Jayden Daniels’ elbow injury is the latest tough development in the Leaders’ season
LANDOVER, Md. – The post-game locker rooms say a lot about a team. The victors, especially after a big match, are jubilant, with grown men pouring water on the champions and jumping up and down with childish joy. It’s enough to put a smile on anyone’s face. Defeated locker rooms look solemn, the liveliness of the room replaced with tension and frustration.
Then there are the locker rooms like Washington’s leaders room, where Sunday night spilled over into Monday morning. It was empty in large spaces. Several players had already left by the time members of the media were allowed inside. Other players came in late. Some of them left and came back.
The reason for all the comings and goings? Jayden Daniels, who wasn’t far away in the bowels of Northwest Stadium after suffering a gruesome elbow injury late in the game. As if the disastrous 38-14 loss to the Seahawks wasn’t enough, the face of the franchise and leader of football’s comebacks was injured in the nation’s capital, the cruelest twist of the knife in a season full of them.
“It hurts, honestly, it hurts, you can feel it right now,” said Josh Johnson, a veteran backup quarterback who spoke in a voice slightly above a whisper. “Everyone is shocked. Everyone is a little stunned.
“That’s the best I have for you,” he said with a half-exhausted laugh.
“It’s really hard to see him go down,” said Bobby Wagner, one of Daniels’ closest friends on the team, a veteran and young man whose roots in Southern California, trash talk and basketball combine. “…This is a time to pray. This is a time to pray, let him feel the emotions that he’s feeling and send a lot of positivity out there.”
Then there was Zach Ertz, the veteran player who helped Daniels revitalize his career. He used one word to describe what he was feeling. “Awesome” before adding: “Jayden I care about the person much more than the player. The player is exceptional, as I said, one of the best players in the league, but for me I care about the person. He means a lot to me, our relationship.”
Coach Dan Quinn said he didn’t think about taking Daniels out before the ill-fated trip. The Leaders trailed 38-7 when Daniels drove down the field for what would be his final drive of the night. Without two of their top three wide receivers, Daniels found little space underneath all night. With his offensive line often struggling, he took a lot of hits. Washington, for all intents and purposes, had given up on winning the game. The offense was not in rush mode or attempting an aerial attack.
“Obviously I’m bummed about it, I’m just upset,” Quinn said. “We didn’t have any read plays on it, and the hit he got on is usually a run or a throw to the flat. It’s not a scramble. It wasn’t a read or designed play in that spot. If we run it 50 times, it’s either a handoff or a 50-time throw.”
That’s the kind of season it’s been for Washington. Aspects that should not happen, that cannot happen, that no The team happened to be successful and it all happened. The crime has devastated the injuries. The defense has become a confused mess. Seattle’s Sam Darnold was 16 for 16 for 282 yards and four touchdowns in the first half, becoming the first quarterback since at least 1990 to throw for 250 yards and four touchdowns while completing all of his passes in one half.
“For us, the issues that allowed them to spend that night is amazing,” Quinn said. “We couldn’t stop them, and we completely stopped ourselves. Obviously, I’m angry.”
Even then, there was hope that Daniels offered, even if not this season but in the long term. He has already missed three games this season, two with an ankle injury and one with a hamstring injury. He was hit in sacks and tackles. But this is the first time he’s been hurt in a game that’s absolutely unwinnable; Teams down by 31 or more in the fourth quarter are 0-464. It all felt so…empty. There’s that word again.
Can this team protect him? Can he provide the support he needs, both defensively and offensively, so he doesn’t always have to chase games or feel the weight of the offense on his shoulders? His 54% pressure rate Sunday night was the highest of his career. The second-highest percentage (49%) came against the Packers in Week 2 when he suffered an ankle injury. This is no coincidence.
“I think the answer to that is we will support him to do that,” Quinn said. “And I’m sure about that, to make sure we do that in every way. And that’s… offense, defense, all the way, man. I feel just that way after the hamstring injury and tonight with the elbow. It’s really important that we get that part right, and we will.”
But they won’t — or can’t, however you want to put it — this year. That’s the deeply disappointing truth about this deeply disappointing football team. The oldest team in NFL It looks the part. Quinn tried to change personnel to try to get more speed on the field and simplify the calls to get his players to play faster. It worked for a half in Week 8 against Kansas City before falling apart. never I collapsed Monday night because it was a disaster from the start. There are no easy answers. There may not be any answers, period, this season.
“Last week I thought we took two steps forward, and tonight we took three steps back,” Quinn said. “This is a terrible recipe.”
On the offensive side, 30-year-old Terry McLaurin has not missed a game in four years. He’s now missed five this year with a troubling (and annoying, given his age) quad injury. Noah Brown hasn’t played since Week 2. The offensive line was inconsistent. The running game has collapsed.
The leaders seemed to be Always due to decline. Slightly less luck in the close game. Less chance of getting injured. Drops a bit off the old age list. Huge jump in schedule difficulty. They tried to fight that. They tried to up Daniels’ perimeter with left tackle Laremy Tunsil and right tackle Josh Conerly Jr. and wide receiver Deebo Samuel. They tried to fortify the defensive and secondary front.
You failed. Such is the fickle nature of football and roster building. The surprise players who helped propel the Chiefs to their first NFC Championship Game in more than 30 years last year didn’t make the same impact this year. Essential pieces have been damaged or not achieved.
Washington, now 3-6 and without a starting quarterback, plays the series. It is a stunning fall, one that no player or coach will acknowledge. They will talk, and have already talked, about what is needed to turn the season around, and about progress with the quarterback.
But this season has exposed major flaws, and Daniels’ recent injury has highlighted that in bold red ink for all to see. There is a long way to go for Daniels and the organization. The shock and sadness came Sunday night. The questions will remain, up and down the roster, the coaching staff and the front office, for weeks and months to come.