ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — This week has been a bit of a novelty for Jayden Daniels. For perhaps the first time in his NFL career, the Washington Commanders lost and a big part of it was his fault.
Daniels has had off days before, but this last defeat was different. Facing third-and-1 late in the fourth quarter Monday night, Washington was a couple first downs away from potentially running out the clock when Daniels fumbled on a handoff. That gave the Chicago Bears the ball near midfield, they drove for the winning field goal, and Daniels has had to face one of the less enjoyable aspects of playing quarterback — taking ownership in defeat.
“I mean, that's what a quarterback does,” he said. "But it was on me. So I take accountability.”
After a dazzling rookie season in which Daniels led Washington to its first NFC championship game in over 30 years, there were plenty of questions about whether he would regress a bit in year two. There hasn't been much evidence of that. In the four games he's been healthy enough to play, Daniels has a 98.7 passer rating — awfully similar to last season's 100.1 — and he also continues to impact the game with his legs.
The interception he threw early in Monday's game was his first of the season. The key fumble at the end? It was the first he'd lost in his NFL career. Still, you don't have to look too far to find someone suggesting Drake Maye has passed him as the top quarterback from that draft class. And with the Commanders sporting a 3-3 record, there will be some scrutiny on Daniels at Dallas this weekend, when Washington may need to score a lot to win.
“We feel we can put up points, but we just got to be better with the details and execution,” Daniels said. “So we don't have slow starts.”
The Commanders have been outscored 36-14 in the first quarter this season.
Daniels has maintained good production despite a lot of upheaval in the receiving corps, which continued Wednesday when the Commanders put Noah Brown (knee, groin) on injured reserve after he'd missed the past four games.
“Last week we worked Noah Brown back into practice, and unfortunately his groin didn't respond,” coach Dan Quinn said. “The aim is to get Noah fully right. He's such a tough competitor, and it's the right call right now to get him into that spot. Let's get him all the way back and ready.”
On a more optimistic note for Washington, receiver Terry McLaurin (quadriceps) could potentially return this weekend after missing the last three games. He was listed as limited at practice Wednesday.
“He'll practice this week,” Quinn said. “Today is going to be more at a jog-through pace where we're not fully speed, up and going. That'll be more as we get into tomorrow. I'll have a better assessment after we go through some full-speed routes and movements to see where he's at. But I'm excited where he's trending.”
With McLaurin and Brown out against Chicago, and Deebo Samuel limited to 15 yards on four catches, Daniels was still able to spread the ball around. He threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Chris Moore, a 33-yarder to Luke McCaffrey and a 6-yarder to Zach Ertz.
That still wasn't enough to halt the trend in which the Commanders have alternated wins and losses since the beginning of the season.
“We understand it's a roller coaster of a season so far,” Ertz said. “We've got to be more consistent as a team — offense, defense, special teams.”
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