Jayden Daniels has arrived, and he brought revenge with him. The rookie quarterback has been just good the whole season, honestly, but Sunday’s follow up to his explosive performance in Week 3’s Monday upset of the Bengals was just as impressive. And it helped give the man who calls plays for him, Kliff Kingsbury, a chance to stick it to his old employer in the Cardinals during the 42-14 beatdown of the Cardinals.
Kliff’s been in his bag the last two weeks, stretching the field a little more than the start of the season. The Commanders ripped off 16 straight scoring drives (not counting kneeldowns) tying the 2019 Ravens and 2018 Saints for the most since 2000. The Commanders 42 points were the most by the team since the 2016 season. It’s the first time Washington has scored 30+ points in back-to-back weeks since 2017.
It helps to have someone of Daniels talent pulling the trigger. A week after completing more than 90 percent of his passes, Daniels was locked in again this week, going 26-for-30 for 233 yards, including a laser beam touchdown throw to Terry McLaurin.
That makes him the first quarterback in NFL history to complete 85 percent passes or more in back-to-back games. Daniels 82.1 completion percentage is the highest by ANY quarterback through four games since Tom Brady’s started with 79.2 percent in 2007. The Commanders are just the second team in NFL history with more scoring drives (23) than incompletions (19) through their first four games to start a season, joining the 1973 Rams.
Those are some pretty wild stats to start a season and a career. Daniels also tacked on 47 yards and a score on the ground, but wasn’t called on to use his legs a ton thanks to a robust run game and a really strong performance from Brian Robinson.
More importantly, Daniels looked incredibly composed and calm on the field Sunday. He just looks like he belongs and the game doesn’t look at all too fast for him.
Now, it has to be said: they just played the Bengals and the Cardinals. There’s a non-zero chance those teams finish the year as bottom five defenses and I would peg a bottom-10 finish as kind of likely for both.
But the Commanders are in sole position of first place in the NFC East, sitting at 3-1 and looking like a viable threat to upend that division and the NFC playoff picture. And more importantly, they clearly found their a franchise quarterback in Daniels.
Sunday’s slate of revenge games
There’s always a ton of crossover for various NFL matchups, which means you’re bound to get some form of revenge. But Week 4 of the 2024 NFL season seemed to feature more than the usual number of spite games. Let’s look how some folks fared in their revenge games.
Nathaniel Hackett/Aaron Rodgers vs. The Broncos/Sean Payton: OOF. The Jets defense held Bo Nix to 60 — yes SIXTY — passing yards and still couldn’t pull out a win. That is a TOUGH scene. Courtland Sutton finishing with 60 receiving yards is kind of wild too, although he wasn’t the only pass catcher. Some guys went negative. Payton failed to pull off the revenge win against Russell Wilson and this might not even really count as “revenge” per se, but he and Rodgers/Hackett had beef after Payton ripped the former Broncos coach. Hackett’s offense managed to produce a total of nine points, with Breece Hall (34 rushing yards) and Garrett Wilson (41 receiving yards) hardly mattering in this game. The Jets and Giants played two games at MetLife Stadium in Week 4 and scored exactly zero touchdowns. Maybe we can say the Broncos got revenge on Hackett? This was a disastrous loss for New York, who falls to 2-2 in an increasingly crowded AFC.
The Eagles vs. The Buccaneers: Philly likely wanted revenge for their playoff loss to Baker Mayfield last year and it, buddy, it was anything but that. Baker shredded the Eagles secondary for 347 yards and a pair of touchdowns while also running another in as the Bucs stomped the Eagles, 33-16. This game didn’t feel close. Notably, Bucky Irving appears to be working himself into the mix for carries in Tampa, matching Rachaad White’s output and finding the end zone while getting the goal line carries. Philly was without its key weapons in A.J. Brown and Devonta Smith and it showed in the passing game. Not sure who pointed this out, but Jalen Hurts knows how Daniel Jones feels now, having Saquon Barkley and a bunch of low-level receivers to play with on offense. Philly’s 2-2 now and I think they’re probably fine, but going 1-2 in a three-game stretch against the NFC South isn’t exactly optimal. The Bucs are fun. We really need to stop expecting them to be bad.
Andy Dalton vs. The Bengals: Dalton’s played for a ton of teams in his career, so he’s got revenge games all over the place. This felt like a big one on Sunday, though, with the Panthers beating the Raiders last week and trying to build some momentum with their backup under center. Dalton played pretty well, but he certainly wasn’t the same guy we saw last week, even though he drew a Swiss cheese Cincy defense. Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase were just too much here, and they absolutely had to have their first win or else this season might have gone completely sideways. There’s still time for the Bengals with their weapons, but let’s see them slow down a better team before we get excited about how well they play on both sides of the ball. For the Panthers, just being watchable is a massive upgrade for their fans, even if the revenge angle didn’t work out as well as they hoped.
Aaron Jones vs. The Packers: I’ve written about the Vikings three of four weeks now, but how can you not? They’re 4-0, Sam Darnold is in the MVP conversation — legitimately, no less — and Kevin O’Connell looks like a wizard. I called him a top-five NFL coach after two weeks and that definitely does not feel like a hot take right now. He got a leg up on COY in this game against Matt LaFleur, although both teams should be perfectly fine with where they are in the NFC race. Jordan Love tossed three picks but ended up with a monster game (389 yards and four touchdowns) and the Packers nearly pulled off a comeback. Pretty good stuff two weeks removed from a MCL sprain. Jayden Reed is a monster. Dontavvion Wicks jumped right in for Christian Watson, scoring two touchdowns and could explode if Watson misses any time. The Vikings, though, man. They’re 4-0, look awesome, are incredibly well coached and have explosive skill guys plus a quarterback finally delivering on his top-shelf pedigree. It’s hard not to be excited for Sam Darnold, especially if you thought the Panthers stint was going to work out because he was “not on the Jets.” Coaching matters.
Jim Harbaugh (almost) vs. Andy Reid (except Andy Reid doesn’t know): Harbs loves to drum up a rivalry with a top-shelf coach in his division and despite being down a ton of players and dealing with a hobbled quarterback, he still got the Chargers to put up a great fight against Kansas City. The Chiefs are the Chiefs and they’re going to be great for most of the season. But it’s absolutely worth noting it looks like they might lose Rashee Rice for the season now — it’s a rumored ACL injury for the second-year star — and already lost Hollywood Brown. They’re 4-0 and should be the favorites to win the Super Bowl because of Patrick Mahomes, but if they do it won’t be because they never saw adversity. Rice, Brown and Isiah Pacheco are three of their top five skill-position guys and are going to miss most of the season. Harbaugh won’t chat about publicly about this, but I guarantee you he’s taking this head-to-head with Reid personally and wouldn’t be shocked if the Chargers manage to beat the Chiefs later this year. Or if the Chargers make the postseason. The worm has turned for Los Angeles.
