Jayden Daniels shines in NFL Playoff debut with Malik Nabers, Brian Thomas Jr. on hand
Jayden Daniels had the football world abuzz once again Sunday evening — and his former LSU receivers had front-row seats for the former Heisman winner’s latest milestone.
Fellow first-round draftees Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr. of the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars, respectively, made the trip to Tampa for the first playoff game of any of their young careers.
And Daniels did not disappoint as he helped lead Washington to its first postseason victory in 19 years with his efficiency and clutch play among the Commanders’ biggest highlights.
The quarterback completed 24 of his 35 passes (68.6%) for 268 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the 23-20 defeat of Tampa Bay and rushed 13 times for another 36 yards.
Daniels completed a fourth-down pass for a go-ahead touchdown with 9:46 remaining.
And when the Buccaneers pulled back even with 4:41 left, he led a game-winning drive that included a pair of critical third-down conversions by Daniels — one pass, and one run — to continue eating clock and setting up the walk-off field goal.
Daniels became just the 12th rookie quarterback ever to win a playoff game and just the fourth to win his first playoff game on the road along with Joe Flacco (2008), Mark Sanchez (2009) and Russell Wilson (2012).
He also becomes the fourth rookie quarterback to win at least 13 games, joining Ben Roethlisberger (2004), Flacco (2008) and Dak Prescott (2016).
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The Commanders finished 4-13 last season before hiring coach Dan Quinn and offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and drafted Daniels among their major offseason moves.
Washington had not won a playoff game since Jan. 7, 2006, when 35-year-old Mark Brunell helped lead the franchise to a road win, coincidentally, in Tampa.
Daniels has been considered for much of the season the relative-lock to win NFL Rookie of the Year.
He finished the regular season 331-for-480 (69%) for 3,568 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions as a passer, plus an NFL rookie-record 891 rushing yards and six touchdowns.
Though their teams missed the postseason, both Nabers and Thomas had historic rookie campaigns in their own right.
Nabers caught 109 passes for 1,204 yards and seven touchdowns, setting an overall Giants record and NFL rookie record for most receptions in a season.
Thomas caught 87 passes for 1,282 yards and 10 touchdowns, which marked the most receiving yardage by a Jaguars rookie.
