– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY — Before and after his professional debut, Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels showed reverence. During the game, he showed patience with a cheeky mix of defiance. For Commanders fans starving to throw their arms around a franchise quarterback they can believe in, Daniels’ performance might turn out to be the beginning of their deliverance.
On a toasty early afternoon across the river from the Big Apple, Daniels, the No. 2 overall pick in this April’s NFL Draft, led the Commanders out onto the field in his first NFL game, and led the team into the end zone on their first driving during Washington’s 20-17 defeat at the hands of the New York Jets on Saturday. No matter what personnel the Jets put out on defense (which ended up being a unit made up mostly of second-teamers), seeing Daniels against NFL competition when the stats started to count was going to tell a lot nonetheless, and while out there, Daniels made sure that his first impression, albeit brief, was a memorable one.
Daniels completed two of his three passes for 45 yards in his only series, but a was a 42-yard toss on his third play from scrimmage left everyone smiling.
Well, almost everyone.
On that play, Daniels audibled at the line of scrimmage once he saw press coverage, checking from a screen pass to a deep ball. That long pass down the right sideline dropped perfectly into the hands of receiver Dyami Brown, who was well defended, for a 42-yard gain.
“It was going to be a dead play, so I checked it and gave my guy a chance to make a play,” Daniels said in the postgame press conference, doing so while wearing a throwback white No. 17 Washington jersey honoring Super Bowl quarterback Doug Williams.
As Daniels started to run downfield, he turned to the sideline, pointed at teammates and coaches, and smiled as he was well on his way to leading a scoring drive.
So about those smiles. Commanders head coach Dan Quinn was not on board with the Daniels’ check, even with the success of the play. Or, at the very least, he had to hide his enthusiasm for the maturity his new quarterback showed while interjecting that there’s still a learning curve that his signal-caller needs to navigate before he allows the training wheels to come off
“I thought of Top Gun. ‘Do I have permission to buzz the tower?'” Quinn said, referencing a moment in a movie. “On that one, he wanted to ask for forgiveness and not permission. That illustrates the awareness. He did not ask for permission; he went ahead and buzzed the tower anyway. It was a really cool play.”
The Maverick/Tom Cruise-like smile stayed on Daniels’ face at the end of the drive, as he carried the ball in from three yards out after faking a handoff on a read option before running right and into paydirt. Upon returning to the sidelines, Daniels spotted his mother and gave her the football.
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