Jayden Daniels #5 of the Washington Commanders (Photo by Luke Hales/Getty Images)
Former Super Bowl champion tight end Vernon Davis believes the Washington Commanders have their work cut out for them.
The Commanders are still in prime position to clinch a playoff berth with a 7-4 record and currently holding the last playoff spot in the NFC playoffs. However, they're now a game-and-a-half behind the Philadelphia Eagles after losing to them 26-18 in Week 11. Although the game was a two-point game early in the fourth quarter in favor of the Eagles, Philadelphia pulled away and led by as many as 16 points before the Commanders scored a touchdown with 28 seconds remaining.
Davis, who spent the final four years of his career in Washington, says it's "hard" to say the Commanders will win the NFC East due to the 8-2 Eagles re-emerging as an elite team.
"It'll be hard to say that the Commanders can win the division because of the Eagles, right?
Especially with the Eagles playing the way they're playing," says Davis in a one-on-one interview with RG on behalf of his partnership with Smirnoff for their "NFL We Do Game Days" campaign. "It's crazy. Saquon Barkley, he was a great addition to that team. No one probably knew what he was going to be able to bring this year, but he's one of the best running backs in the league right now, which is unbelievable."
Saquon Barkley is in the midst of his first season in Philadelphia after spending the first six seasons of his career with the divisional rival New York Giants. Barkley was known as one of the best running backs in the league during his tenure in New York, clinching two Pro Bowl bids and winning an Offensive Rookie of the Year award in 2018.
However, he's reached another level with the Eagles now that he's paired up with dual-threat quarterback Jalen Hurts. Barkley leads the NFL with with 113.7 yards per game and 1,347 yards from scrimmage.
The addition of an elite back combined with the re-emergence of the defensive unit — the defense ranks sixth in points and first in yards after ranking 30th in points and 26th in yards last season — has made the Eagles look like the team that advanced to the Super Bowl two years prior.
“Jayden Daniels is Special”
Jayden Daniels, who has been the NFL's biggest story among all the rookie players this season, is starting to slow down a bit. His past two games have been his worst in his early tenure as an NFL quarterback, posting just one touchdown against one interception while posting under an 82.0 passer rating in each of those outings. That's not even mentioning how he's failed to establish himself in the ground game, posting just 23 yards on 10 carries. During his first nine games, Daniels posted 459 rushing yards on 82 carries (5.6 yards per carry) and four touchdowns.
Not surprisingly, the Commanders have lost both of those games. Although Daniels has slowed down a bit and the Denver Broncos' Bo Nix has gained steam in the Offensive Rookie of the Year race — he has 16 total touchdowns against just two interceptions since Week 4 — Davis still believes that Daniels is the favorite to win the award.
"I think Jayden Daniels could still be Rookie of the Year because his play is the reason the team is playing the way they're playing," says Davis. "He does a lot of great things and his ability to run and pass is few and far between. This guy's a football player. His instincts, he's very accurate when he's throwing the ball. There's a couple plays this year where he's been able to get the ball to Terry McLaurin — that was exciting to see."
Despite slowing down over the past two games, Daniels still leads all rookie quarterbacks with a 99.6 passer rating, compared to Nix's 89.3 passer rating.
During Davis' four seasons with the Commanders (2015 through 2019), they never advanced to the playoffs and they posted a cumulative record of 25-38-1. Washington hasn't won a playoff game since 2005, the third-longest drought in the NFL. However, now that they have a franchise quarterback in the fold, that drought could soon end.
"The upgrade that they've been able to have with the upper management, bringing in Magic Johnson, that was huge," says Davis of the Commanders' new ownership group, which bought the team last year. "When there's problems when you can't win, you have to definitely start at the upper level. They did and they were able to address that. A new group was able to come in and acquire the franchise and change the dynamics of the team."
The Commanders obviously have to finish the job with six games remaining in the season. However, they have one more game against the Eagles in Week 16 at home, which could very well decide the division. If the season were to end today, Washington would be slated to meet Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs.
DJ Siddiqi
