Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels has started four games since injuring his rib area in a Week 7 win over the Carolina Panthers. Washington is 2-2 in those four games, with both losses coming in a four-day span last week.
In those four games, Daniels completed 59.5% of his passes — down from 75% through the first seven games. You can’t deny there’s been a difference, whether it’s due to better opponents or injury.
Daniels insists he’s fine, even saying the team wouldn’t let him play if he wasn’t. Head coach Dan Quinn said after Thursday’s loss that the injury was no longer affecting Daniels.
After a weekend off, Quinn met with the media on Monday and reiterated that Daniels wasn’t injured. He did give insight into why his numbers have gone down.
“I want to first start off by saying clearly and honestly, Jayden is not injured right now,” Quinn said. “But we did lose valuable practice time with him and his teammates when he was injured. And that’s hard on all the guys. It’s a really, really important part of what we do. And we don’t have banked reps in here, so we’re very much looking forward to getting back onto a full week and regular practice sessions with the guys. So, over the last few weeks, we’ve had to put that together in small bits.”
Quinn’s explanation does make sense. Daniels only missed two full days of practice, but he could’ve been hindered in the following weeks.
Here’s a counterpoint to Quinn’s statement that the ribs are no longer impacting Daniels: Why are trainers working on Daniels’ ribs?
Quinn can only go by what the doctors and Daniels are saying. Of course, Daniels will say he’s fine, and the doctors see no reason why he can’t play, as rib injuries are often more about pain tolerance than what you see on an X-ray.
The Commanders hope the long weekend after 11 straight games provided them a mini-break as they head into Week 12 against Dallas.