Jayden Daniels is the real deal. The team forcing him to prove it each week is not... yet.

LANDOVER, Md. — The Washington Commanders committing a penalty on the first play of overtime was fitting for a game that shouldn’t have been as hard to win as it ended up being.

Washington defeated the Atlanta Falcons 30-24 on Sunday night, but not before committing 13 penalties, blowing a fourth-quarter lead and surviving a potential game-winning field goal as time expired in regulation.

In the end, it was Jayden Daniels making more magic to overcome that OT false start to drive the Commanders 70 yards for a game-winning touchdown to Zach Ertz, proving for the umpteenth time he’s ready for the bright lights and big moments. That he had to do so yet again, against an 8-8 Falcons team on the brink of missing the playoffs, proved his team isn’t.

“For us, it’s just about positive plays, eliminating negative plays, and if we’re able to do that when we got a guy like Jayden back there, we feel like we’re going to be able to put up points,” Ertz said after the game. “But it’s impossible when we’re just shooting ourselves in the foot every drive.”

Ready or not, the Commanders are headed for the postseason. The win clinched their first playoff berth since 2020 and moved Washington past Green Bay for the No. 6 seed. It’s been a successful year.

But when a team wins 11 games for the first time since 1991 — also the last time it won a Super Bowl — it’s only natural to wonder how high the ceiling is. On Sunday, it didn’t appear to be that high. Washington is 1-4 against teams that currently have winning records and it wasn’t hard to see why.

After turning a Penix interception into a 7-0 lead on their first possession, the Commanders gave up 17 unanswered points, aided by their own interception and penalties that kept drives alive and bailed out Atlanta’s struggling rookie quarterback. In total, the Commanders lost 108 yards on penalties (50 in the first half). Those mistakes made for a nice one-two punch with Bijan Robinson, who ran for 82 of his 90 yards in the first half.

The Commanders rebounded to take a 24-17 lead with scores on their first three drives of the second half, but their defense was apparently as enthralled by Daniels’ heroics as the rest of us because it decided his night wasn’t done. With the game on the line, they allowed Penix to do his best Daniels impression and drive the Falcons 68 yards for a game-tying touchdown with 1:19 left.

After a Commanders three-and-out – and a questionable pass interference penalty – Atlanta moved into range for a potential game-winning field goal, but disaster was averted when Riley Patterson’s 56-yard attempt fell short. Daniels took advantage of his one last chance.

https://x.com/NFL/status/1873585734759903407

Penix’s uneven play only helped to magnify how impressive Daniels has been as the runaway Rookie of the year favorite. On Sunday, the No. 2 overall pick added another 227 passing yards, three touchdowns and 127 rushing yards to his season stats, breaking Robert Griffin III’s rookie record for rushing yards in a season.

Atlanta’s struggles, including poor clock management at the end of each half, magnified how far Washington is from being able to ride Daniels to anything more than a playoff appearance — because despite Atlanta’s dysfunction, the Commanders were lucky to escape with a win.

“We kind of picked it up in the second half, but we could’ve been playing better football from the start honestly,” Daniels said.

I wanted Jayden Daniels to break my rookie rushing record because I’m not about rooting against the next generation. He EARNED IT. He is the FUTURE. Some of these old heads need to stop drinking all that haterade and lift up these young guys instead of tearing them down. pic.twitter.com/SesP9KTdpM

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) December 30, 2024

That’s not necessarily an indictment of Washington, rather the reality of a team ahead of schedule in its build toward contention. Daniels gives them a chance to win every game, but only if the team gives him a chance. That’s why the Commanders’ +1600 odds at BetMGM to win the NFC remain dead last among teams in the playoff picture. Better teams won’t give them second chances the way Atlanta did.

The Commanders can afford to squander opportunities, commit backbreaking penalties, fall behind and still find a way to win against a middling team like the Falcons with a quarterback in his second career start… or the Eagles with a backup quarterback, or a Bears team that hasn’t won a single game since Daniels’ Week 8 Hail Mary sent them into a spiral.

That won’t cut it against teams like the Lions, Vikings, Packers or Eagles. The Commanders are heading in the right direction, which is all you can ask for in coach Dan Quinn’s first season. They simply aren’t a team you can push your chips to the middle of the table with yet.