In the NFL, the lights shine brighter on Sunday or Monday Night Football than they do on Sunday night. The eyes of the NFL world are on the primetime games where coaches, managers, fans and players all watch.
During prime-time games, players from other teams often post on social media, so these are opportunities for young players to make a name for themselves.
In Monday night’s game between Washington and Cincinnati, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels had one of the best rookie performances in NFL history. Daniels completed 21 of 23 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns while running for 39 yards and a touchdown to lead the Commanders to a 38-33 victory.
Neither team punted all game, and for Washington to pull off the upset, Daniels couldn’t afford to make a mistake. And he didn’t. Daniels saved his best performance for the Commanders’ final drive, converting a fourth down and then throwing a perfect 27-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin that put the game out of reach with two minutes left.
On Tuesday morning, Daniels was the talk of the NFL. Daniels was on every morning TV talk show and every sports program on the radio.
Peter Schrager of “Good Morning Football” perhaps put it best.
“A star is born,” Schrager said at the start of his segment Tuesday. “And that’s what I would say. And it happened on national television in a hostile environment against a team that was desperate to win. Against one of the league’s best defensive coordinators, Lou Anarumo, and 23-year-old Jayden Daniels, who set a rookie record for pass completions in a game at 91% in his third game as a player, he completed his passes. And he led Washington to score on every single one of his drives, except for the kneel-down.
Schrager then analyzed two plays from Washington’s game-winning drive. First, there was the fourth pass from tight end Zach Ertz, followed by the aforementioned touchdown pass to McLaurin.
Thanks to Daniel’s heroics, the Commanders improved their record to 2-1 and have a road game in Arizona next week.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: NFL analyst on Jayden Daniels: “A star is born”
