Head coach Dan Quinn paid tribute to Jayden Daniels’ calmness after another Washington Commanders late show.
Daniels led a match-winning drive in the final minutes that culminated in a 37-yard Zane Gonzalez field goal as the Commanders beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20 in Sunday night’s wild-card-round game.
DOINKED IT IN FOR THE DUB!!!!!
📺 #WASvsTB @SNFonNBC pic.twitter.com/3WvqkokVMV
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) January 13, 2025
Washington will now play the NFC’s top seeds, the Detroit Lions, next weekend after claiming their fifth successive victory from the final play of the game, or the last play from scrimmage.
Rookie quarterback Daniels finished with 24 of 35 passes for 268 yards and two touchdowns and again showed remarkable poise for someone playing in their first postseason game.
“If he had his heart rate monitor on, and mine, they would not be the same in the game,” Quinn said.
“His stays pretty consistently good and sometimes I’m like the duck: If you just saw the feet going under the water, it’s good. But he really is, in that space, exceptional.”
Magic Johnson enjoys victory
It was Washington’s first playoff win since 2006 and continues the feel good factor generated by the sale of the franchise by Dan Snyder to a group led by Josh Harris that includes NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.
“You gotta give Josh a lot of credit because we picked the right people,” Johnson said.
“When you pick [general manager] Adam Peters and you pick coach Quinn and they picked the right players, the culture changed. You went from a losing culture to a winning culture. But it’s about those players. They decided they wanted to win. They didn’t worry about what all the analysts said. And, the right quarterback. Enough said right there.”
Washington’s fans have had little to celebrate in recent years and Daniels was delighted to have prolonged the season.
“It means a lot, man,” Daniels said. “You could just see all the fans over here, man, they’re waiting for us. They’ve waited a long time for this moment and this feeling, so I’m just so happy for them.”
