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Jayden Daniels’ recent comeback heroics secure the Commanders’ playoff spot

Posted on by Taylor Reeves
Jayden Daniels’ recent comeback heroics secure the Commanders’ playoff spot

For the rest of his NFL career, Jayden Daniels may never make a more memorable play than the Hail Mary touchdown he threw in October that won just his eighth career game.

But that stunning, game-winning score to defeat the Chicago Bears wasn’t the last standout performance of Daniels’ rookie season. Because of his talent for late-game heroics, the Washington Commanders reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

A week after leading a 10-point second-half comeback against the Philadelphia Eagles, Daniels led the Commanders on Sunday to another win, this time against the Atlanta Falcons.

The victory came after the Falcons – led by their own rookie quarterback, Michael Penix Jr. – led by 100 yards 10 in the second quarter and missed a potentially game-winning field goal at the end of regulation.

Daniels threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Ertz in overtime, winning 30-24 and securing a spot in the Wild Card playoffs.

Daniels, the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner as college football’s most outstanding player, was the second overall pick in last spring’s NFL draft. He came to Washington with high expectations because he was the face of a franchise that was in transition and a new owner was hiring a new head coach.

Not only has he proven he’s good at improving his stats – on Sunday he set a new record for rushing yards by a rookie quarterback, surpassing Robert Griffin III’s old mark of 815 – but he’s even then good when it counts, and with a consistency that convinces him is rare according to NFL research.

Chants of “MVP” could be heard throughout Washington Stadium during overtime on Sunday — and that was before Daniels hit Ertz for the game-winning, playoff-clinching goal.

Washington is now 11-5 with one game remaining, but its spot in the playoffs is guaranteed, so it’s unclear whether Daniels will play or sit out the regular-season finale.

He is currently Washington’s season leader in both passing and rushing yards. Should he finish as the leader in both categories, it would be the first time since 1935 – when the team was in only its fourth year of existence in Boston – that the franchise’s quarterback was also the franchise’s leading rusher.

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