Tag: Cowboys QB Dak Prescott

When they last met: Commanders and Cowboys

The last time the Cowboys and Commanders met was Ron Rivera’s last game in Washington.

“When they last met” is an ongoing series during the NFL season, recalling the preceding game between Washington and the next opponent on the Commanders’ schedule.

Dallas 38, Washington 10 – Week 18, January 7, 2024

Ron Rivera’s last game as Washington’s head coach illustrated so well how far his program had fallen.

In his last game, Rivera and the Commanders were thumped by the Cowboys 38-10 at the then-FedEx Field in Landover.

The Cowboys were clearly the superior team, gaining 31 first downs, while the Commanders could only generate 12.

How bad were the Commanders? Dallas had 440 total yards, while Washington could only manufacture 180.

Remember that this was a Commanders team and coaching staff that had been thoroughly embarrassed just a month earlier, on Thanksgiving Day 45-10, by the same Cowboys team that was actually eating Turkey on the sidelines and laughing at the Commanders.

In this season finale, Dak Prescott was not challenged, not being sacked, completing 31 of 36 passes for 279 yards and four touchdown passes. Meanwhile, Commanders quarterback Sam Howell was being sacked four times, took seven more quarterback hits, and was intercepted twice.

Washington had played the Cowboys twice in a month and lost 45-10 and 38-10. The result seriously resembled what you see when the high school varsity team plays another high school team. The disparity of talent and intensity resulted in a boring second-half blowout. This game, like the entire season, like the Ron Rivera era, couldn’t end soon enough.

Rivera’s program was in total shambles (no exaggeration), and the fan base was actually relieved when it was over, knowing the Josh Harris ownership group was going to make wholesale changes.

 

Shannon Sharpe loves Commanders duo of Daniels & Kingsbury

Shannon Sharpe would take Daniels over the NFC East’s other quarterbacks.

Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Shannon Sharpe really likes what he sees in Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.

This week on ESPN, Sharpe, Stephen A. Smith, and former Patriots LB Tedy Bruschi assessed Daniels’ place among NFC East quarterbacks.

Sharpe declared: “Guys, you all know I hate being a prisoner of the moment. But the way this young man is playing now, and the way Kliff Kingsbury is in his ear and dialing up the plays? You’re absolutely right I am taking him over anybody else in that division.”

“Oh, I get it. It is a college offense, and it’s very simplistic. Well, a lot more teams need to make their offense simplistic if it’s going to cause their quarterback to play like this young man is playing.”

“He’s more mature than you would think. He had 55 career starts in college. I think that has a lot to do with it, and he has Kliff Kingsbury. No matter what you think of Kliff as a head coach, Stephen A., Bruschi, you know, there’s no denying his offensive mind and his ability to coach quarterbacks.”

Sharpe then discussed how Kingsbury coached Johnny Manziel, Patrick Mahomes, and Kyler Murray.

“There’s no denying his ability to relate, and to get on their levels, and extract the best out of a quarterback. I absolutely, right now, would take Jayden Daniels over any other quarterback in that division.”

Here is a video of the segment of the panel statements

Stephen A. Smith would take Commanders’ QB over others in NFC East

Stephen A. Smith is high on Jayden Daniels and the Commanders.

A recent ESPN “First Take” segment featuring Stephen A. Smith, Tedy Bruschi, and Shannon Sharpe focused on Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels’s early performance in his first four NFL games.

Smith wasn’t shy about praising Daniels over the other NFC East quarterbacks.

“I am rolling with Jayden Daniels. First of all, I’m not rolling with a guy like Dak Prescott, who’s had eight years to win a Super Bowl and can’t even win more than two playoff games in eight years. As far as I’m concerned, he has shown me what he is. He’s elite in the regular season but far from it in the postseason.”

“This brother (Daniels) brings me hope. Let’s understand something, 82.1 % completion percentage. Over their three-game winning streak, this man has scored on 22 of 24 of their drives over the last three games. Ten touchdowns, ten field goals, excluding kneel downs.”

Smith then referred to Dan Quinn saying he blew a 25-point lead in the Super bowl, but that he also got his team to the Super Bowl and concluded “he kinda knows what he is doing.”

Smith admitted then he had been down on Kliff Kingsbury, not thinking he had deserved a shot at an NFL head coaching job. He then said Kingsbury did not deserve to by pass a lot of other NFL coordinators to get that head coaching job with the Cardinals.

“But we all knows as a coordinator, he can call up some plays. We all know as coordinator he’s cultivated relationships with quarterbacks…and that’s going a long way. Now he is doing it with Jayden Daniels, because Daniels has raved about the level of communication they have with one another.”

Smith then recalled how much talk pre-draft was the number of hits Daniels took at LSU and how would he survive in the NFL “That’s not what he is doing. He is being smart, he’s running with the football, making plays with his legs. He’s certainly making plays with his arm.”

“We are looking at Washington being formidable, they could potentially win this division…The way this kid is playing, and the pieces he has around him, I like what I see.”

As if that wasn’t enough, Smith did his version of the NFL power rankings, and the Commanders were ranked No. 5.

Here is a video of the entire segment.

Where did Commanders’ Jayden Daniels rank in ESPN projections?

What will Jayden Daniels’ numbers look like in 2024?

ESPN released its projections for the top 2024 NFL Quarterbacks. Where would you project Jayden Daniels on such a list?

Providing their list of the top 40, they projected the outcomes of the upcoming season for each quarterback.

As for the NFC East, two quarterbacks were projected to be in the top ten. Spoiler Alert: Washington’s Jayden Daniels does not appear in the top ten, but he is projected to finish above one other quarterback in the division.

If you were told Daniels is going to be the 12th-best NFL quarterback in his rookie season, most Commanders readers would definitely take that projection.

Of course, the projections are impossible to predict, but for whatever it is worth, ESPN projects Daniels will complete 321 of his 513 passing attempts for 3,463 passing yards. He will throw 16 passing touchdowns and also throw 14 interceptions. He will rush for 584 yards on 106 attempts and five rushing touchdowns while also being sacked 41 times.

Jalen Hurts was projected as No. 1 overall, Dak Prescott as No. 6, and Daniel Jones as No. 25.

Former Washington Commanders quarterbacks Sam Howell and Carson Wentz were projected at Nos. 36 and 40, respectively.

The entire document lists projections for all 32 teams and each position and is entitled Mike Clay’s 2024 NFL Projection Guide. It is 80 pages in length, so if you don’t want to get lost in all of that data, here is how Clay projects his top 16 (top half) NFL Quarterbacks.

  1. Jalen Hurts, Eagles
  2. Josh Allen, Bills
  3. Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs
  4. Lamar Jackson, Ravens
  5. Joe Burrow, Bengals
  6. Dak Prescott, Cowboys
  7. C J Stroud, Texans
  8. Anthony Richardson, Colts
  9. Aaron Rodgers, Jets
  10. Kyler Murray, Cardinals
  11. Brock Purdy, 49ers
  12. Jayden Daniels, Commanders
  13. Jordan Love, Packers
  14. Deshaun Watson, Browns
  15. Justin Herbert, Chargers
  16. Kirk Cousins, Falcons