Jayden Daniels getting closer to becoming a genuine difference-maker after Week 2

Jayden Daniels came out of his first home game as Washington Commanders quarterback with a win against the New York Giants in Week 2. There is a lot of optimism after his performance, and it seems warranted. However, he is not the finished product by any stretch of the imagination.

Shedding light on what Daniels did well in Week 2 is just as important as deciphering what he needs to improve on. Let's start by discussing the positives from his regular-season bow at Northwest Stadium before focusing on the refinement needed moving forward.

Jayden Daniels' impressive traits in Week 2

Opening the offense up late

For almost three quarters, Washington's offense seemed the same as in Week 1. Short passes around the line of scrimmage almost every pass and some Daniels scrambling way too early in his progressions. The Heisman Trophy winner then took a big shot that took him out for a play. That's changed his entire mindset.

Daniels demonstrated more pocket poise while still getting the ball out quickly. Per Next Gen Stats, his time to throw went from 2.35 seconds in Week 1 to 2.33 seconds versus the Giants. The short passes early in the game helped this, but he attacked vertically a lot more.

The former LSU star targeted Terry McLaurin a lot more after the offense started to open up. It didn't lead to prolific numbers from the wide receiver, but it was a step forward nonetheless.

As Daniels gets more comfortable in the pocket, McLaurin's stat lines will get better. The offense as a whole looked productive after the signal-caller grew in stature. If it wasn't for false starts in the red zone, the Commanders would have won by a much wider margin.

All the short line of scrimmage passes might just be a Kliff Kingsbury thing, and he's just slowly opening up the offense for the rookie. For the sake of Daniels and the entire unit, let's hope that's the case.

Rushing with discipline

Daniels rushed a lot less against the Giants, going from 16 rushes to 10. He is a dual-threat passer, so removing this from his game entirely wouldn't be smart. However, the mindless scrambling isn't a recipe for success. It looks like he has realized that quickly.

The Cajon High School product gained 44 rushing yards from his 10 attempts. The zone reads haven't been a huge success thus far, but that will develop over time. Daniels made some big-time rushes for first downs again this week and had a sack where he miraculously got away from a free rusher in Micah McFadden that turned a near 10-yard loss into much less.

Areas for Jayden Daniels to improve in Week 3

Taking sacks and hits

Daniels had this problem last week, too. The sack numbers just went up this week.

When the offense expanded, Daniels seemed to do a better job stepping up in the pocket and looking downfield. But it was still a big problem versus a stout Giants' defensive front.

At times, Daniels seems to want to run backward to get away from defenders when he needs to scramble out of the pocket, which is ill-advised at the next level. This is a learning curve and should be enhanced with more reps.

There were four passing downs in a row where Daniels took a sack or loss of yards on a rush in the second quarter. One was due to pressure coming from every direction in the pocket. However, the other three were more on the signal-caller - whether it be because of a bad zone read or not maneuvering in the pocket well and tucking the ball too quickly.

Going through progressions

In fairness to Daniels, he got much more accomplished in this area as the contest went on. But going through progressions effectively is not where it needs to be just yet.

There were multiple times, especially early in the game, where Daniels left yards on the table due to not going through his progressions and quickly going to the check down. There is still a tendency to become hesitant when the first read isn't there rather than trusting his instincts.

Daniels will get better week to week. His Week 2 performance is proof of that.

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