After a third straight victory and a 42-point outburst against the Arizona Cardinals, it's fair to say that the Washington Commanders are one of the big winners of the first month of the season. The Commanders sit atop the NFC East with a 3-1 record and early returns suggest that they've found their franchise quarterback. The icing on the metaphorical cake is that the Commanders have also found the right offensive coordinator, key for any franchise bringing along a young QB.

Kliff Kingsbury is just two years removed from flaming out as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. In four seasons, all of which started with a great deal of promise, Kingsbury went 28-37-1 in Arizona with just one postseason appearance in that span. It was a brief tenure that validated the primary concern that many skeptics had about him… solid offensive coordinator, subpar head coach.

Now Kingsbury is back in a role that suits him best with the Commanders, and he's clearly in a great groove early on. After the win against his former team, Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn delivered a passionate, expletive-laden speech before awarding Kingsbury a well-deserved game ball.

Averaging 30.3 points per game, the Commanders are currently the 3rd-highest scoring team in the league after finishing 25th in that category last season. The last time Washington finished in the top ten in scoring in a season, the year was 2015, Jay Gruden was in his second season as the team's head coach and Kirk Cousins was in his first season as the starting quarterback. All due respect to Gruden and Cousins, but the outlook in D.C. is a heck of a lot brighter now than it was then.

Commanders' Jayden Daniels continues to shine early in rookie campaign

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Jayden Daniels has thrown for 897 yards (the most among the three rookies starting for their teams this season), 3 touchdowns and just 1 interception. He's completing a league-best 82 percent of his passes, which if it held, would obliterate the single-season NFL record. He's also the second-leading rusher (218 yards) among quarterbacks in the league this season, trailing only Lamar Jackson. Alvin Kamara, Derrick Henry and Kyren Williams are the only players with more rushing touchdowns than Daniels (4).

By just about any metric, Jayden Daniels has already exceeded expectations during his rookie campaign. The most telling of which is the fact that Commanders fans don't seem to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's straight optimism in a city that has grown to be pessimistic about the outlook of their football team.

For as promising as Jayden Daniels has looked, it can't be overstated how much Kliff Kingsbury has to do with his early success. Kingsbury has crafted an offense that is tailor-made for Daniels, accentuating his skillsets as both a passer and a runner, making life easy for the rookie during a period that is supposed to be filled with struggles and growing pains.

Maybe that time will come at some point this season, but right now, Jayden Daniels, Kliff Kingsbury and the Washington Commanders are riding high.