LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Jayden Daniels had a good feeling after practicing late in the week that he would be able to start at quarterback for the Washington Commanders against the Chicago Bears despite dealing with a rib injury.
He and the team left everyone guessing until hours before kickoff. Sure enough, Daniels was on the field and delivered a gutty performance in an 18-15 victory Sunday that culminated with his Hail Mary touchdown after absorbing several big hits along the way.
“As soon as I stepped on that field, wasn’t even worried about it,” said Daniels, who was 21 of 38 for 326 yards and the TD throw to Noah Brown with no time left on the clock. “You can still feel it, but at the end of the day I started the game. I wanted to finish it, so there was nothing else that was going to take me out of that game.”
Daniels got knocked out of Washington’s 40-7 rout of Carolina last weekend with the injury, which caused him to miss practice Wednesday and Thursday. He was a limited participant Friday, and that turned out to be the key moment that paved the way for the No. 2 overall pick in the NFL draft to be in uniform.
“We pushed him on Friday in terms of the different throws,” coach Dan Quinn said. “Once all the markers were hit, then we felt comfortable with him playing. But it was due to all the work that was put in Friday.”
Daniels said he felt like himself after that workout, then woke up Sunday morning feeling good enough to play.
And yet there was still a chance veteran Marcus Mariota would start if Daniels felt anything was off during pregame warmups. The Commanders wanted to wait as long as possible before making a decision with their rookie face of the franchise.
“It was his first injury that we had to go through together this week to find out what would be possible and what wouldn’t be because he also has unique skills and gifts that he’d have to be able to get outside the pocket and run some when he can,” Quinn said. “I wanted to see him demonstrate that earlier in the week to allow him to play because if he wasn’t able to do that, then he wouldn’t have been able to play. We would not have put him into that spot.”
Daniels was sacked twice and knocked down several more times after letting go of the ball. He also ran eight times for 52 yards.
“He took a lot of hits today — probably more hits than I’ve seen him take all season,” running back Brian Robinson Jr. said. “Already dealing with something, he just showed how tough he is. Obviously you want to minimize those hits on him, but he just continues to prove how tough he is.”
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