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Commanders rookie QB dominates Bengals
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Commanders rookie QB dominates Bengals

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The Week 3 “Monday Night Football” game between the Washington Commanders and the Cincinnati Bengals was billed as a battle between two of LSU’s top quarterbacks and the school’s two most recent Heisman Trophy winners.

It certainly lived up to expectations.

Both Joe Burrow and Jayden Daniels shone in the high-scoring affair. Burrow became just the second quarterback of the 2024 NFL season to throw for at least 300 yards and three touchdowns in a single game, following Andy Dalton.

However, it was Daniels who stole the show by leading the Commanders to a surprising 38-33 victory.

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Daniels put together a remarkable game that showed why Washington made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. He not only showed off his elite mobility, but also his impressive downfield passing ability.

But most of all, Daniels was accurate and efficient in just his third career NFL start, setting a rookie record and helping the Commanders improve to a surprising 2-1 mark to start the season.

Jayden Daniels stats against Bengals

Below are Daniels’ stats following the Commanders’ 38-33 win over the Bengals:

  • Completions/Attempts (%): 21/23 (91.3%)
  • Passing yards: 254
  • Passing TDs: 2
  • Passer assessment: 141.7
  • Running yards: 39
  • Rushing TD’s: 1

Daniels’ completion percentage set a new rookie record for completion percentage in a game in which the player attempted at least 20 passes. Dak Prescott held the previous record of 88.9 percent, set in 2016 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Daniels was as accurate as the numbers indicate. He had a glaring miss early in the game, when he had Terry McLaurin open for a potential long touchdown, but threw the ball far behind and over him while dealing with inside pressure.

Then Daniels showed off his incredible placement on his throws, perhaps saving his best for last as he dotted a ball perfectly to McLaurin in the endzone on third-and-7 to effectively seal the game.

As dominant as Daniels was in the air, he was equally important to Washington’s ground game. He led the Commanders with 39 rushing yards and found the end zone on a read-option play early in the game.

Daniels’ dual-threat ability and efficiency were historic. According to NFL researcher Tony Holzman-Escareno, the Commanders rookie is the only player in NFL history to pass for 250 yards and two touchdowns, run for a touchdown and complete 90 percent of his passes since at least 1950.

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Monday certainly felt like a coming-out party for Daniels, who even admitted during a postgame press conference that he wasn’t sure he’d ever had a game where he failed to complete just two passes.

He left the game confident that he had shown exactly what he hoped to show on one of the NFL’s biggest stages.

“I’m a competitor,” Daniels told reporters. “I want to compete at the highest level. It’s a blessing to go out there every Sunday and do things that a lot of people in the world can’t do.”