A look at Jayden Daniels’ Monday Night coming out party against the Cincinnati Bengals
The good (There was a lot of good)
Accuracy: Jayden completed 21 of 23 passes. That’s good for a 91% completion percentage. Normally when you see a completion rate that high, you assume the quarterback threw screen passes and hitches all game, but Daniels was throwing the ball downfield with that accuracy, going for 254 yards. It was truly impressive.
Touchdown passes!
It looked for a while like the Commanders were trying to set a record for receivers tackled short of the goal line. Luke McCafferey (twice), Noah Brown and Terry McLaurin were all brought down inside the two yard line after catching passes from Daniels.
It took some outside the box thinking to get the rookie his first TD toss. If you placed a prop bet on who would catch Jayden’s first TD pass, you probably lost money. The lucky recipient was backup tackle Trent Scott. Jayden later added a more conventional touchdown on a 27 yard dot to Terry McLaurin.
Improved vision: Jayden took a big step forward this week with regard to his downfield vision. He moved in the pocket and when he leas moved off his spot, he kept his eyes downfield and completed clutch throws. The knock on Daniels has been that when he scrambles, he doesn’t look to throw. He changed that narrative this week.
Sliding!
Jayden picked up a third quarter first down and slid feet first to avoid a hit. Yay!
The not so good
There wasn’t much not to like in week three. Jayden put on a virtuoso performance, but hey, let’s pick some nits!
There were a few instances of Jayden being too eager to run in the first half when he had receivers open. This is something we can feel much better about him being able to correct, as we watched him do it as the game progressed.
He also took a few hits this week but they seemed to be forgivable as he used his legs to extend drives and those hits are going to happen because it’s football
The verdict
This was a top notch performance on a big stage by Jayden Daniels. If he stays healthy and continues to build on this game, the future looks bright for him and the Commanders
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