The ascension of Jayden Daniels continues.
While the No. 2 overall pick of this year’s draft didn’t complete 80 percent of his passes on Sunday, he played quite well to lead the Commanders to a 34-6 blowout victory over the Browns.
While the pressure from Cleveland’s front seven was able to challenge Daniels, he figured it out by the second quarter. The young quarterback did throw an interception early to linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah after completing an off-schedule 66-yard pass to Terry McLaurin. But at the end of the first half, Daniels again connected on a deep ball with a 41-yard touchdown to receiver Dyami Brown. Brian Robinson had already rushed for two touchdowns at that point, and Austin Seibert had kicked a 27-yard field goal. The Commanders went into halftime with a 24-6 lead.
Running back Jeremy McNichols added a 3-yard run in the third quarter and Seibert hit a 30-yard field goal for Washington to close the scoring.
With the game well out of reach, Washington inserted backup Marcus Mariota with 12:50 left in the fourth quarter.
Daniels finished the contest 14-of-25 for 238 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He also rushed for 82 yards, becoming the first player in NFL history to rush throw for at least 1,000 yards and rush for at least 250 yards in his first five games.
On the other side, the Browns were completely inept on offense. The club started 0-of-12 on third down, finishing 1-of-13 with an inconsequential completion late in the contest.
Cleveland’s pass protection has been bad all year and that continued with Sunday’s performance against Washington. That certainly didn’t help Deshaun Watson, who looked overmatched in all areas. He finished 15-of-28 for 125 yards with a touchdown and a lost fumble. Jameis Winston finished the game, and it was his short completion to D’Onta Foreman that gave the Browns their lone third-down conversion.
To add injury to insult, the Browns lost cornerback Denzel Ward to a hamstring injury and long snapper Charley Hughlett to a rib injury during the game. Safety Grant Delpit was also evaluated for a concussion.
Washington safety Quan Martin was evaluated for a concussion and cleared, but he also had a shoulder injury.
Next week, the 4-1 Commanders will be in Baltimore to play the Ravens.
Now at 1-4, the Browns will stick with playing the NFC East with a road matchup against the Eagles.
