Hogs Haven
Jayden Daniels - 268 yards, 2 TD passes, 110.2 passer rating as Commanders dominate time of possession
A playoff game between Washington and Tampa Bay is nothing new. Washington’s most recent playoff appearance prior to last season had seen the Taylor Heinicke-led Washington Football Team host the wildcard Buccaneers at the end of the 2020 season in which Washington won the NFC East division title. Washington’s last playoff victory — at the end of the 2005 season — saw the 10-win NFC 2nd place and 6th-seeded Redskins beat the NFC South champion Bucs in Raymond James Stadium by a score of 17-0.
From the standpoint of team statistics, it is clear that this was a matchup of two of the league’s best offenses, with both teams having put up a lot of yards and a lot of points per game. The most notable difference was that the Bucs had the 3rd ranked passing offense at 250.4 yards per game, while Washington ranked 17th at 215.6 yards per game. Both teams averaged about 64.5 plays per game, so the Bucs had been a bit more efficient in accumulating yards, and had scored one more point per game on average.
The contrast was more apparent with respect to rushing and passing defense. The Commanders were in the bottom-3 teams in rush yards allowed, while the Buccaneers ranked 4th. Conversely, Tampa Bay was 4th-worst in the league with respect to pass yards allowed per game, while Washington ranked 3rd overall.
This appeared to be a good matchup of strong offenses opposing inconsistent defenses.
Defensively, Todd Bowles is known as an aggressive coach who will attack a quarterback with pressure. Pro Football Reference ranked the Buccaneers #2 in the NFL in blitz rate behind the Minnesota Vikings, and Tampa’s 44.7% Pressure Rate when sending five or more was 12th in the NFL.
However, some of TB’s simulated pressures — where they look like they’re blitzing only to drop someone — hadn’t really been been completely successful in 2024. When only sending four, the TB defensive pressure rate dropped to 32.6%. The inconsistency in their sim pressures in the regular season had led to a lot of problems in their passing game defense, problems that could be exploited by a QB who was a good processor or one with good mobility and elusiveness.
As we know, Jayden Daniels is both, and he led the NFL in ‘24 in number of scrambles (75) and rushing yards by a quarterback (891).
Probably the most noticeable change for the Commanders offense from early- to late-season had been in the red zone attack.
