A collection of articles, podcasts & tweets from around the web to keep you in touch with the Commanders
Commanders links
Articles
Washington Post (paywall)
Jayden Daniels’s Hail Mary gives the Commanders a stunning win over the Bears
The Washington Commanders stunned the Chicago Bears, 18-15, on Sunday after Daniels lofted a 52-yard Hail Mary that sent the stadium into a pandemonium. The Commanders’ sideline rushed to midfield, the crowd roared, and Daniels, in obvious discomfort after taking several hits to his already injured rib, suddenly appeared painless as he screamed and flexed in celebration.
Daniels finished 21 for 38 (55.3 percent) for 326 yards, one touchdown and a 92.7 passer rating. He also had 52 rushing yards on eight attempts, each time leaving the crowd eerily quiet as it waited to see if he would slide or quickly get down to avoid a big hit.
Bears counterpart Caleb Williams, the D.C.-area native and No. 1 draft pick making his return, went 10 for 24 for 131 yards and a 59.5 rating behind an offensive line that often sent him on the run to avoid pressure.
The quarterback duel many expected was instead a mistake-filled game that came down to the final minutes, thanks to penalties (Commanders), bizarre play calls (Bears) and a Washington defense that set the tone early.
“Not too many people get to experience stuff like that,” Daniels said. “That was my first time, so obviously I was juiced up — the whole stadium, team, sideline, everybody.”
The Athletic (paywall)
With a method to their madness, Jayden Daniels and the Commanders hailed down Mary
[P]acked into the madness of the final two seconds was an awful lot of why this team is 6-2.
Consider, first, the time from the snap at Washington’s 48-yard line from center Tyler Biadasz to the time the ball left Daniels’ hands. From snap to throw was 13 seconds. That not only meant Daniels had to run around and buy time, but his offensive linemen, who are built for power and not for speed — and certainly not to hold blocks for 13 seconds — had to hit anything in a road uniform that moved without missing. This celebrated scramble and completion from Donovan McNabb in 2004 against the Dallas Cowboys lasted 14 seconds, for reference.
Chicago rushed three linemen, with linebacker T.J. Edwards acting as a spy on Daniels. At the snap, running back Austin Ekeler, who stayed in the backfield, helped backup tackle Trent Scott — who was in for the injured Cornelius Lucas, who was in for the injured Brandon Coleman — double-team defensive end DeMarcus Walker. Yes, that means the Commanders were down to their third-string left tackle on the last play of the game. Biadasz took Bears lineman Gervon Dexter Sr. on his own.
Daniels doubled back to his left, which he could do only because Cosmi had shoved Walker out of the pursuit. Biadasz had held Dexter to a standstill for, like, eight seconds. But Dexter finally shed Biadasz and started chasing Daniels to the left, and he was drawing a bead on him. Except, Commanders guard Nick Allegretti, gutting through a bad ankle, doubled back and planted Dexter into the ground. All of those things had to happen for Daniels to have a chance to step up and put his full body weight into the throw.
Daniels, now able to plant his feet, threw the ball from his own 35 yard-line. It landed at the Chicago 2, having traveled 63 yards in the air.
As ever, Daniels didn’t have a lot to say afterward.
“Just throw it as far as you can, and don’t throw it out of bounds,” he said.
the Commanders drill it a lot. The formation is, roughly, a diamond: one receiver in front, two behind him on the wings, and a fourth receiver in the back behind them. Sunday, Terry McLaurin was in front. Tight end Zach Ertz and receiver Luke McCaffrey were the wings. And Brown was in the back. Depending on how deep the ball is thrown, any of the four Commanders players could conceivably be in a position to catch it.
Of course, practicing the drill doesn’t mean it’s going to work. It almost never works. There’s pushing and shoving and holding.
“It’s a free-for-all down there,” McLaurin said. “The refs aren’t going to call holding, boxing out. It’s physical.”
It was the easiest of Brown’s six catches on the day.
“That happened to be my assignment on the Hail Mary,” Brown said. “We got one guy in front and two in the back, try and throw it up to the jumper. … And we made the play.”
ESPN
“Like a movie”, Daniels wows with Hail Mary TD
The rookie quarterback never even saw Brown make the catch.
“I just heard people screaming and our sideline rushing the field. That’s how I knew,” said Daniels, whose status was uncertain until hours before kickoff because of a rib injury. “That’s kind of like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not too many people get to experience stuff like that.”
Commanders.com
Instant analysis | Commanders get improbable win over Bears with last-second Hail Mary
Similarly to their Week 2 win over the New York Giants, the Commanders had to settle for field goals thanks to a myriad of drops and penalties that could have broken the game open much earlier in the evening. Had it not been for the defense forcing Caleb Williams and the Bears to punt seven times, things might have been even more dire.
But even after one of its sloppiest performances of the season from the offense, the unit found a way to get into the end zone when it mattered most, even if it took a full 60 minutes of game time to do so. A 13-yard completion to Terry McLaurin set the Commanders up at their own 48-yard line, and Daniels and Brown took care of the rest.
Most will only remember the ending, but the players are aware that they have plenty to fix before they take the field at MetLife Stadium against the New York Giants. They won, and they’re happy about it, but they also know it didn’t need to come down to an improbable play to save them.
Upcoming opponent
New York Post
Giants have gotten used to losing with hope nearly nonexistent
They are 2-5 after seven games and the longest-tenured Giants players know the feeling all too well.
A team winning only two of its first seven games has made the playoffs only 15 percent of the time over the past five seasons — and that is not even front and center in the minds of the Giants.
They are trying to figure out how to go about winning one game and making an argument for them doing so Monday night against the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium is close to an open-and-shut case to the contrary.
Lawrence, quarterback Daniel Jones and wide receiver Darius Slayton are all products of the 2019 draft and they have been Giants longer than any other players in the building.
This is par for the course for them.
- As rookies, that trio started off 2-5 and finished 4-12 with head coach Pat Shurmur.
- In 2020, that trio started 1-6 and finished 6-10 with head coach Joe Judge.
- In 2021, that trio started 2-5 and finished 4-13 with Judge.
- In 2023, that trio started 2-5 with head coach Brian Daboll and finished 6-11.
The only change in the cloudy weather for the Giants and this group came in 2022, when that trio started 6-1 in Daboll’s first season and ended up 9-7-1 before winning one playoff game.
Podcasts & videos
Washington Commanders Defeat Chicago Bears on Hail Mary from Jayden Daniels to Noah Brown
Hail Mary. Do I need to say more? @ESPNRichmond https://t.co/BsRzg3x10a
— John Keim (@john_keim) October 28, 2024
Wow. Wow. Also, wow. With @michaelpinRVA on the Commanders’ Hail Mary win.https://t.co/sumWlbQjPb
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig) October 28, 2024