- Sunday, October 20, 2024

It was a glorious day to be a Commanders fan. The sun was shining bright on this October Indian summer Sunday for a game against the Carolina Panthers. The stands were full of burgundy and gold, with Darrell Green jerseys everywhere.

The franchise paid long-overdue tribute to the legendary Hall of Fame cornerback, finally officially retiring the No. 28 jersey. Green was surrounded by former teammates he’d played alongside, legends who had come before and Redskins and Commanders stars who had followed in his footsteps: More than 100 former players were on hand for alumni weekend.

It was a burial ceremony as well as a celebration — a burial of the poisonous past of former owner Dan Snyder and a celebration —- not just of a time before, when players like Green and others led this team to Super Bowl championships, but also a celebration of the newfound savior, record-setting rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who has made the sun shine brighter than it has for this football team and its fans for a long time.

And then everything went dark. The sun was still bright high in the sky, but inside the stadium it was dark, quiet, solemnly fearful.

Daniels was hurt and out of the game. The reports were a rib injury.

His teammates — and coaches — said, “We’ve got your back, Jayden.”

Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota, a former fellow Heisman Trophy winner who was Jayden Daniels before Jayden Daniels was, and an opportunistic Washington Commanders defense dominated the Carolina Panthers with a 40-7 victory, upping their record to 5-2 and tightening their grip on first in the NFC East.

I guess nothing could darken the day Green was honored.

Mariota, 30, the former No. 2 overall pick who had his best season in Tennessee in 2016 when he threw for 3,426 yards and 26 touchdowns, proved to be more than capable as a backup, completing 18 of 23 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns, with 10 rushes for 35 yards. Most importantly, zero interceptions.

Daniels was leading the Commanders to their fifth victory when he left the field and headed to the locker room with less than three minutes left in the first quarter with a 10-0 Washington lead, thanks in part to a 67-yard interception return for a touchdown by Washington linebacker Dante Fowler, Jr.

Daniels, who would take off from his own 10-yard line with about nine minutes left in the first quarter and run for 46 yards, was brought down awkwardly on the play. He managed to stay in the game for the rest of the drive — and actually completed his only two passes for just six yards — that ended in a 23-yard Austin Seibert field goal before being replaced by Mariota.

More eyes would have been on the Commanders locker room if they had a camera in there than on the field. Fortunately for Washington, they were playing a helpless Panthers team that came into the game 1-5. Fortunately for Washington, they proved up to the task this day of picking up the slack for the absence of their rookie leader.

Still, Daniels injury will put the focus on the rookie’s decisions to pull the ball down and run, something that head coach Dan Quinn has said he would prefer to see less. “We would love to see him be a passer first,” Quinn said earlier this year.

Daniels’ slim frame — he is listed at 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds — has raised questions about his ability to stand up to a 17-game NFL schedule. He played 55 games in college at LSU and Arizona State without much damage.

Daniels suffered a concussion in a November 2023 game against Alabama and was placed in concussion protocol. He suffered a grade one ankle sprain in November 2022 but still played against Georgia in the SEC championship game a week later. He had another ankle sprain at Arizona in October 2019 and missed one game.

It is part of his game, and Daniels has said he believes he has a handle on it. “It’s just like an instinct,” he said after running the ball 16 times in his debut against Tampa. “That clock in your head is like, ‘All right, it’s time to go.’”

But he might have smashed that clock when he slammed his helmet down in frustration on the sideline Sunday after he went down with the injury. 

• You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.

• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.

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