ve narrowed things down where you don’t have so many runs or so many passes, so the guys know what to do with all the different type of looks. I think that’s important. And we’ve been doing that," said Morton. "Listen, we’ve been doing that. That type of defense, it’s like, one, two, three and then all of the sudden you get one. But you get behind the eight ball, then your play-calling kind of changes. So, a lot of second-and-longs and third-and-longs, it’s hard.”

#Commanders DL Daron Payne has been EJECTED. He randomly punched Amon-Ra St. Brown after the play: pic.twitter.com/gnEqgYtCCR

— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) November 9, 2025

Detroit took advantage of the penalty yards against Payne also. David Montgomery was able to find his way into the end zone, giving Detroit a 22-3 lead.

The issues the Lions were experiencing on third-down were much improved against a weakened Commanders defense.

“Of course we want to be better, we expect ourselves to be better. Surprised, yeah, none of us felt like we should be where we’re at. That’s not us, we believe we can be better. There again, it does, it takes every one of us, man. It takes every one of us. We’ve got to be able to give those guys something to work with. We’ve got to get early momentum," said Campbell, when asked about the team's third-down woes. "We all have to do our part early, man. We can’t have the one guy here, one guy there or something.

"Honestly, when we’re playing our best ball, those don’t show up. They rarely show up where we had one guy out of place, or something’s not happening, or we didn’t do our part as a staff. It really is. And once you find your place, you find your rhythm with what this 2025 Detroit Lions offense, we’ll be humming.”