OPINION:
Jayden Daniels went home Sunday. And he brought gifts — a 27-10 win over the carpetbagging Los Angeles Chargers that reminded anyone who forgot that he is the sun around which all Washington Commanders planets revolve.
He was eclipsed for the previous two weeks, sidelined with a knee injury. But he rose Sunday, a bright California sun that might have inspired a song by the late Brian Wilson.
“I’ve dreamt of moments like this, being able to play in front of my family back in my hometown,” said Daniels, who grew up 75 miles from SoFi Stadium.
The last time we saw the second-year quarterback on the field, he looked very ordinary, picking pieces of Lambeau Field out of his posterior in 27-18 Monday Night Football beating by the Green Bay Packers. Then Daniels disappeared with a knee injury.
In this case, absence made the heart grow suspicious. His replacement, Marcus Mariota, acquitted himself well in a 41-24 win over the Las Vegas Raiders the following week, but was very ordinary in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons last week. He was not inspiring. He was not intimidating. He was a backup quarterback.
For a moment, people forgot that Daniels is a game-changer when he steps on the field with his teammates.
“I was pleased to see him make some decisions that may not show up on the stat sheet — when to go, when to throw it away,” Washington coach Dan Quinn said. “Knowing there was chances for him to let it rip, he absolutely did that. He’s just such a relentless competitor.”
For Commanders (3-2) fans, Daniels is the warmth of the sun.
He became the first quarterback to rush for 1,000-plus yards in 20 games or less in NFL history, but it was not his most impressive performance — completing 15 of 26 passes for 231 yards and one touchdown and his trademark zero interceptions, plus 39 yards rushing on eight carries.
Those plays, though, were the sort of winning plays that Quinn has preached about. There was the closing 99-yard drive that ended with an eight-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to Deebo Samuels. Daniels delivered while backpedaling from a Chargers (3-2) pass rush to seal the win — a victory in which Washington came back from a 10-0 first quarter deficit to score 27 unanswered points.
“My favorite part of the game was the last drive, you know, to go six minutes and 30 seconds at the end, that’s a big deal for us to have four minutes to be able to run the ball and go finish,” Quinn said. “I thought the complimentary football in the second half was what we were looking for. It wasn’t there at the very beginning. I thought we had some self-inflicted wounds.”
That changed when Washington safety Quan Martin caused a Los Angeles fumble in the second quarter that changed the momentum of the game. “That was the shift that changed it,” Quinn told reporters.
Rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt was on his way to an 111-yard rushing day with two scores, and Samuel was on his way to an eight-reception, 96-yard day. But those performances fed off a quarterback who seems capable of anything — like turning a seventh-round draft pick into a premier running back or reviving the career of a cast-off All-Pro receiver.
“It was just great to have his presence on the field,” Croskey-Merritt said.
Daniels’ presence on the SoFi Stadium field reportedly drew a large contingent of Daniels’ family and friends to be on hand for the homecoming, and, given the lack of support from Los Angeles football fans for the transplanted San Diego Chargers, they might have outnumbered the so-called hometown fans.
This was Washington’s first win at SoFi Stadium, which is also home to the Rams, who beat the Commanders 28-20 when they came to the new stadium for the first time on Dec. 17, 2023 — unless you count the infamous 2021 stadium tour, when former owner Dan Snyder and company took a tour of the building.
“We’re touring stadiums,” Snyder said. “We’re … just looking to build a new venue back home in D.C., Virginia, Maryland. So, we’re everywhere … having some fun and looking at the future.”
Those were the dark days when the future looked bleak. Sunday the light radiated at SoFi Stadium for Washington fans. Daniels was back in town.
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