Three keys to Commanders’ fast start: Jayden Daniels has Washington 3-1 for first time since 2011

If you have a quarterback, you have a chance. If you don’t, you don’t. And through four games, Jayden Daniels looks like he could be the long-awaited answer at quarterback for the Commanders. The numbers behind Washington’s 3-1 start are impressive regardless of context, but even more so given the context of just how much the team has struggled at the game’s most important position.

Regardless of context, Daniels’ 82.1% completion percentage is patently absurd — the best in any four-game stretch in NFL history (min. 50 attempts), just ahead of a peak Peyton Manning stretch in 2008. The Commanders have a 54.6% success rate, best in the NFL this season. It would be the second-best on record (since 2000), behind the 2011 Saints. Washington’s 0.27 expected points added per play is double that of the league’s second-best offense this season (the Bills) and, again, would be the best on record, this time just ahead of the 2004 Colts.

But then add in these numbers, seemingly innocuous until you realize how long it’s been since Washington’s done it. Back-to-back games with at least 38 points? First time for the franchise since 1991 … when it went on to win the Super Bowl. And a 3-1 start? Maybe not a huge deal until you realize it’s Washington’s first time since 2011.

“You talk about it, and you make sure — you want them to feel that emotion in the locker room after a win,” coach Dan Quinn said Monday after the team returned from a 42-14 win over Arizona. “We have a real process that we go through every single week to go get us ready to play, and that begins today and all the way through tomorrow and into Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We have a theme of every day. So, by staying consistent in that approach, I think that helps avoid the highs and lows. And I hope, and what I told the team earlier is just an absolute obsession with getting better and that’s what we need to chase. Not what happened in…

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Author : Zachary Pereles

Publish date : 2024-10-02 00:52:25

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