The Washington Commanders aren’t speculated to be right here.
A brand new basic supervisor, a brand new coach and a rookie quarterback aren’t speculated to be on the doorstep of the Tremendous Bowl.
Particularly this staff.
This season was anticipated to be the start of the rebuild of a once-proud franchise shedding years of turmoil beneath its disgraced former proprietor.
Josh Harris entered his second season because the Commanders’ new proprietor with one recent face within the govt suite in GM Adam Peters, one other on the sidelines in Dan Quinn and a 3rd beneath heart in Heisman winner and No. 2 draft choose Jayden Daniels.
Coming off a 4-13 end—its seventh straight non-winning season—Washington’s bar for enchancment was low.
However no person thought this 12 months’s Commanders would soar this excessive.
Daniels led Washington to its fifth win earlier than Halloween. The Commanders later notched their first 7-2 begin since 1996, then weathered a three-game skid to safe their first playoff berth in 4 years and first profitable season in eight.
Already worthy of a storybook season, however Quinn, Daniels and firm have confirmed they’ve lots extra ink.
They first authored a last-second win at Tampa Bay within the wild-card spherical, then adopted with a blowout victory towards top-seeded Detroit within the divisional.
Now comes a 3rd battle towards division rival Philadelphia, which, on paper, shouldn’t lose Sunday’s NFC Championship Recreation.
However this Washington staff has defied expectations all season. That’s why the Commanders are usually not solely going to beat the Eagles, but in addition whichever AFC staff advances to face them within the Tremendous Bowl on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.
Let’s dive deeper into how Washington will win its first world championship since 1992, beginning with Sunday’s sport in Philadelphia.
A lock for Rookie of the 12 months, the 24-year-old Daniels has showcased elite poise whereas serving to his long-suffering franchise stack a few of its greatest wins in a long time.
He accomplished 69 p.c of his passes through the common season and has been simply as sharp in his first two playoff video games, hitting 69.7 p.c of his throws for 567 yards and 4 touchdowns with no turnovers.
Daniels will must be simply as proficient Sunday to assist the Commanders hold tempo with an Eagles offense that can don’t have any situation operating the ball towards Washington.
Philadelphia racked up 228 and 211 yards on the bottom in its two regular-season conferences with the Commanders, with Saquon Barkley accounting for 296 of these yards and 4 dashing touchdowns.
Barkley has run for 324 extra yards throughout these playoffs, and Jalen Hurts’ knee harm offers the Eagles much more cause to feed their star operating again on Sunday.
Philadelphia will rating lots, however Washington has confirmed it might outrun its division foe in a observe meet. Daniels tossed a season-high 5 touchdowns within the groups’ Week 16 contest, together with the game-winner to clinch the Commanders’ 36-33 victory.
Even because the Eagles shred his staff’s run protection Sunday, Daniels will conjure one other dazzling efficiency towards Philadelphia’s top-ranked protection to guide Washington to the Superdome.
The method ought to keep the identical for the Commanders in the event that they meet the Buffalo Payments within the Large Simple.
Buffalo additionally boasts a strong run sport behind operating again James Cook dinner and quarterback Josh Allen, who led the Payments’ ninth-ranked dashing offense through the common season.
Buffalo overcame a pair of top-three run defenses in Denver and Baltimore to advance to the AFC Championship, and the Payments would have rolled by Kansas Metropolis’s eighth-ranked unit to get rid of the two-time defending champions.
Cook dinner and Allen will every have their share of explosive carries towards Washington, however Daniels will sprinkle in a number of large runs towards a Buffalo protection that has allowed 8.2 yards per rush towards quarterbacks within the playoffs up to now.
Assuming Daniels performs turnover-free, the Commanders will squeeze previous the Payments in a good sport determined largely by Daniels’ dual-threat capacity.
If Washington finally ends up stopping the Chiefs’ bid for the league’s first-ever three-peat as a substitute, it’ll accomplish that by beating Kansas Metropolis at its personal sport.
The Chiefs have thrived in shut contests, with 11 of their 16 wins by the divisional spherical being determined by one possession.
It’s not a tangible stat, however Kansas Metropolis is definitely probably the most calm and picked up staff within the league when the stress peaks. We’ve all watched Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid win sufficient nail-biters to substantiate that.
The Chiefs will discover themselves in one other shut one towards the Commanders, however Washington will stay regular and play its greatest when it issues most.
It’s how the Commanders began their postseason run, in any case.
Washington had only a 28.4 p.c win likelihood when it trailed Tampa Bay by 4 factors within the fourth quarter. A key takeaway led to the Commanders’ go-ahead landing, and Daniels responded to the Buccaneers’ tying discipline purpose by main his staff 51 yards to the game-winning kick as time expired.
Washington will once more have the ball final towards Kansas Metropolis, setting the stage for one closing magical drive from Daniels to scrub away a long time of soccer futility within the nation’s capital.