Jayden Daniels is returning to the Washington Commanders lineup tonight after missing last week’s loss at Kansas City and being knocked out of the game the prior week during a lopsided setback to the Dallas Cowboys.
His sophomore season has, predictably, not matched his rookie season … which many rate as the best first season for a National Football League quarterback in history. Daniels was magic last year, and his prowess led the Commanders all the way to the NFC Championship Game where they were downed by the eventual Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles.
This year, both Daniels and his Washington team are having problems. Defense was not the reason they advanced deep into the playoffs last season, it was all about Daniels and his dynamic play on offense. This creates a chasm in Washington results if Daniels is not performing at a level good enough to outscore the points allowed by the Commanders defense.
In the three games he missed this season with injuries, backup QB Marcus Mariota guided Dan Quinn’s team to one win and two losses. In the games Daniels has started in 2025, his record is two wins and three losses.
In other words, the Commanders are nothing special this year.
Tonight, they host the Seattle Seahawks who are special. Head Coach Mike Macdonald has developed a solid defense in his second year on the job, and his new quarterback, Sam Darnold, is performing this season like he did last year in Minnesota. Darnold, who was a third overall draft selection of the New York Jets in 2018, struggled with his initial team and subsequent stops with the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers.
Then, last year, Darnold showed the skills that had him targeted for the franchise quarterback in New York. He led the Minnesota Vikings to 14 regular season wins, only one team in Minnesota franchise history had won more. The 1998 Vikings won 15 regular season games but lost a bid for a Super Bowl berth when upset by the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game.
Darnold joined the Vikings and was expected to backup rookie first round draft choice J.J. McCarthy. But, a preseason injury shelved McCarthy for the season and Darnold cashed the opportunity with clearly his best season ever. Still, now that he had earned a big pay day based on his 2024 play, the Vikings let him go to refocus on McCarthy. The Seahawks, who had lost their starting quarterback, Geno Smith, to the Las Vegas Raiders, brought Darnold in to run their squad.
The football world wanted to see if the 2024 campaign by Darnold was a one-and-done proposition. After all, he looked terrible in his last two starts for the Vikings, losing to the Detroit Lions on the final day of the regular season which dropped Minnesota from a potential top seed in the playoffs to the fifth seed. Even on a neutral field, caused by the fires in Southern California, the Rams drilled the Vikings in convincing fashion and the glory that was Darnold’s was erased in many minds based on his last two games.
Now in Seattle, it seems the season of success was much more an indicator of Darnold’s ability and direction than those last two misfires. After an opening day loss at home to the San Francisco 49ers, Darnold has engineered Seattle to wins in five of six games and led Seattle to a share of first place in the competitive NFC West Division.
So, with that said, take the Seahawks tonight and lay the field goal on the road?
No.
Washington will be the team with the eye of the tiger tonight. They need a win to kindle any hope of returning to the playoffs. After a week off and fully recovered from his hamstring injury, Daniels should shake off the dullness of his sophomore season with a big effort against the visiting Seahawks.
Qoxhi Picks: Washington Commanders (+3) over Seattle Seahawks