The Washington Commanders need to put the brutal loss to the Bears behind them. And they need to get Terry McLaurin back on the field. But here is the biggest matchup the Commanders must exploit in their Week 7 game against the Cowboys.
Yes, it’s obvious. But we will dig into why the Commanders must have elite success from Jayden Daniels if they want to walk out of AT&T Stadium with a victory.
The Commanders’ quarterback is coming off a fine performance against the Bears, totaling 273 yards and throwing three touchdown passes. However, it should have been four TD tosses, and Daniels’ late-game fumble gave the Bears an open door to steal the win.
Commanders QB Jayden Daniels must do a lot
This is a heavy-lifting game for the second-yard signal-caller. And the first reason starts with the Commanders’ defense. There’s not a team in the NFL that the Commanders can cover. They relied on poor throws from Caleb Williams and critical dropped passes to even have a chance to win.
Now, they face a team with the best receiver duo in the NFL. There’s no hope for the Commanders except to play 100% zone and hope to get a tipped pass. That’s because Dak Prescott won’t make mistakes. He will blaze the ball into the hands of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens. Look for both receivers to threaten the 100-yard mark if the game develops into a shootout.
So what does that mean? Daniels has to lead the Commanders to touchdowns. Yes, the Commanders will need to run the football and eat clock. They may slack away from their hurry-up offense. They need to keep Prescott off the field.
But Daniels will be a major part of the ground attack. His running looked good last week, especially in the second half. He will need to cash in with somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 yards on the ground to complement what needs to be 70 or 80 yards from Jacory Croskey-Merritt.
Daniels said he knows he carries a big load, according to commanders.com.
“When the play call comes in, we gotta execute,” Jayden Daniels said. “It starts with me. It starts with all 11 of us on the field at the time. We gotta execute better.”
It will help if Daniels gets McLaurin back. That question remains unanswered in the middle of the week. But head coach Dan Quinn said the team is working through it, according to aol.com.
“I'll have a better sense after we go through some full-speed routes and movements to see where he's at,” Quinn said. “But I'm excited where he's trending.”
A successful passing game would open lanes for Croskey-Merritt, who is trying to overcome rookie fumble-itis. This is especially dangerous against a Cowboys defense that has some of the best ball punchers in the league. Quinn said Croskey-Merritt is trying to get better.
“He's still growing,” Quinn said of Croskey-Merritt. “This is a rookie player. They're going to have some ups and downs just like any other guys. I'm certain he's made of the right things to battle through it.”
Still, it comes back to QB Jayden Daniels
He’s the No. 1 option for a favorable matchup, according to The Athletic.
“Daniels has fallen well short of his QB3 ADP this year by ranking ninth in quarterback fantasy points per game,” KC Joyner wrote. “But in Week 7, he’ll face a Dallas defense that ranks next to last in vertical points per game allowed since Week 3. Daniels should post his best point total of this season.”
And that’s exactly what the Commanders must have. They’ll need at least 30 points to win. Probably more. Dallas probably scores 31 points by default in this matchup. A key turnover pushes it to 38. Imagine if the Commanders need 40 to beat the Cowboys. The only way they sniff that, even against the Cowboys’ defense, is if Daniels has his best game as a professional.
And Daniels sees the urgency.
“We got the chance to take this thing to another level,” Daniels said. “Obviously, the stats are the stats, but…we could score with the best of them, and we can put up points, but we just have to be better with the details and execution. So, we don't have slow starts or anything like that, so that's something that we're just homing in and focusing on more.”
If Daniels can provide the heroics, the Commanders have their shot. But it will take a huge effort from him.
