Joe Gibbs reacts to Commanders' win over Lions, Jayden Daniels' performance

Legendary Washington head coach Joe Gibbs was in Detroit to watch the Commanders earn a win over the Lions in a divisional-round upset. It was a game that he walked away impressed with the team and over quarterback Jayden Daniels in particular.

“I’m so proud of everybody,” Joe Gibbs said. “For everybody to put this together, really this team and really a year. So, it’s phenomenal. It’s great. To get a win like that on the road, really hard, gives you great confidence. Anyway, just fantastic for everybody.”

Washington ended up winning the game 45-31. That was largely on the back of an excellent offensive performance from rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. He finished the game with 299 passing yards and two touchdowns on 22 completions on 31 attempts. He also rushed for an additional 51 yards.

With the win, Washington moved to 14-5, including in the playoffs. That is coming off a season where the team went 4-13 before Jayden Daniels and head coach Dan Quinn showed up. Prior to that, 2016 was the last season Washington had a winning record. Given all of that, it’s no surprise that Daniels has impressed Gibbs.

“I think he’s an awful good quarterback,” Gibbs said. “I’ll put it that way. He’s special.”

Beyond just talent, one of the most important things about Jayden Daniels has been his poise. That’s something he has shown beyond what most rookie quarterbacks have and it’s a major reason for the team’s success.

“Having poise, coming in a place like this, and playing a team like that, it’s really, really special,” Gibbs said.

That win for Washington puts the Commanders in the NFC Championship for the first time since the 1991-92 season. That season culminated in a Super Bowl win for Gibbs and Washington.

Joe Gibbs is a Hall of Fame coach who won three Super Bowls and was twice named the NFL Coach of the Year. He did that in two different stints as the head coach in Washington and over that time he managed to go 154-94. He is also 17-7 in the postseason. The majority of that success came in his first stint with the franchise, and not the four-year run where he led the team from 2004-2007, though that stretch did include two playoff appearances.

Along with his career in football, Joe Gibbs is also known as a major figure in NASCAR where he founded Joe Gibbs Racing following his first tenure with Washington coming to an end in 1992. Since then, Joe Gibbs Racing has gone on to win five different NASCAR Championships and he has been named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.