The Commanders have made a difficult decision on Jayden Daniels’ Week 3 status against the Raiders with his knee injury
The Commanders decided if Jayden Daniels will play on Sunday.
The main headline for the Washington Commanders as they head into a Week 3 matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders has been the status of franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Daniels took a lot of big shots against the Green Bay Packers and suffered a sprained knee, according to the MRI he received the next day. As we saw last season, Daniels is a competitor and can fight through injuries, but the Commanders have decided to protect him from further damage for this week at least.
Jayden Daniels is officially OUT for the Washington Commanders
The Commanders need a bounce-back win against the Raiders, and they will have to do so with Daniels on Sunday, as head coach Dan Quinn has officially ruled him out for this week and named veteran Marcus Mariota as the starter.
Daniels did practice on a limited basis on Friday, but the team wants to do things the right way, and not the fast way with Daniels’ knee. Quinn spoke on Daniels’ injury after practice and elaborated more on the situation.
“Jayden was limited today on the field,” Quinn said. “We decided to start Marcus [Mariota] and said at the beginning, we were going to be very diligent on his [Daniels] return to play and make sure we didn’t miss any steps. So we’re going to be smart, not just fast, and the player wants to do everything all the time. That’s who he is as a competitor, which I love, but that’s how we’ll roll.”
The positive news is that Daniels has been progressing well, and he was practicing today on the grass, throwing the ball, and running with speed work and on the field workouts. Holding him out for the week and doing things the “smart way” as Quinn often said, was the right thing to do. There’s still a lot of season left with it only being Week 3, and you need Daniels for the long haul. Mariota showed last season that he’s very capable of running the offense at a high level, and they have all the confidence in him this Sunday.
Marcus Mariota steps in
Mariota stepped up last season and did the three things you want to see in a quarterback. He moved the offense at a high level, took care of the ball, and made big plays when it was needed, especially at the end of the game against the Dallas Cowboys. Mariota spoke about how he’s already prepared and takes every week as if he is the starter, and now he gets his chance to be the starter this week for the Commanders.
The offense has struggled in different ways for the first two games of the season, and they get a chance to redeem themselves with Mariota at the helm. Will the Commanders go 1-2 without Daniels, or will Mariota will the team to a morale-boosting win?
Washington Commanders News
3 matchups to watch that will ultimately decide if the Commanders can get a bounce-back win against the Raiders
These matchups will decide who wins the game on Sunday.
