After the brutal Week 1 loss to Tampa Bay, the Washington Commanders sought answers. And this week their star rookie had an injury scare. But the win over the New York Giants drew reactions from the NBA’s Magic Johnson and Kevin Durant.

Johnson said the game turned into a thriller, according to his post on X.

“What an exciting game!! Cookie and I are so happy our @Commanders won the first home game.”

Commanders rookie QB Jayden Daniels gets first win

Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) hand the ball off to running back Brian Robinson Jr. (8) in the second half against the New York Giants atCommanders Field.
Luke Johnson-Imagn Images

In some ways, the Commanders struggles in the red zone nearly cost them a victory. But Daniels guided the team to that territory enough times to make life fun for new kicker Austin Seibert. That brought more good comments from Johnson.

“Our kicker Austin Seibert was 7-7 in today’s 21-18 win over the Giants. Thank you to our amazing Commanders fans who helped will us to victory!”

Durant said he liked what he saw, too.

“Commanders closed it out today,” Durant posted on X.

Daniel said he enjoyed the drive that set up Seibert’s game-winning field goal, according to NBC’s JP Finley’s post on X.

“That’s what you live for, those moments,” Daniels said. “That’s where names get made. In this league, what it comes down to is big plays, two-minute drives, things like that. You gotta have ‘em.”

Siebert’s performance eased the sting of the kicking woes for the Commanders, who Cade York after Week 1. Seibert said it can be tough to be an NFL kicker, according to Sports Illustrated.

“Yeah, that's kind of the nature of the beast right now in the kicking world,” Seibert said. “It's just so competitive. You have to take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves. And the good thing is, like sure I was on the street for a week and then I got the call, but that's why you stay ready at all times.

“You never know when it's going to come and you're going to get that call. And I learned that last year as well, I bounced around a little bit, and I had like six or seven workouts with teams. It's spur of the moment like “Hey, you're flying out three hours. Good luck!”, you know. So, that's kind of how it works, and you just got to go with the flow and stay confident in yourself and trust what you do before that final kick.”

What did Dan Quinn have to say about win?

Commanders head coach Dan Quinn said it was remarkable to win on kicks with the Giants losing their kicker to injury. That eventually changed the way the final quarter turned out.

“It's a tough spot to be into, so when it goes into there, what thirds become fourth downs? Same thing with the scoring to go to it,” Quinn said. “I thought we could have, knowing that going in, that's a big deal. And they did a good job of fighting through it from their end. Because I think it might've been on the opening play if I'm not mistaken. And so that's a tough go. You have to have those contingency plans. Who's the backup snapper? Who's the backup punter, backup kicker going through that? And you work through those to make sure you always kind of have somebody in your back pocket. So it's not what you want. But it is something that you have to plan for.”