Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders have had a lot of time to reflect on their Thursday Night Football defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles. They'll be eager to right some wrongs and get their season back on track.
There's plenty of blame to go around, but Daniels should get a lot of it. He looked back to his Week 1 self for most of the contest. It was also the second game in succession where the rookie signal-caller didn't seem himself.
Daniels is not a bad quarterback by any means despite two lackluster outings. The Heisman Trophy winner has proven he is the franchise quarterback for the Commanders. This is just a bad stretch that every first-year player typically goes through at some stage. It also seems that the rib injury is still affecting him, although head coach Dan Quinn put that down to missing practice reps rather than anything physical.
Jayden Daniels has corrections to make before Week 12
Daniels struggled rushing the ball again. There were several opportunities for him to get around a defender and gain yardage. He unnecessarily tried and make a move on them instead, which proved to be his undoing.
The pocket awareness also regressed, which made the rushing worse. Instead of evading pressure and getting out to either extend the rep or run for yardage, Daniels looked unusually hesitant. This would lead to a broken play more often than not.
The accuracy got worse. The zip on his throws and timing with his receivers vanished. Daniels wasn't looking for excuses, but the rib issue in a colder climate seemed to trouble the No. 2 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Before the rib issue, Daniels rarely would underthrow receivers. He definitely wouldn't do it constantly. Since the complication suffered against the Carolina Panthers, he's been constantly hitting receivers at their feet.
This must improve in Week 12 versus the Dallas Cowboys or it might be time to stop giving him the benefit of the doubt and ask if Daniels has a newfound accuracy problem.
There were plenty of times when Daniels had a wide-open receiver that he identified after going through his progressions. Instead of being a quick processor, like you must be to be a good NFL quarterback, the dual-threat weapon would either hesitate or scramble away from the open receiver.
This is a big problem.
It could be due to dwindling confidence. Daniels must throw to his open receiver as soon as he sees it. The LSU product must have that conviction in his read and deliver the football with the sort of aggression fans have become accustomed to seeing throughout the campaign.
Something that makes an NFL quarterback good is their ability to manipulate a defense to get a receiver open. Daniels did not do this once against the Eagles. That has to change if the Commanders want to cement their postseason hopes in the coming weeks.
Nobody is panicking too much about Daniels' mini-slump. It'll only make him more determined in the coming weeks.