What was the most impressive part of Jayden Daniels’ performance in the Commanders’ most-watched win? Let Aaron Rodgers explain (Video)

Aaron Rodgers saw this while watching Monday Night Football.

In the game that surprised the Cincinnati Bengals the most, Jayden Daniels used his legs to throw for 39 yards and a touchdown. But Washington Commanders won 38-33The second overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft wasn’t primarily looking to escape the pocket to advance the ball.

Daniels completed 21 of 23 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. Rookie record is broken in the process.

The four-time MVP quarterback for the New York Jets was impressive.

“What I liked about him was his ability to play from the pocket,” Rodgers said Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show.”

“Once you achieve that, you can stay in the league for a long time.”

The Commanders want their franchise quarterback to benefit from a variety of athletic talents, but what impressed talent evaluators about Daniels’ college career and his Heisman Trophy season at LSU was the 2,019 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns he amassed in his two LSU seasons.

Daniels also passed for 6,725 yards and 57 touchdowns in two years, compared to just seven interceptions.

So a vision developed in Washington.

“He’s definitely a dual-threat player, but he’s definitely primarily a passer,” Commanders head coach Dan Quinn told Yahoo Sports in a June interview. “When you consider his accuracy, his arm strength and all of that, there’s more to him than that because he can hit shots and when the play is going bad, he’ll make blitz receptions.”

“He has a composure that comes with it and doesn’t translate into a bad game.”

Daniels has grown steadily in the early going of his pro career, with Washington scoring on its last 14 possessions that didn’t end in a kneel-down (either at the end of the first half or the end of the game). And yet Daniels entered his third game without a passing touchdown, averaging 5.2 yards per attempt in Week 1 and 4.3 in Week 2.

Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt didn’t mince words coming into the game.

“They don’t make him do a lot of things,” Taylor-Britt said. “I hear his passing percentage is really high, but he’s just running short routes, some intermediates. … They keep it really simple for him.”

Until Monday.

How Kliff Kingsbury launched his game plan against the Bengals

When Daniels broke Dak Prescott’s eight-year-old rookie passing record (Prescott completed 32 of 36 passes for a passing percentage of 88.89 percent in a December 2016 game), the Washington rookie threw more carries than he had in his entire professional career.

He upped his air yards per attempt to 9.2 and made big plays in big moments, throwing two touchdown passes and running for another.

In the second quarter, Daniels found receiver Terry McLaurin 50 air yards down the left sideline for a 55-yard completion to Taylor-Britt. Daniels’ arm on that play set his legs up for a touchdown on the next play, extending Washington’s lead to two points.

After Daniels’ LSU linemen Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase connected on a 31-yard touchdown pass with 9:47 left in the fourth quarter, the Commanders didn’t let a one-point play hinder their faith in Daniels’ arm.

On third-and-7 with 2:15 left in the game, the Commanders got McLaurin’s wish to take advantage of the outside leverage of the defender to give the veteran a go-ball.

Rodgers explains how difficult Daniels’ next carry was for a 27-yard touchdown.

“He knew there was pressure, he knew he had to get it done, he did a great stop-and-go outside,” Rodgers said. “They’re in zero coverage. He knows he’s got an extra man. He knows where to go with the ball. He definitely scores an assist.

“It’s really tough when you have a guy coming at you and you have to give him enough air to stumble to that ball and then you have to predict where he’s going to be when he comes out of it.”

“He’s throwing the ball while Terry stutters.”

Daniels thanked his coaches and teammates who trusted him to make the tough throw, and praised offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury and the players who made it happen.

Was his early success a surprise to him?

“Yes and no,” Daniels said. “Yes, because it’s obviously new to me. … But I also put in the work, knowing that aspect of it, What to do in the dark? will always come to light.”

Rodgers believes Daniels can continue to find success with the new one if he sticks to his pocket-heavy formula. The Jets quarterback noted that Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s success in the pocket this season is a prerequisite for the runs and out-of-structure throws that Allen is only looking for after.

“Winning football is about playing from the pocket – and Later “When you’re broken down, every once in a while, you have to make a couple plays off the schedule,” Rodgers said. “Josh has mastered that the last couple years. Honestly, I want to be able to do that myself, and I know I’m 40 years old, but there’s going to be a couple plays every game where you’re going to do something off the schedule.”

The key, Rodgers said, is not to stretch creativity beyond the three to five plays he predicts will require improvisation each game. Pocket discipline and decision-making have anchored Allen’s MVP-caliber play for three weeks. It could continue to fuel Daniels’ rise, too.

“Jayden wasn’t running everywhere unless he had a read option,” Rodgers said. “He was getting the ball out of the pocket on time.

“He can really, really run and he’s fast, athletic and evasive. But the key to staying in the league is playing in the pocket.”