Jayden Daniels’ mother spoke it into existence.
Prior to Sunday’s New York Giants-Washington Commanders game, Daniels’ mother told Tom Brady that her son was going to put up a performance that would win him the first LFG Player of the Game for the 2025 season.
Well, Daniels put up a performance worthy of the award. He completed 19 of 30 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown to go with 68 rushing yards in the Commanders’ 21-6 win over the Giants.
Despite the decisive win, though, Daniels wasn’t fully satisfied with how Sunday’s game went. It took until the middle of the fourth quarter for the Commanders to really separate themselves from the division rivals, scoring just 14 points before a late touchdown from Deebo Samuel.
Tom Brady’s LFG Player of the Game: Commanders QB Jayden Daniels | Week 1 DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE
Tom Brady awards Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels with the LFG Player of the Game after his big performance against the New York Giants.
Still, Daniels is happy to get the first win of the season in the books.
“You know how it is. Week 1, we didn’t play our best,” Daniels said when asked by Brady about the Commanders’ slow start. “We played sloppy. You have to get all the Week 1 jitters out. But we executed enough to get a win.”
If Daniels wasn’t going to win LFG Player of the Game, a handful of his teammates each put up performances that would’ve been worthy of the award. Samuel might have had the best case of all of them. In his Commanders debut, the veteran wide receiver looked like the prime version of himself, logging seven receptions for 77 yards.
Samuel’s biggest play, though, came on the aforementioned touchdown. He took a handoff 19 yards for a touchdown, making a play that was reminiscent to the ones he made in his best seasons with the San Francisco 49ers.
With Terry McLaurin missing training camp and the preseason due to a contract dispute, Daniels was able to form a connection with Samuel over the summer. They were able to put that work to fruition on Sunday, and Daniels couldn’t be happier with how his new teammate played.
“It felt great,” Daniels said of playing with Samuel. “He’s just another weapon to our offense. Just give him the ball. Hand him the ball in space and he’s going to make some plays happen.”
Jayden Daniels led the Commanders to a 1-0 start with their win over the Giants. (Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
Running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt, who is nicknamed “Bill,” also put up a performance that might have been worthy of LFG Player of the Game. The seventh-round pick rushed 82 yards on just 10 carries, rushing for a key 6-yard touchdown late in the first half.
There was one play that Croskey-Merritt made that peeved Daniels. At the end of his big 42-yard run in the fourth quarter, Croskey-Merritt allowed himself to get pushed out of bounds to stop the clock.
Daniels chalked up the play to being a rookie mistake, though, saying he couldn’t be upset with Croskey-Merritt.
“Bill did his thing. I’m super happy for him,” Daniels said. “I can’t be mad at him, even though I want to in that situation to stay in bounds and burn the clock. That’s a thing he’s gotta learn. But I’m super happy for him for how hard he ran, great cuts and I’m just super pumped for him.”
Of course, when you only allow six points, you likely have some standout performances on defense, too. Washington’s defensive line was the impetus for its success on Sunday, logging two sacks of Russell Wilson as he only completed 17 of 37 passes for 168 yards in his New York debut.
After going up against the unit on a near-daily basis for the last couple of months, Daniels isn’t surprised by what he saw from the Commanders’ defensive front on Sunday.
“I’m finally glad that they got to rush against someone else other than me. I’m super happy that they got to do that after going up against them all camp. To show it like that in that fashion, I’m super pumped for them.”
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