Hogs Haven
All studs edition
A week after Jayden Daniels carried the Commanders to a last second victory over the Tampa Buccaneers, the team pulled together to produce a stunning upset of the #1 seed Lions, on the road in Detroit. Rather than a nail biter, this week’s game was a decisive 45-31 victory, fueled by a resurgent running game and 5 takeaways by the defense, in addition to the stellar play of the PWFA Rookie of the Year at quarterback.
The real key to the Commanders’ signature win was something that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet: belief. This is a team of young men who believe in each other, and their ability to get the win, no matter the game situation or the opponent. That is a credit to Head Coach Dan Quinn’s leadership to establish a winning culture.
For the past five weeks, that has been manifest in clutch performances leading to victory on the final play of each game. Against the Lions, a whole team effort produced a signature win, with key performances from every position group.
The most exciting thing for long suffering Washington fans, and younger fans who have never seen their team get this far, is that the Commanders seem to be peaking at just the right time. Can the momentum carry them past the Philadelphia Eagles and into the Super Bowl? It’s a good question now, but would have seemed insane just a few weeks ago.
But before we get ahead of ourselves, lets have a look at who got playing time and which players stepped up to deliver the Commanders’ first Divisional Round playoff win since the 1991 Super Bowl season.
Daniels played his best game as a pro against the #1 seed Lions, in ways that go beyond statistics. The numbers were exceptional, too.
Daniels completed 31/22 passes (71%) for 299 yds and 2 TDs with no turnovers or sacks. He completed five passes for 20 or more yards, with two completions over 35 yds to Dyami Brown and a 58 yd TD pass to Terry McLaurin. (The long pass to Terry was actually thrown 2 yds behind the LOS, with Terry picking up 60 YAC.) Daniels tied with Jared Goff and Matt Stafford for the most explosive passing lays in the Divisional round. In other words, he threw more than any QB who remains in the playoffs.
According to Pro Football Focus, Daniels was pressured on 36% of dropbacks. Like a cold blooded assasin, he completed 77.8% of passes under pressure, compared to 68.2% from clean pockets. He was blitzed on 17 dropbacks and completed 80% of passes, compared to a 62.5% completion rate when not blitzed. PFF and Pro Football Reference agree that Daniels made no bad/turnover-worthy throws, and none of his passes were dropped.
In addition to the stellar passing performance, Daniels also rushed 16 times for 51 yds (3.2 Y/A) and 4 first downs. It was his second weakest rushing performance of the season...
