Jayden Daniels: Washington Commanders rookie quarterback has group dreaming of Tremendous Bowl return | NFL Information

The Washington Commanders are 60 minutes away from a primary look within the NFC Championship recreation for 33 years, the identical 1991 season wherein the franchise secured their third Tremendous Bowl.

There have been some fallow years since, with solely seven playoff appearances – containing solely three victories – stretched over the three a long time since.

Final season, the group completed with a 4-13 report, securing them the No 2 general choose within the 2024 NFL Draft, and oh how grateful they had been.

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Sunday nineteenth January 1:00am

Deciding on quarterback Jayden Daniels out of LSU, the rookie sensation has fully modified the fortunes of this fading NFL drive and made them related, made them contenders once more.

Daniels is virtually seen as a shoo-in for Offensive Rookie of the 12 months honours on the NFL’s end-of-season awards, ending the common season with 3,568 passing yards, 25 touchdowns and solely 9 interceptions to his title, in addition to an enormous 891 yards and 6 additional scores speeding.

Alongside the way in which there have been some large highs, none extra so than when the 24-year-old despatched the league right into a frenzy with a miracle Hail Mary landing to see the Commanders beat the Chicago Bears as time expired in Week Eight.

With zeros on the clock and the Commanders trailing 15-12, Daniels scurried backwards and forwards from inside his personal half earlier than lastly launching a determined heave in direction of the top zone, the place the ball bobbled off a crowd of gamers and into the grateful ready fingers of a wide-open Noah Brown for a 52-yard walk-off landing.

Daniels held the ball for 12.79 seconds in the course of the play resulting in the landing, marking the primary landing move with a time to throw upwards of 10 seconds since Subsequent Gen Stats started in 2016.

“That’s kind of like a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Daniels mentioned on the time, whereas the unimaginable end elicited fairly the response within the Sky Sports activities studio.

“If J-Bell [Jason Bell] is out of words, that’s a problem!” laughed Tremendous Bowl-winning defensive sort out Ndamukong Suh. “They can build as a team off of this.

“You assume again to Odell Beckham Jr’s massive catch in New York like J-Bell talked about, this may very well be large and monumental for this organisation in the event that they proceed to experience this wave.”

And experience that wave the Commanders did. After a three-game skid mid-season that briefly threatened their playoff hopes, Daniels led the group on a five-game win streak to ebook their place within the postseason… which he simply prolonged to 6 with one other vastly spectacular displaying on his playoff debut.

Daniels threw for 268 yards and two scores in 23-20 street win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Wild Card Weekend however what was most spectacular was the truth that the group was trailing getting into the fourth quarter, whereas he helped orchestrate the game-winning drive within the last four-and-a-half minutes with the 2 groups all tied up. Unflustered and unfazed.

“Sure, it’s not a one-man game, but Jayden Daniels is a huge reason for the turnaround in Washington,” Sky Sports activities’ Neil Reynolds mentioned on the most recent episode of the Inside The Huddle podcast.

“The kid’s heart rate hardly went up or down through three hours of a playoff game. That’s why Washington have won six in a row, and the last five of those have been decided in the final minute.

“You do not need to reside that means on a regular basis, however while you’ve bought a child that is not afraid to be in that surroundings, that is one thing – particularly as you now go to a very difficult place, to Detroit, within the playoffs.”

A former coach with the Buffalo Bills, Phoebe Schecter added: “This younger man, he performs like a veteran, like a professional.

“We have very rarely seen a rookie come in and be able to do something like this – even you look at how CJ Stroud played [for Houston Texans] last year. There are levels to how he was and how Jayden Daniels is.

“His capability to increase the play, and the second is rarely too massive for him.

“You watch the game last week against the Bucs, he is just cool as a cucumber.

“The sport towards the Lions, the stage is not going to be too massive for him. I feel it is going to be difficult… however he’s simply loving what he is doing.”

That’s certainly the following problem that faces Daniels and this group, with the sixth-seeded Commanders now heading to Detroit to face the NFC’s No 1-ranked Lions, who’re eyeing two-straight NFC Championship appearances.

The Lions have misplaced solely two video games all season and are heavy favourites for Saturday’s conflict – reside on Sky Sports activities NFL from 1.15am within the early hours of Sunday morning – however they’re taking the Commanders, and particularly Daniels, very significantly.

“He’s dangerous; he poses a major threat,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell mentioned of Daniels. “He does not play the position like a rookie quarterback. He’s a difference-maker.

“You may inform he understands tips on how to run that offense and what they’re asking him to do. And he is bought weapons. I imply, boy, they have weapons.”

Detroit have loads of weapons too, thoughts you. That is the NFL’s top-ranked group in scoring offense, placing up an enormous 33.2 factors per recreation, whereas their 409.5 yards per recreation is second solely to the Baltimore Ravens’ staggering common of 424.9.

The Lions are many individuals’s Tremendous Bowl favourites and the final consensus is that that is the place Daniels’ good little rookie run involves an finish. Not that he’s listening to any of that noise.

“I kind of stay in my own bubble right now, focus on what’s next,” Daniels mentioned forward of the Divisional Spherical matchup with the Lions.

“We’re not going to give up until the clock hits zero. We’re going to keep fighting until the end.”

Watch the Washington Commanders on the Detroit Lions within the Divisional Spherical of the playoffs, reside on Sky Sports activities NFL within the early hours of Sunday morning, with kick-off at 1.15am.