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One of the best stories of this 2025 season has been the emergence of rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders. Left for dead in a jam-packed NFC East, the team entered Week 15 at 8-5 and in the seventh and final seed in the conference playoff picture.
To keep pace and fend off a Los Angeles Rams team surging at the right time, they needed a win in New Orleans.
It was hairy late, but they got it.
Daniels’ fellow rookie, Spencer Rattler, rallied the Saints from down 17-0 to within a touchdown late in the game. An errant clock stoppage helped the home team out and gave them a chance to score one last time, a chance Rattler and Co. cashed in.
A failed but gutsy two-point conversion lost the Saints the game and enabled a huge sigh of relief from a Commanders team that has to be better than that if they hope to make an impression in the playoffs.
Daniels played well, tossing two touchdowns and ending the day with his second, consecutive QB rating higher than 110 but the defense’s inability to stop a Saints team utilizing its second and third-string quarterbacks was concerning and not something the organization can expect to escape unscathed from every week.
A repeat of that performance could cost them more than a win; it could cost them a playoff spot that no one expected in Year One of the Dan Quinn-Jayden Daniels regime but has everyone excited for in the nation’s capital.
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