Current:Home > NewsJayden Daniels showcases dual-threat ability to keep Commanders running strong -Quantum Capital Pro
Jayden Daniels showcases dual-threat ability to keep Commanders running strong
View
Date:2025-04-14 03:33:22
LANDOVER, Md. — Cleveland Browns linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah will see his outstretched hand reaching for Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels in his dreams this week.
Instead of taking down the rookie signal-caller, Owusu-Kormaoah let Daniels escape – again.
Daniels juked Owusu-Koramoah, who had a free run at him and started sprinting effortlessly up the right sideline. He took advantage of two more Browns defenders who took bad angles and breezed past them. Daniels was eventually pushed out of bounds after a gain of 34 yards to convert a fourth-and-3 Washington faced in the first half on their way to a 34-13 drubbing of the Browns on Sunday.
“I got to find a way to get that sack on the ground there in the first half, that kind of sticks with me a little bit,” Owusu-Koramoah said.
Daniels, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and second overall pick in the 2024 draft, passed his way to NFC Rookie of the Month honors. His legs were the engine that drove the Commanders' offensive operation Sunday. He rushed for more yards (88) in his Week 1 debut against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but his 82 yards on 11 attempts yielded 7.5 yards per carry, the best for Daniels in his fifth career game.
All things Commanders: Latest Washington Commanders news, schedule, roster, stats, injury updates and more.
On a different play, Owusu-Koramoah and safety Grant Delpit had a free shot at Daniels, but the quarterback simply backpedaled and let the two Browns defenders run into each other. Daniels spilled out to his right and ran up to the line of scrimmage and fired a bomb downfield to wide receiver Terry McLaurin for a 66-yard gain.
"I was just playing football. I’m kind of just reacting to everything that they’re doing," Daniels said. "I was able to get outside the pocket a couple times, scramble a couple times. So I think after hitting that scramble drill to Terry, I think that kind of put them on high alert like, 'Hey, we have to stay closer to our man.' So I was able to get the corner on a couple runs."
That can be "demoralizing" for opposing defenses, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said. Quinn called the Commanders' offense "grimy" to start the contest. Daniels admitted to wanting some throws back.
After Daniels' big play to McLaurin, Owusu-Koramoah baited the signal-caller into a goal-line interception – the rookie's second pick thrown in as many weeks. Daniels finished 14-for-25 for 238 passing yards and a touchdown on the heels of a historic start to his career by completing 82.1% of his passes, the highest mark in a four-game stretch for any quarterback ever.
"He processes quickly," Quinn said. "'All right, this is how they're going to go, then this is how we're going to play.'"
That's exactly how Daniels wound up with his touchdown pass. He scrambled out of bounds for 3 yards on the previous play and realized Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz had his unit in man coverage.
"I was turning back around and I said, 'Man, let’s take a shot' to (offensive coordinator) Kliff (Kingsbury)," Daniels said, "and he called the play."
That involved wideout Dyami Brown beating his man down the sideline. Daniels floated in a perfect ball for the 41-yard score, and it was a reminder of why his arrival has been prophetic for the Commanders, 4-1 for the first time since 2008.
Daniels is the first player in NFL history to have more than 1,000 passing yards and 250 rushing yards in his first five career games. The LSU product's right arm will always be the headline. Even when that part of his game wasn't at its best, Daniels found a way to be the difference for his team.
veryGood! (4647)
Related
- North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
- Gator with missing upper jaw finds new home in Florida reptile park
- 'It's too dangerous!' Massive mako shark stranded on Florida beach saved by swimmers
- Real Housewives of Orange County's Shannon Beador Arrested for DUI, Hit and Run
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- Trial of 3 Washington officers over 2020 death of Black man who said 'I can't breathe' starts
- How to watch Simone Biles, Shilese Jones and others vie for spots on world gymnastics team
- Oregon judge to decide in new trial whether voter-approved gun control law is constitutional
- House passes bill to add 66 new federal judgeships, but prospects murky after Biden veto threat
- In corrupt Libya, longtime warnings of the collapse of the Derna dams went unheeded
Ranking
- Questlove charts 50 years of SNL musical hits (and misses)
- Mississippi officers justified in deadly shooting after police went to wrong house, jury rules
- How Kelly Rizzo's Full House of Support Helped Her After Husband Bob Saget's Death
- Tacoma police investigate death of Washington teen doused in accelerant and set on fire
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- All 9 juveniles recaptured after escape from Pennsylvania detention center, police say
- Bodies of 5 Greek military personnel killed in Libya flooding rescue effort are flown home
- Pennsylvania police search for 9 juveniles who escaped from detention facility during a riot
Recommendation
Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
Maine man who disappeared after driving wife to work found trapped in truck in New Hampshire woods
What Detroit automakers have to give the UAW to get a deal, according to experts
California fast food workers will earn at least $20 per hour. How's that minimum wage compare?
'Most Whopper
Nigel becomes a hurricane but poses no immediate threat to land as it swirls through Atlantic
Love, identity and ambition take center stage in 'Roaming'
CBS News Biden-Trump poll finds concerns about Biden finishing a second term, and voters' finances also weigh on Biden