Jayden Daniels Presser: We don’t view ourselves as underdogs

Jayden Daniels speaks to the media after practice

The Washington Commanders held their first official practice of the week today, but it was a walkthrough in the bubble due to the snow. Dan Quinn spoke to the media before practice, and Jayden Daniels talked to reporters after. He said his leg was good, after getting pulled from Sunday’s win over the Cowboys at halftime due to leg soreness. He was a full participant on today’s estimated injury report.

Daniels said the people in the locker room, and in the building, don’t view themselves as the under dog when they travel to Tampa Bay this weekend to face the Buccaneers. This is Daniels first playoff appearance, and he said it’s exciting, but you have to deal with those emotions and play ball. He watched the Commanders week 1 loss to the Buccaneers and was amazed at how far he, and the team, has come since early September.

Jayden Daniels

Lessons learned since Week 1 game against the Buccaneers:

Obviously, just for my development and my growth from the day I stepped foot here, to this point now so just to be able to see and know and get to learn the type of person Kliff is, on and off the field, I mean it’s only helped our relationship grow even more from there.

Calm on the field:

Nah, I mean, it’s just going through my routine how I usually go through and I know this is cliche, but it’s literally just another game. It’s only a couple teams that are still playing left.

What’s going on back in LA, I know it’s not exactly where you are, but just seeing all that, what have you kind of been thinking after seeing all that?:

Just praying for everybody and their families and stuff like that. Obviously, like you said, it’s not really the area from, but it’s still Southern California. That’s still home to me. So you never want to see nothing to go through that or nobody go through that had to deal with stuff like that.

Why are you so calm on the field? The ability to compartmentalize, is that something you learned, worked on, or is that just who you are?:

I think it’s a mixture, Just that’s who I am. And it’s something you’ve got to learn, you got to learn to not let bad plays stack on top of bad plays. If you have a bad play, you move on to the next play, and you can’t really focus on anything that’s in the past, you got to worry about the present, be where your feet are.

How does that help you in these late game drives? These two minute drives?:

I mean, it just helps throughout the whole game honestly. If I miss a throw on third down, you can’t go back in and relive that throw. You can’t, you gotta move on. So, It’s not really just the late game situations. I mean, I guess that’s where it shows up, but it’s really throughout the whole game. And, you know, how I treat life.

What do you remember about learning sweepy? And how would you evaluate yourself as a player?:

I remember learning it, I want to say like training camp, Obviously we were playing it in the quarterback room and, you know, I think I’m up there as one of the top players.

What would you say like, is that one of the main games in the locker room? How do you see the locker room, kind of come together and kind of just, like hang out after practice?:

We play a lot of different things but I think that that’s a game that I mean it’s easy for everybody to play. As Marcus will say it’s a matching and adding game. It’s a little bit more to that but once you get to you get to learn that you get to learn all the details about it. But you know, we just, that’s a game that we play and I think everybody just likes playing different types of games with each other and hang out around each other.

DQ was talking about you earlier today and he said, you have an X Factor about you. Have you ever thought about that? Like what your X Factor is?:

Nah, I haven’t. I mean I just go out there and try to play ball. I don’t know, I think I’ll just leave that up for DQ to figure out what my X Factor is.

And then just with the leg, completely all good to go for Sunday?:

Yeah, I’m good.

You’re trying to treat this like any other game but the fact is this is the first time you’re gonna be starting in a playoff game, just in terms of, you’ve been thinking about these moments as a kid, right? You’re gonna be starting your first playoff game. What is the excitement level like for you?:

It’s exciting, but I mean you gotta, you know, kinda gotta deal with those emotions, But I know at the end of the day still, you gotta go out there and play ball, you know a lot of people gonna put a lot of emphasis on it because at this point it’s really win or go home. And from there it’s like, you got to go out there, the focus level might be a little bit more, but you gotta stay who you are throughout the week, who you’ve been for these 17, 18 weeks, and go out there, and just play ball.

Outside these walls, a lot of people think you guys are the underdogs against Tampa Bay. How do you embrace that role of being the underdog and do you like maybe being an underdog sometimes?:

I think you can say that but I just more so just focus on what we got to do, how can we execute to put our stuff in the best position to win the game? I don’t really, I know for a fact that people in the locker room, and people in that building don’t look at it like, oh, we’re underdogs this week. We got to go out there and prove to ‘em, we’re just out there, just playing games, we’re playing ball, and we’re having fun. So, I mean, at the end day Sunday, We’ll see everybody there.

The night of the draft you said AP was a dude, what’d you mean by that? And how did you find that out?:

Just the type of type of person he is. He’s real smart, he’s like a go-getter. He works for everything he had and I knew he’d have his footprint, his mark on this organization, this team. You know, he just believes in everybody, he believes in all of us, everybody who he drafted. Everybody, we signed and this whole organization. So we all believe in him. In AP we trust.

