Jayden Daniels: Washington Commanders rookie quarterback has team dreaming of returning to Super Bowl | NFL news
The Washington Commanders are 60 minutes away from their first NFC Championship Game appearance in 33 years, the same 1991 season in which the franchise secured its third Super Bowl.
It’s been a few years since then, with just seven playoff appearances – with just three wins – spanning the three decades since.
The team finished 4-13 last season, which secured them the second pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and oh how grateful they were.
By selecting running back Jayden Daniels from LSU, the rookie sensation completely changed the fortunes of this missing NFL power and made them relevant, made them contenders again.
Daniels is practically considered a candidate for Offensive Rookie of the Year at the NFL’s end-of-season awards, finishing the regular season with 3,568 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and just nine interceptions to his name, along with a whopping 891 yards and six more rushing scores.
There have been some big highs along the way, none more so than when the 24-year-old sent the league into a frenzy with a miraculous Hail Mary field goal to see the Commanders beat the Chicago Bears as time expired in Week 8.
With zeros on the clock and the Commanders trailing 15-12, Daniels raced back and forth from his own half before finally making a desperate drive toward the end zone, where the ball bounced off a crowd of players into appreciatively waiting hands. wide open Noah Brown for a 52-yard walk-off touchdown.
Daniels held the ball for 12.79 seconds on the play that led to the touchdown, marking the first touchdown pass with a throw time of more than 10 seconds since Next Generation Statistics began in 2016.
“It’s like a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Daniels said at the time, while the incredible finish sparked quite a reaction in Sky Sports studio.
“If J-Bell [Jason Bell] no words, that’s the problem!” laughed Super Bowl-winning quarterback Ndamukong Suh. “They can build as a team on this.
“If you think of Odell Beckham Jr.’s big catch in New York, as J-Bell mentioned, it could be huge and monumental for this organization if they continue to ride this wave.”
And ride that wave that the Commanders did. After a three-game midseason slump that briefly threatened their playoff hopes, Daniels led the team on a five-game winning streak to secure their postseason spot… which he just extended to six with another hugely impressive showing in his debut in the playoffs.
Daniels threw for 268 yards and two scores in a 23-20 road win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wild Card Weekend, but what was most impressive was the fact that the team was trailing entering the fourth quarter as he helped orchestrate the game-winning drive in the last four and a half minutes with the two teams tied. Unperturbed and undisturbed.
“Of course, it’s not a one-man game, but Jayden Daniels is a big reason for the turnaround in Washington,” Sky Sports’ said Neil Reynolds on the latest episode of the Inside The Huddle podcast.
“The kid’s heart rate barely increased or decreased during the three-hour playoff game. That’s why Washington won six straight, the last five of which were decided in the final minute.
“You don’t want to live like that all the time, but when you have a kid who’s not afraid to be in that environment, that’s something — especially because now you’re going to a really awkward place, Detroit, in the playoffs.”
Former Buffalo Bills coach Phoebe Schecter added, “This young man, he plays like a veteran, like a pro.
“It’s very rare that we’ve seen a rookie come in and do something like this — even if you look at how CJ Stroud played [for Houston Texans] last year. There are levels of what Jayden Daniels was and is.
“His ability to extend the game and the moment is never too big for him.
“You watch the game last week against the Bucs, he’s just cool as a cucumber.
“The game against the Lions, the stage won’t be too big for him. I think it will be challenging … but he just loves what he does.”
That’s really the next challenge facing Daniels and this team, with the sixth-seeded Commanders now heading to Detroit to face the NFC’s top-ranked Lions, who are eyeing two consecutive NFC Championship appearances.
The Lions have lost just two games all season and are heavy favorites for Saturday’s clash – live on Sky Sports NFL from 1.15am in the early hours of Sunday morning – but they take the Commanders, and especially Daniels, very seriously.
“He’s dangerous; he’s a big threat,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said of Daniels. “He’s not a rookie quarterback. He’s a difference maker.
“You can tell he understands how to run that offense and what they’re asking him to do. And he’s got guns. I mean, boy, they’ve got guns.”
Mind you, Detroit has plenty of guns too. This is the NFL’s top-ranked scoring offense, scoring a whopping 33.2 points per game, while their 409.5 yards per game are second only to the Baltimore Ravens’ incredible 424.9 average.
The Lions are many Super Bowl favorites and the general consensus is that this is where Daniels’ cute little rookie performance ends. Not that he listens to the noise.
“I’m staying in my own bubble right now, focusing on what’s next,” Daniels said ahead of the Divisional Round matchup with the Lions.
“We will not give up until the clock strikes zero. We will continue to fight until the end.”
Watch Washington Commanders vs Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round of the Play-Offs, live on Sky Sports NFL in the early hours of Sunday morning, kick-off at 1.15am.
