The Jayden Daniels legend took its biggest leap yet this season in Week 8, with his miraculous Hail Mary touchdown pass to give the Commanders a stunning 18-15 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
Daniels played in spite of a rib injury limited him to just one practice this past week and had his availability in serious doubt until Sunday afternoon. He finished the game with 326 yards passing, 52 more yards rushing and the touchdown heard around the league. All while out playing and one-upping No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams, who had led the Bears on a go-ahead TD drive with just 25 seconds remaining in the game.
The only one who didn't seem all that impressed with his efforts was Daniels.
"Just throw the ball and give my guys a shot," Daniels told reporters after the win. "I didn't see anything."
Make that a no-look Hail Mary for the record. It wasn't until Daniels "heard people screaming" and saw "our sideline rushing the field" until it became clear that Noah Brown really caught what officially was a 52-yard touchdown pass.
"So that's how I knew," he said.
Daniels might not be his own hype man, but Brown could serve that role.
"Man, we're blessed to have (No.) 5 leading this team," Brown said of Daniels. "The things he can do are special, even that last play, keeping his composure and fighting like hell to get the ball off, and threw a hell of a ball.
"I wouldn't want to play with any other quarterback, I'm glad to have him."
Daniels hit tight end Zach Ertz for 11 yards and wide receiver Terry McLaurin for 13 more on the two plays proceeding the Hail Mary attempt, but the Commanders still were more than half the field away from the end zone down by three with :02 on the clock.
Brown told reporters he tried to get to the end zone as fast as he could, box out and "hope Jayden can get a ball down there."
Daniels did.
According to Next Gen Stats, he threw the ball 64 yards in the air, perfectly placed for rookie Luke McCaffrey and Ertz -- and four Bears defenders -- to tip it four yards back to Brown. But first Daniels had to buy time -- 12.79 seconds, in fact -- while scrambling more than 40 yards behind the line of scrimmage before launching the throw.
"He did a phenomenal job keeping the play alive and gave the best ball possible," Brown said, "and we came out with a dub."
The Commanders controlled most of the game on Sunday, but held just a 12-0 lead in the third quarter after bogging down three times in the red zone. The Bears got within striking distance at 12-7 with a D'Andre Swift TD run late in the third quarter, and Williams came alive late to lead the Chicago to a brief lead.
Commanders head coach Dan Quinn told reporters that wasn't sure his team would win, but he was pretty sure they were in good hands with Daniels, even while playing through pain. Watching Daniels' progress throughout the week gave Quinn that confidence to allow him even to play in the first place.
"There's a lot of resilience in this guy that has always been in there, and I've always known he was a real competitor to his core," Quinn said. "I don't know if that was revealed any differently. It was his first injury that we had to go through together this week to find out what would be possible and what wouldn't be."
Daniels said the injury was "tough" when he threw, something he did 38 times Sunday.
"But at the end of the day, I started the game and I wanted to finish it, so there was nothing else that was going to take me out of that game," he said.
Daniels called his Hail Mary a "once-in-a-lifetime experience," even if Commanders fans are starting to expect this level of greatness from the rookie.
"Not too many people get to experience stuff like that," he said. That was my first time, so obviously I was juiced up, the whole stadium, team, sideline, everybody."