Every rookie that comes into any situation has to learn the team, the coach, and the front office. How did you come to realize that the front office is cool. Dan Quinn’s cool. Kliff’s Kingsbury’s cool, I can work here.:

I think I learned that pretty early. Throughout the draft process. I remember when I had, like, interviews and meetings with them, we didn’t really talk about football, we just talked about life, and they were just making sure I was all right, because they know how stressful this time period could be. So they were really just checking on the person. So I knew if they called my name, I knew it would be a good spot for me to land.

You talked about how you’re kind of a different quarterback today than you were the first time you played the Bucs. Have you had a chance, whether it was watching film this week or another time, just thinking about that very first play, and kind of where you’ve come from there to now?:

I mean, I like I said, I watched the game again, and it’s just crazy to see the growth over, not even like a year, and you just learn something different each and every game. It was just something new, you just get more comfortable. But, if I got that first pass back, I would for sure.

You guys are 3-0 in second games against teams. Obviously you won the second game against all divisional opponents. This is your second time playing Tampa Bay on Sunday. Why do you think you guys have had such success in these rematches this season?:

I don’t really know. I just think each and every week you improve, and you get better in your scheme and you get better and you put that focus into trying to get better daily. So I guess you could say each and every week we’re a different team, to answer that question.

Obviously you’re really close to Bobby Wagner in the locker room. He’s someone with tons of postseason experience. Has he shared anything with you, or some of the other young guys who are in the playoffs for the first time, about what this experience is like?:

It doesn’t matter who makes the plays as long as the plays are being made. The attention to detail, you know, the focus might might ramp up a little bit more, but at the end of the day, you gotta stick to your routine and try to keep that process going.

On Sunday, it wasn’t necessarily all eyes on you at the last offensive drive. So for you, everybody knows the end result. We saw your reaction, right? The whole world saw it. But as the offense is driving down the field, what was going through your mind during that whole last series?:

We were gonna win this game. I’m super confident in Marcus, man, and I’m just happy for him. Somebody I looked up to when I was younger, it’s crazy to say that now, but just everything he’s been through and in his life and his career, he earned that right. He’s a great person, a great teammate. So I know we had a shot to go win this game. I know he’s gonna make plays to win it.

You’ve gone through a whole season, now, heading into the playoffs, has anything surprised you about yourself. Have you learned anything new about yourself through this whole process?:

I always knew I had that, but just the drive and the hunger to get better each and every day and really just learn different things, and being a sponge. You’ve got people in the locker room that are playing a high level for years and years to come. I want to be one of those people in the future to continue playing at a high level. It’s kind of different things that you learn from different individuals and at different points in time of their careers. No matter if they had the success on in the league they learned so much. So just being a sponge, I think that’s probably the main thing I learned from myself this year.

What did you know about Terry before you got here, and how has that relationship on and off the field evolved since you’ve been drafted?:

I just knew Terry was a guy that made plays. He’s very underrated. Just being able to work with him, you see the work that he puts in day in, and day out, in the film room, on the practice field, taking care of his body, you know, being the ultimate pro and, just the relationship off the field. I know he’s a god-fearing man. He talks about that. We have conversations about that, so it’s awesome just to see that. We have something to bond over outside of football.

There’s been so many things this season statistics, achievements for this team. The first time since the 90s, first time since the early 2000s. If you guys win on Sunday, I’m sure, you know it will be the first playoff win for this franchise since the 2005 season. If you can deliver that to the fan base to this area, what would that mean to you guys?

I think it would just for the fan base, everything they’ve been through, and their time being here. I just think for us, it’s like we just go and try to win the football game. We’ll let everybody else have the joy of stuff like that. But I mean, the fan base deserves to be able to cheer for the team in the playoffs. You know we appreciate the support through it all.

For you guys in the locker room, on this team, have you guys talked about just what that would mean. I mean, obviously, I’m sure not all season, but just how special a moment that could be?:

No, we haven’t talked about it all. That’s not something that’s in our focus. We’ll let everybody outside the building determine that and how excited and happy they are. But we got to do whatever we can to go win a football game. Thank you.

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Jamison Crowder

Back to the playoffs:

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Brian Robinson Jr

Running game vs the Buccaneers:

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Chris Rodriguez Jr

Stepping up in the run game:

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Tyler Biadasz

Playoff game vs the Bucs:

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Brandon Coleman

Knee injury:

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Frankie Luvu

First playoff game:

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Quan Martin

First playoff game:

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Dante Fowler Jr

Sacking Baker Mayfield:

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Daron Payne

Potential playoff win:

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Jer’Zhan Newton

Homecoming:

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Tress Way

First road playoff game: