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John Keim
LOS ANGELES — The Washington Commanders got the return they wanted. So, too, did Jayden Daniels.
Daniels, playing for the first time in two weeks — and for the first time near his hometown of San Bernardino — reminded everyone the danger he provides to the Washington offense. He threw for 231 yards and a touchdown while rushing for another 39 yards in the Commanders’ 27-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
“It means a lot,” he said. “First game back to be in my hometown. You can’t write a better story.
“I dreamt of moments like this.”
It was a tale Washington needed. The Commanders (3-2) were coming off a loss to Atlanta and had numerous injuries impacting the starting lineup. Receivers Terry McLaur and Noah Brown missed the game with injuries. The team needed Daniels to provide a spark.
Daniels missed the past two weeks with a sprained left knee and had to play Sunday with a brace.
But it didn’t alter his game a lot: He still carried the ball eight times and took some shots from the Chargers’ defense but never stayed down on the ground.
“You all tell me. How did the knee look?” Daniels said when asked about his recovery.
The answer: pretty, pretty good.
“He’s got that vibe to him,” safety Jeremy Reaves said, “that under-the-pillow cool. Heck of a player, composed. He can beat you in so many different ways.
“He’s a different cat, the one you don’t see come around too often.”
Daniels, the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2024, completed a 50-yard pass to receiver Luke McCaffrey with 34 seconds left in the first half that set up a 29-yard Matt Gay field goal for a 10-10 halftime score. Daniels was patient as McCaffrey ran a post on the right side — and with a defender getting a hand in the quarterback’s face as he threw.
Daniels completed the scoring — and capped a 99-yard drive — when he backpedaled from pressure, rolled slightly to his right and lofted a perfect pass to Deebo Samuel in the corner of the end zone for an 8-yard score.
“He just has an X factor about him,” Washington coach Dan Quinn said of Daniels, “on third and fourth downs that he can create and make plays. The last play, he threw a fantastic pass to Deebo, so he has those spaces in him.”
But what Quinn especially liked were the times when Daniels threw the ball away to avoid unnecessary hits. Daniels also slid at the end of runs — something he did not do when he got hit in the knee vs. Green Bay in Week 2, sidelining him.
Nor was he flustered by the Chargers’ pass rush. According to ESPN Research, Daniels was pressured on 39% of his dropbacks but completed 4 of 7 passes in those situations for 88 yards and a touchdown.
“He showed a lot of poise,” Quinn said. “He made good decisions. Sometimes he threw the ball away and he got down. That’s something we talked about and worked on. Plays that don’t show up on the stat sheet but to me and to him knowing that it’s a big deal for us to play at our best.”
Daniels completed four passes for 20 or more yards after having three in the first two games combined.
Marcus Mariota subbed for Daniels the past two games, leading the offense to a combined 61 points. Washington offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury — and numerous teammates — praised Mariota. But Kingsbury also called Daniels “generational” last week.
He’s also a competitor who wanted to play each of the past two weeks. During the week, when asked when he felt like himself, Daniels said, “Two weeks ago.” But, he admitted, the team didn’t see it until last weekend.
That’s why Washington kept telling him, “No.” He was not medically cleared to return until early during the week. Daniels said nearly two weeks ago that he didn’t like the brace but that he would play with it if it’s what the doctors wanted.
Daniels and Washington’s offense started slow. He completed 1 of 3 passes in the first quarter for 7 yards and ran twice for two yards.
And then it changed. Daniels completed a 16-yard pass to receiver Jaylin Lane on third and 16 to kick-start the first touchdown drive with Washington trailing 10-0. In the last three quarters Daniels threw for 224 yards and ran for 37.
As defensive end From Miller said, Daniels had to “get out and knock the cobwebs off and just play like the guy we know he can play. He was aggressive, too.”
Then Daniels and the Commanders put on a show for his friends and family who attended the game, requiring at least two suites after making the 70-mile drive from San Bernardino. A number of other friends sat in the stands.
But no one was happier to see him return than the Commanders.
“It was great to get him back out,” Quinn said. “It was going to be hard to keep him out tonight, coming back to where his career began.”
