Jayden Daniels battles through struggles to lead Commanders to first win

Breaking down some of Daniels struggles and some of his best throws against the Giants

The Commanders narrowly secured their first victory of the Adam Peters and Dan Quinn era on Sunday with a 21-18 win over the Giants. It was also the first win of the Jayden Daniels era. The rookie quarterback had a solid stat line, completing 23 of 29 passes for 226 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He also had 10 rushes through some designed runs and some scrambles, adding an extra 44 yards on the ground to bring his total output to 270 yards. Those stats are perhaps a little misleading as it wasn’t the cleanest performance from Daniels overall. Let’s break it down. 

Early on, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury did a nice job calling some easy quick passes to get Daniels settled into the game. He used a bunch of run-pass option plays (RPOs) to give the offense some favorable looks and make things simple for Daniels. If the defense loaded up the box to stop the run, Daniels could pull and throw a quick pass outside to a wide receiver screen or a quick game concept. If the defense spread out to stop the pass, Daniels could hand the ball off inside. The Giants were weary of the run game early, so that set up plenty of quick passes for Daniels to get into rhythm early. 

Here’s a good example of one of those early RPO concepts. On first and 10, Kingsbury calls an RPO packaging a wide zone run from the shotgun with a stick concept on the back side. From the end zone angle, you can see the center, right guard and right tackle all look to block a zone run to that right side, while the left guard and left tackle set up to block a potential pass. Daniels can read pre-snap that the defense has an advantage in the box. They have six defenders in the box and because tight end Zach Ertz is running to the flat as part of the stick concept, the Commanders only have five blockers to try and deal with those six defenders. That tells Daniels this should probably be a pass. 

As he snaps the ball, Daniels extends the ball out to running back Brian Robinson while his eyes shift to the safety over Ertz and receiver Noah Brown. He reads the safety driving to the flat to try and cover Ertz, which he knows will leave Brown free inside on the stick route. Daniels shows off his quick processing and release as he pulls the ball from Robinson and immediately sets up to throw. The ball is out quick and hits Brown for a nice seven yard gain. 

However, despite that effort from Kingsbury to help get Daniels settled early, Daniels struggled for large parts of the first half. He got himself into trouble and out of rhythm by taking a bunch of sacks. Daniels was sacked five times in this game. He only lost 16 yards on those sacks, which tells you he wasn’t getting sacked at the top of his drop, but rather closer to the line of scrimmage. That typically means the quarterback is responsible for a lot of those sacks. So let’s break them down. 

On second and seven, the Commanders look to run a quick game concept known as stick spacing. They begin the play aligned in a bunch set to the right, but receiver Dyami Brown motions across the formation to the left. The two remaining receivers to the right, Terry McLaurin and Luke McCaffrey, run the stick concept with McLaurin running out to the flat and McCaffrey spotting up inside on the stick route. Brown turns his motion into part of the spacing concept, with Ertz spotting up over the middle and Brown breaking off his route further outside. 

Daniels first read here is to McLaurin in the flat. He does immediately line up to throw there and I think there is a window for him to throw. Yes, the trailing corner is close by and potentially in a position to undercut the pass, he’s also got his back and head turned to McLaurin rather than Daniels, so he can’t see the ball being thrown. I think if Daniels pulls the trigger as soon as he sets up here, he can probably hit McLaurin in the flat. However, he either doesn’t like the look or perhaps panics a bit because a linebacker is rushing completely free up the middle. That defender may well have gotten to him before he could have finished his throwing motion, which might have led to the decision not to throw the ball.

As soon as Daniels turns down the throw to McLaurin, the defender is on him and should have a sack. Somehow, Daniels miraculously manages to stay on his feet and fight through the tackle attempt to break free and keep the play alive. He’s forced to then roll out to his left and probably loses track of exactly where he is on the field. He attempts to run to salvage what he can of the play but gets forced out of bounds two yards short of the line of scrimmage, leading to a two-yard sack. In an ideal world, you’d love to see Daniels find the line of scrimmage and recognize he isn’t going to make it back so he can just throw it away and not lose yards or take a hit. But he’s a rookie in his second game, so it’s an understandable play on his part. It’s an avoidable sack in two areas, so Daniels has to take his share of the blame here, but I can also understand why a rookie quarterback would take a sack here. 

Daniels’ second sack came on second and nine down in the red zone.