Jayden Daniels was a headache for the New York Giants on Sunday. He is going to be a nightmare for the rest of the NFL — if he can stay healthy.
The Commanders rookie quarterback got his first NFL win Sunday in an ugly 21-18 Commanders victory over the hapless Giants. It was also the first Washington win for coach Dan Quinn. And it was the first win in the newly-named Northwest Stadium, before an enthusiastic home crowd.
The Giants, coming off their 28-6 beating by the Minnesota Vikings to open the season, proved to be the perfect guest to kick off Northwest Stadium. They are not very good.
The foot of newly-arrived kicker Austin Seibert put the points on the board — seven field goals, a franchise record. Much of the distance covered to get into the position for those seven field goals was courtesy of Brian Robinson, who rushed for a career-high 133 yards.
But right there with the leg of Seibert and the rushes of Robinson was the play of Daniels, who led an offense that dominated much of the game between the 20-yard lines. The Commanders racked up 425 yards of offense and held the ball for nearly 38 minutes of the 60-minute contest because Daniels willed them down the field. The fact that they never got into the end zone speaks more to the limitations of the team around him.
Like the Giants, the Commanders are not very good.
They have bargain-basement talent at many positions, and the fat-wallet guys aren’t doing much to date. The defense is particularly troublesome, allowing nine scores in 11 drives to start this season.
But Daniels never let them lose their composure on the field — a remarkable accomplishment for a rookie quarterback. As bad as this roster is, they didn’t collapse Sunday. They simply aren’t very productive.
What they produce comes from Daniels — much of it from his legs, yes, but his arm as well.
In two games, Daniels has thrown 53 passes, completing 40 of them, without an interception. He was 23 of 29 for 226 yards. He hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass yet, but rookies often implode when the game is put on their shoulders, resulting in turnovers.
“I think he (Daniels) has a real consciousness for security of the ball,” Quinn said. “That is one of the things about him coming out of college, to have that many touchdowns (40 in 2023) and that few interceptions (4). He has a real mindset about it, and it’s an important thing for us to take care of the ball. That was a real factor today.”
Again, the lack of passing success in the end zone says more about a limited corps of receivers corps than it does about Daniels’ ability to find them. He could also use more help from the offensive line. He was sacked five times Sunday. But he didn’t play like a harried quarterback.
Not Daniels. He’s a cool customer. “This ain’t the first time so it ain’t nothing new to me,” he said.
When it was 3 and 13 in the second quarter on the Commanders 15-yard line, Daniels ran for 14 yards. He lay on the field and did not get up for a few minutes, leaving the game after taking a bruising shot to the ribs. But he came right back in one play later — Quinn said he had the wind knocked out of him — and completed an eight-yard pass to Terry McLaurin. McLaurin had six catches for just 22 yards Sunday, a 3.7 yard-per-catch average. That’s a problem.
Daniels led the final two-minute scoring drive with a 43-yard pass to Noah Brown, followed by an eight-yard catch by Olamide Zaccheaus. Four plays later, Seibert kicked the winning 30-yard field goal.
“That’s what you live for, those moments,” Daniels said. “That’s where names get made in this league. When it comes down to it, you know, big plays, two-minute drives, things like that. They’ve got to happen.”
That’s the Washington offense right now — Daniels’ legs, and secondly, his arm. Robinson’s rushing success feeds off the fear of defenses of Daniels’ running. The quarterback had 10 carries Sunday for 44 yards.
But Daniels’ legs alone are not a long-term formula for success.
“I think that will probably level out as we go, what games needed more, what games needed less on that,” he said.
I’m not sure how that happens. General manager Adam Peters didn’t surround his young quarterback with weapons that would bear that future out.
They better hope it levels out. Daniels showed some toughness with the hits he took to his slender frame Sunday. But he is too valuable a commodity to risk having to carry the team on his legs every week.
Losing Daniels would be the Commanders’ nightmare.
• You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
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