Jayden Daniels Threw A Dime To Terry McLaurin To Cap Off A Near-Perfect Game Against The Bengals

One of the major storylines of the early NFL season has been the fairly lackluster quarterback play around the league, including from this year’s much-talked about rookie class. Caleb Williams has struggled in Chicago behind a pretty dreadful offensive line, Bo Nix had two awful games before a quality performance in a Week 3 win, and Jayden Daniels hadn’t been asked to do much passing the ball for Washington in their first two games.

That all changed for Daniels on Monday night in Cincinnati though, as the Commanders offense erupted for 38 points as he had a coming out party on national television with an absolutely dominant showing in a Washington shootout win. Daniels was nearly perfect, completing 21-of-23 passes on the night for 254 yards and a pair of touchdowns — while also rushing the ball 11 times for 40 yards and a TD on the ground.

The biggest thing fans wanted to see from Daniels and the Commanders offense has been opening up the passing game and letting the young QB throw it down the field, as that was where he was at his best at LSU, but through two games had been tasked with almost entirely underneath throws. Kliff Kingsbury finally turned him loose against Cincinnati as he connected twice on deep passes to Terry McLaurin, showing off his incredible arm and touch on the deep ball.

The second of those came with the Commanders up five with just over two minutes to go on a 3rd and 7, and the Bengals sending all-out pressure and playing press man on the outside. Daniels recognized his 1-on-1 opportunity with McLaurin before the snap and let a gorgeous ball go right before getting lit up by a blitzer, with McLaurin running underneath it for a terrific catch at the back pylon.

It was the perfect way for Daniels to cap off a night few will forget if he continues on to stardom, as after a pair of unspectacular (but also perfectly fine) starts to open his career, he put his full talent on display under the national spotlight. His 21-of-23 night set a new NFL rookie record for completion percentage in a game, and by moving the Commanders to 2-1, the conversation will inevitably shift to wondering if Washington is already in a spot to compete for a playoff berth in the NFC. Time will tell if this was a sign of a CJ Stroud-esque rookie season for Daniels or if we will look back on this and think it says a bit more about Cincinnati’s defense than anything. Still, for the first time in a long time there’s real reason to believe Washington has itself a star QB in the making.