LANDOVER, Md. — It’s OK, Commanders fans.
You don’t know what to do with yourselves, do you? You’re like Ricky Bobby.
This can’t be real, right? Not for this franchise, which has worn holes in your soul for three decades, beaten the care out of you with one embarrassing off- and on-field episode after another, made you put your tickets on the secondary market and led to off-the-charts bile readings every Monday morning. It’s been grim around here. Grim.
You have every reason to let cynicism and jaded history be your guide. None of the team’s three units is fully formed or totally functional.
But, it’s also OK to believe. Really.
It doesn’t mean Washington will be playing for a Lombardi Trophy any time soon. But the boulder is, at last, moving toward that, rather than rolling away from it.
At 4-1 and in first place in the NFC East after spanking the Cleveland Browns 34-13 at Northwest Stadium, the Commanders have already equaled their win total for all of last season. They didn’t even play that well in the first half Sunday, in what Dan Quinn called a “grimy” first 30 minutes. Jayden Daniels threw a bad interception at the Cleveland 5 in the first quarter, after … well, I can show you better than I can describe it:
Daniels keeps the play alive with an incredible 66-yard pass🔥
🎥: @NFL pic.twitter.com/nTAPNQ9iCt
— NFL on Prime Video (@NFLonPrime) October 6, 2024
That was 66 yards, on the move, on third-and-13.
The stadium wasn’t sold out Sunday, but it was more filled with actual Commanders fans than I can remember seeing — and hearing — in a very long time. The home crowd chanting “defense” and meaning it? Goodness.
People in Commanders jerseys started leaving late in the third quarter … but it was because their team was up 34-6. And when is the last time the home team was up by that much in this stadium?
It was Nov. 15, 2015, against the Saints, a game Washington won 47-17. (Kirk Cousins was pretty efficient that day, going 20-of-25 for 324 yards and four touchdown passes.)
It’s not that there were no Browns fans around Sunday. There were many. But they didn’t overwhelm the stadium with their noise, as opposing fan bases have done for most of the last decade. They couldn’t, because every four or five minutes, Daniels did another thing that left their jaws slacked while Washington’s faithful could almost giggle at the absurdity of what they were watching.
There was Daniels going deep to Terry McLaurin. There he was beating the Browns’ man coverage late in the first half, dropping a 41-yard TD in the bucket to Dyami Brown. There he went, after his bombs made Cleveland’s defensive backs stay glued to their men rather than come up and assist their defensive line to keep Daniels contained, scampering out of the pocket, time and again, taking off downfield to the tune of 11 carries for 82 yards, including converting a fourth-and-3 at the Cleveland 40 by making safety Grant Delpit miss, then taking off for 34 yards down the sideline.
And watch the impact, as Browns defenders’ bodies sagged every time Daniels moved the chains again.
Jayden Daniels can break your brain if you’re not stout of mind on the opposite sideline.
“It can be demoralizing,” Quinn said. “’Cause all of a sudden, you’ve created some long-yardage scenarios. … To have a big shot, even when the person’s guarded well, and you put it in the only spot it could go. The play that comes to mind before today was the one to Terry at the end of the Cincinnati game, where there was really only one spot where he could throw that pass. He had a couple of those scenarios today.”
And this is happening every week. And it’s happening here.
Not just Kansas City. Or San Francisco. Or Philly or Buffalo or Detroit. Here, too. Finally.
The player who is rapidly becoming Must-See TV around the country, the person about whom the morning shoutfests are devoting increasing amounts of their time (“If you could clone Jayden Daniels, what team would you put him on?”), the first-round quarterback pick who is going first overall now in the 2024 NFL redrafts (yes, it’s still 2024; these are the clickbait times in which we live) plays for your team.
And afterward, the first thing he talked about were the plays he and the offense left on the field.
“I’m happy to get back and watch the film,” Daniels said. “It’s always better to go back and review stuff after a win, but we’ve got to improve.”
The Commanders did leave points out there Sunday. Daniels’ pick erased a scoring chance deep in the red zone, a play after he missed an open Zach Ertz in the end zone. Later, he missed Ertz again, after the tight end had cleared down the seam past the Cleveland secondary. McLaurin fumbled on the first play of the third quarter and dropped another potential TD on a near-perfect fade from Daniels late in the third. Washington was fortunate that wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus was hustling downfield early in the second quarter at the end of Austin Ekeler’s 50-yard run and was able to recover Ekeler’s fumble after Browns corner Martin Emerson Jr. punched the ball out.
There was complementary football all over the field Sunday. Austin Seibert still hasn’t missed a kick since he’s gotten here. Linebacker Nick Bellore, a two-time Pro Bowler on special teams in Seattle before Washington signed him to its practice squad a month ago, hit most everyone who tried to return a kick for the Browns.
The defense again got home Sunday, sacking Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson seven times, with Bobby Wagner forcing a Watson fumble after a big hit on him in the third quarter. Washington’s defensive tackles were outstanding, stuffing the Browns running game and forcing multiple third-and-longs. (Sunday was third-year man Phidarian Mathis’ best game here, by far.) The woeful Browns were 1 for 13 on third downs.
And even though Daniels struggled at times, the big plays he and the offense made not only picked up Washington’s defense but reinforced what it already believes: Daniels is earning everything he’s gotten so far.
“It fires us up,” linebacker Frankie Luvu said. “’Cause we know what Jayden puts in all week. (People) show up at 4 a.m., and he’s already in there lifting. Me and Bobby walk in at like 5, 6, and dude is already done with his film tape, done with his lift. He’s already a step ahead. To see that, and to (then) see what he does on Sundays, it’s not shocking. It is to the world. But the dude put in a week of work. It’s a long conversation, but what you put in is what you’re gonna get out. To do what he does, it just fires us up and helps us keep going.”
That’s why it’s OK to hope. That’s why it’s OK to dream about what could happen around here, and maybe sooner than we all think, if Josh Harris and his folks can find a place to build the stadium they want, and if Adam Peters, as I believe he will, keeps his draft powder dry and doesn’t reach for a short-term fix at the trade deadline and has a couple of more cracks at things in 2025 and 2026, and if Quinn and his staff continue to develop what they’re given. Nothing’s promised in this league, or this game. The Ravens await next Sunday in Baltimore, and if you ever want to stress-test these Commanders, to see where the fissures still lie, that’s the perfect place to do so.
But it’s OK to believe. And to dream. And to hope for greatness down the line. Because the quarterback, the one who hasn’t been around here in so very, very long, isn’t skipping steps. He isn’t cutting the line. He wants to be great, and he’s grinding to become just that.
Win or lose in a given week, it’s real. For real.
(Photo of Frankie Luvu and Washington teammates celebrating with fans after his fumble recovery: Timothy Nwachukwu / Getty Images)
