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Jayden Daniels set a new standard for rookie quarterbacks during the regular season, and now the former LSU star is stealing the headlines in the playoffs, too.
Daniels helped lead the Washington Commanders to their first playoff victory in almost 2 decades on Sunday night. The Commanders outlasted the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 23-20, in a back-and-forth primetime thriller that had everyone talking on Monday morning. Mostly though, they were talking about Daniels, who threw for 268 yards and 2 touchdowns without an interception in his first career playoff game and also ran for 36 yards on 13 carries.
“The rookie rules don’t apply, they don’t apply to this guy. I’ve never seen something like this,” said ESPN NFL analyst Tedy Bruschi during Get Up on Monday morning. “This is the best rookie quarterback I’ve seen. (Ben) Roethlisberger was pretty good, too, when he started. But this guy just has more.”
In a rookie season of breakthroughs for Daniels, he achieved yet another one on Sunday night in being a rookie quarterback who won his playoff debut and did it on the road.
Now, the challenge will be greater on Saturday night, as Daniels and the Commanders stay on the road to face the top-seeded Detroit Lions in the divisional playoff round.
Daniels threw for 3,568 yards with 25 touchdown passes and only 9 interceptions during the regular season.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.