Hogs Haven
Divine providence in Landover
If there had been any doubt remaining about who is the star of the 2024 draft class, it was settled on Sunday night. With 2 seconds remaining, and the Commanders trailing 12-15, Jayden Daniels scrambled for over 12 seconds and then unleashed a 52 yard pass, which was tipped to Noah Brown in the end zone for the win.
With the miraculous completion, Daniels became the first Washington QB to throw for a game winning touchdown on the final play of regulation since at least 1994, when searchable records start on Pro Football Reference.
The last Washington QB to throw a game winner in the final 30 seconds of regulation was Kirk Cousins, who completed a 6 yard TD pass to Jordan Reed to even the score with the Buccaneers on 25 October 2015. Although he didn’t really. It was actually kicker Dustin Hopkins who put the Redskins ahead on the extra point with 28 sec remaining.
With the win, the Commanders’ record improved to 6-2, keeping them in sole possession of the NFC East division lead. This is only the second time this century that Washington has started a season with 6 wins in its first 8 games. The last time was in 2008. The time prior to that was the final year of the 20th century.
Daniels and Brown were not the only Commanders delivering miracles to lead the team to victory. Let’s take a look at who got playing time and which Commanders contributed to the improbable win against the Bears on Sunday night.
Playing with a rib injury, Daniels led the Commanders to victory, completing 21 of 38 (53%) pass attempts for 326 yds, including the 52 yard Hail Mary to Noah Brown for the game winning TD with time expiring.
Two of Daniels’ passes were dropped. Had the receivers held onto those passes, his completion rate would have just crested 60%. Pro Football Reference credits Daniels with 9 bad throws (26.5%), making this his most inaccurate performance to date (previous high 20% vs CLE).
Daniels also ran 8 times for 52 yds (6.5 YPA) and 2 first downs. Six of the 8 rushing attempts were scrambles. Daniels led the team in rushing success rate at 75%.
Daniels faced a season high 21 pressures, yet only took 2 sacks, thanks in large part to all that scrambling. Not surprisingly, his Pressure to Sack Rate was the lowest of his young career, at just 9.5%, and was the 9th lowest among starting QBs in Week 8. His average time to throw of 3.48 sec was the longest in Week 8, in part due to holding the ball for over 12 sec prior to the Hail Mary.
Daniels currently ranks 5th among starting QBs in Total QBR (72.7), 3rd in total EPA (47.0), 2nd in EPA/play (0.300), 6th in success rate (51.1%), and 2nd in Completion Rate over Expectation (6.7%).
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