Commanders rookie QB Jayden Daniels has been fantastic to start the season. What should Vic Fangio and the Eagles do to prepare to slow down the QB? Barrett Brooks has your answers.
The Eagles have never seen a rookie quarterback like Jayden Daniels. Because there’s never been a rookie quarterback like Jayden Daniels.
In his first 10 career starts, the Commanders’ rookie is completing 69 percent of his passes, averaging nearly 240 yards per game, with nearly 500 rushing yards, nine passing touchdowns and four rushing touchdowns to just two interceptions – none in his last five games – and has compiled a 101.7 passer rating.
Daniels’ interception ratio – 0.8 every 100 attempts – is on pace to break the NFL rookie record set by Dak Prescott in 2016 – 0.9 every 100 passes. He’s currently thrown 151 consecutive passes without an interception, 60 shy of the record set by Kyler Murray in 2019.
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He has the Commanders at 7-3 and two wins from clinching their first winning season since 2016.
The Eagles will get their first look at Daniels Thursday night at the Linc in a national TV showdown of the two winning teams in the NFC East.
“He's done a great job for them,” Vic Fangio said Tuesday. “I mean, kudos to him for what he's been able to achieve. Kudos to the coaches there that are coaching him. Because that's not an easy offense to run. They do a lot of different things. And, you know, he's only thrown two interceptions, which is unreal, really.
“He's a really good player, highly talented. I think they're running an offense that he's very comfortable in. And he's got a lot of good players around him. And I think it's an accumulation of all that.”
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The Eagles are 3-0 vs. rookie quarterbacks under Nick Sirianni – Zach Wilson in 2021, Kenny Pickett in 2022, Tommy DeVito in 2023 – and they’re 8-0-1 the last nine times they’ve faced a rookie, the tie coming against Joe Burrow in 2020.
The last rookie to beat the Eagles was Prescott in 2016 and the last to do it at the Linc was Jameis Winston in 2015.
But Daniels is different. He hasn’t had a bad game yet. His worst was the loss to the Steelers on Sunday, and the Commanders still put up 27 points.
“That dude is the leader of this team,” Zach Ertz said on Washington radio station 980 The Team.
“People will call him a rookie, but I think the rookie label has got to be off. The guy is just one of the best players on our team. The leader of this team. The dude plays with his heart and soul each and every week for us. And so the rookie label’s off to me.”
Only four rookies have ever had a passer rating over 100 – Prescott at 104.9 in 2016, RG3 at 102.4 in 2012, C.J. Stroud‘s 100.8 last year and Russell Wilson right at 100.0 in 2012. Daniels is at 101.7 with eight games to go.
“He's come out on fire,” Nick Sirianni said. “He’s got his team playing really well. Hats off to their coaches. You know, I just have a lot of respect for that coaching staff and the players on that team.
“He’s a really good player who started off on fire, so we'll have a challenge here this week,” Nick Sirianni said. “Can’t say enough good things about him. You know, how he's going to the right place with the football, being accurate, the things he can do when things do break down. I have got a lot of respect for him and we'll have our hands full.”
The Commanders have been unstable at quarterback for years. The last 13 times Washington has faced the Eagles, they’ve used 10 different starting quarterbacks. The last Washington quarterback to beat the Eagles twice in a season was another rookie, Robert Griffin III, back in 2012.
Looks like that instability ended when Washington drafted Daniels out of LSU with the second pick in this year’s draft, one pick after the Bears took USC’s Caleb Williams.
“He’s a dynamic playmaker,” Nakobe Dean said. “He can throw the ball anywhere on the field but also make plays with his legs and his feet, scrambling. Looking to throw but also being able to break open and get more yards. And he’s protecting himself. You don't see a lot of young guys doing that in the league. He's sliding and getting out of bounds and protecting himself.”
Washington’s 7-3 record is their best after 10 games since 1996. That was also the last year the Eagles and Washington met this late in the season with both teams playing at least .700 ball. Both were 7-3 when Washington came into the Vet and won 26-21 despite a 100-yard game from Chris T. Jones.
Now, 28 years later, they’ll meet on national TV with first place in the NFC East at stake.
The Eagles are fourth in the NFL in pass defense and have allowed only one passing touchdown during their five-game winning streak.
But slowing down Daniels is a little different than slowing down Daniel Jones or Cooper Rush.
“Oh yeah, we just have to play our ball,” Dean said. “It’s not so much about what he does but more so how we do it and how we execute and play our fundamentals and everything that we've been coached through this week and just playing to the best of our ability.”
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