Jayden Daniels felt confident after practicing late in the week that he could start at quarterback for the Washington Commanders against the Chicago Bears, despite a rib injury.
He and the team kept everyone in suspense until just hours before the game. When it was time, Daniels took the field and played bravely in an 18-15 win, ending with a Hail Mary touchdown after taking several hard hits along the way.
“As soon as I stepped on that field, wasn’t even worried about it,” said Daniels, who completed 21 of 38 passes for 326 yards, including the touchdown to Noah Brown with no time remaining.
“You can still feel it, but at the end of the day I started the game. I wanted to finish it, so there was nothing else that was going to take me out of that game.”
Daniels had to leave Washington’s previous game against Carolina after getting injured, which caused him to miss practice on Wednesday and Thursday. He was able to participate in a limited way on Friday, which was crucial for getting the second overall pick in the NFL draft ready to play.
“We pushed him on Friday in terms of the different throws,” coach Dan Quinn said. “Once all the markers were hit, then we felt comfortable with him playing. But it was due to all the work that was put in Friday.”
Daniels felt good after that workout and woke up on Sunday ready to play.
However, there was still a chance that veteran Marcus Mariota would start if Daniels felt any discomfort during warmups. The Commanders wanted to wait as long as possible to make a decision regarding their rookie star.
“It was his first injury that we had to go through together this week to find out what would be possible and what wouldn’t be because he also has unique skills and gifts that he’d have to be able to get outside the pocket and run some when he can,” Quinn said.
“I wanted to see him demonstrate that earlier in the week to allow him to play because if he wasn’t able to do that, then he wouldn’t have been able to play. We would not have put him into that spot.”
Daniels was sacked twice and knocked down several more times after releasing the ball. He also ran the ball eight times for 52 yards.
“He took a lot of hits today — probably more hits than I’ve seen him take all season,” running back Brian Robinson Jr. said. “Already dealing with something, he just showed how tough he is. Obviously you want to minimize those hits on him, but he just continues to prove how tough he is.”
