ALLEN PARK >> When Zane Gonzalez trotted out to drill a 37-yard, walk-off field goal to advance past the Wild Card round, few people were happier than Detroit Lions special teams coordinator Dave Fipp.

Gonzalez, the Washington Commanders kicker who made the winning play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday night, made a brief pit stop in Detroit in 2021 and has since become the solution to the Commanders’ revolving door at the position.

Gonzalez made three kicks on Sunday night, including a 52-yard field goal in the second quarter, to set up a date with the team that waived him back in 2021.

“Zane, he’s a very good player; he’s made a bunch of big kicks … so I’m super happy for him that he made that one at the end there,” Fipp said. “And I look forward to playing against him.”

The Lions went through upward of a dozen kickers from the time head coach Dan Campbell was hired until they eventually settled on rookie Jake Bates. Gonzalez was one of the very first.

After winning the Lou Groza (best placekicker) award in his final season at Arizona in 2016, Gonzalez struggled to find his place at the pro level. He bounced from Cleveland to Arizona before being waived by the Lions on cutdown day in 2021 and eventually signed for Carolina. Gonzalez earned a second contract with the Panthers but suffered a season-ending injury that would stunt his development.

Gonzalez missed more than two full seasons before signing with the Commanders in November after another former Lions kicker — Austin Seibert — went on injured reserve. In six games, he went 5-of-7 with a long of 48 yards.

Fipp said he always roots for the other special teams unit to do well — but that’ll be especially true this Saturday.

“I’m fired up for him,” Fipp said. “I think I say this all the time: I usually talk to the other team’s specialists before the game. I wish them the very best. I hope those guys play as good as they can play, and I hope we play better. That’s really what the goal is.”

Best of the best

The Commanders finished the regular season with the league’s No. 15-graded unit on special teams, per Pro Football Focus, but Dave Fipp doesn’t care what any outside ranking says.

Fipp, the Lions special teams coordinator, has Washington’s specialists as the best in the NFL.

“These guys are really good,” Fipp said Wednesday. “They do a great job, really, in all phases. … For us, this is like the ultimate (challenge). We’re going up against a great team that’s really well coached. … “I think we’ve got a group, too, so we’re excited to be able to play against these guys.”

Fipp has long been familiar with Washington’s special teams coordinator, Larry Izzo, who spent nine seasons in the NFL as a player before latching on as an assistant with the New York Giants in 2011. He was the special teams coordinator for the Houston Texans (2016-17) and held the same role with the Seattle Seahawks (2021-23) ahead of his first season in Washington.

Izzo first came up on Fipp’s radar when the former played against the San Francisco 49ers in 2008. Fipp was on San Francisco’s staff, and Izzo was playing his final season with the New England Patriots.

“He was a heck of a player when I first got in the league. … That’s really when I first got to know who he was,” Fipp said. “At that point in his career, he was already established. He went on to coach and has done a great job. (He had) been in Seattle for a long time; we played them the last three years. He was up there. He always does a good job with their units.”

The most notable thing about Washington’s special teams is the kickoff coverage numbers; the Commanders have covered 73 kickoff returns this season. That easily leads the league, 16 more than the team with the second-most (New Orleans Saints, 57).

All that opportunity has helped two Commanders — Jeremy Reaves (21) and Nick Bellore (20) — rank No. 1 and No. 2 in special-teams tackles, respectively.

Fipp said his metrics take into account all six special-teams units — field goal, field-goal block, kickoff coverage, kickoff return, punt coverage and punt return — and where they rank in takeaways, giveaways and field position.

The Lions, not far behind, will have a chance to catch up in Fipp’s metrics on Saturday.

“They’re No. 1,” Fipp said of Washington. “We’re (No.) 2.”