Jayden Daniels dazzles as Commanders beat Bengals

Breaking down Jayden Daniels outstanding performance against the Bengals.

Jayden Daniels had a breakout game as he led the Washington Commanders to a surprise win over the Bengals in Cincinnati on Monday Night Football. The national spotlight was on Daniels and the Commanders for the first time in this new era and Daniels took to center stage like a duck to water. He was extremely efficient, completing 21 of 23 passing attempts for 254 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for another 39 yards and another touchdown on 12 carries. It was a fantastic night for Daniels and Washington, so let’s jump into how well Daniels performed. 

The two biggest criticisms of Daniels coming into this game were his eagerness to take off running when passes were still available to him and his failure to connect on some deep shots down the field. Against the Bengals, he proved he was capable of correcting those issues. The first thing that stood out to me with Daniels was his poise and patience. It’s true that in the first two games, he was a little too eager to work through his progressions and then take off running when he didn’t always need to. But last night, he was much more patient in the pocket, looking to exhaust every passing option before scrambling. 

This play is a good example of that patience in the pocket. The Commanders run a stick concept to the right with a dagger-type of concept to the left. I’m not entirely sure if receiver Luke McCaffrey is asked to run a dig route like he would on a dagger concept, or if he’s just running a curl route, but we’ll get to that shortly. As Daniels snaps the ball, his eyes go first to the two deep safeties to check for any safety rotations. Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo is known for his mastery of disguising coverages with post-snap rotations, so Daniels is wise to locate both safeties as his top priority. 

With the safeties located, Daniels can move onto his first read. He works to his right and checks the flat along with the stick route. He doesn’t like either option, so he works back over the middle of the field to Terry McLaurin on his deep over route. That’s not open either, so Daniels continues through his progression, getting all the way to McCaffrey on the back side. As I mentioned earlier, I’m not sure if this was a true dagger concept that called for McCaffrey to break into the middle of the field behind McLaurin’s route, but he saw a linebacker sinking into the hole and sat his route down, or if he was just running a curl route all the way. Either way, Daniels finds him in a hole in the coverage and completes the pass for a first down. 

The protection holds up well here, allowing Daniels time in the pocket, but it has done the same at times in previous weeks and Daniels occasionally was guilty of hurrying through reads in order to take off running. Here you can see how he remains patient in the pocket, staying ready to throw at the top of his drop as he adjusts his feet to line up to each individual read. At no point is he considering scrambling, he’s only thinking about finding an open receiver and his patience is rewarded as he finds McCaffrey on the back side of the play. 

The other big criticism of Daniels’ game so far this season was his lack of explosive plays in the passing game. He had missed a few deep shots to Terry McLaurin in the opening two games and even missed one in the first half when McLaurin was wide open breaking to the post on a scissors concept. But Daniels soon redeemed himself and finally found that deep ball to McLaurin we’ve all been waiting for. 

The Commanders work out of 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends, two wide receivers) on this play, with receivers Terry McLaurin and Noah Brown in tight splits. Tight end John Bates initially lines up outside of McLaurin but motions into the formation before the snap. The Commanders fake a hand off inside before Daniels drops back to pass on a play-action shot. This is a fairly common play-action concept that the Commanders run here. Both tight ends chip the edge rushers before working to the flat as checkdowns. Noah Brown runs a deep dig route to the right of the formation and McLaurin runs a post route to the left. 

The Bengals sink back into a form of quarters coverage after the snap. As Daniels drops back to pass, he can see the safety to McLaurin’s side not desperately hurrying to gain depth while the outside corner opens his hips to the sideline anticipating an out-breaking route from McLaurin. McLaurin’s route is a good one, he uses his tight split to angle his route wider at the snap, convincing the corner he’s breaking outside. Once those hips open to the sideline, McLaurin works vertically and runs by him. McLaurin is likely meant to break this further inside towards the post, but with the safety in the area, he keeps his route up the seam and Daniels leads him that way with the throw. Daniels delivers a fantastic pass and McLaurin tracks it perfectly to run under it and complete the pass for a 55-yard gain. 

It was great to see Daniels finally connect with a deep shot to McLaurin because his time in college suggests his deep ball is one of his best traits, while McLaurin’s production has been lacking due to Daniels struggles finding him deep in the opening two games. That play seemed to fill Daniels with confidence for the rest of the game and the offense was brought to life. Those criticisms of Daniels in the opening few games, which were fair then, were no longer accurate in this game. Daniels stepped it up a level entirely. The questions about him scrambling too much were answered emphatically. Daniels did an excellent job, particularly in the second half, of scrambling with the intent to extend plays and find passes, rather than just to take off running.