Jayden Daniels Identifies What Washington Was Missing Against the Giants’ Blitz — Commanders Daily

The Washington Commanders had more go wrong late in Sunday's 27-27 tie with the New York Giants than the final 12 seconds everyone has spent the week talking about.

That ending deserves the criticism it has gotten, but Washington's offense was already having trouble before it reached the Giants' 24-yard line with 55 seconds left. New York had started bringing more pressure, and Jayden Daniels admitted Thursday that he didn't always get the Commanders into the right answer.

“We just gotta learn from it,” Daniels said when asked about Washington's fourth-quarter passing game. “You know, they were bringing a lot of zero pressure. I gotta be able to get different checks to the guys and, you know, ultimately just be, play in the quarterback position, make sure we're in the right position to be able to get the ball out to its perimeters, to the skill guys, so they can make plays and hopefully break a couple tackles and make some things happen.”

At first glance, four sacks against the blitz is going will put most of the attention on the offensive line. The problem is that some of these pressure looks sent more rushers than Washington had available blockers, which means the answer had to be something other than asking the line to hold up longer.

According to Next Gen Stats, New York blitzed Daniels on 62.2% of his dropbacks, the Giants' highest rate in a game this season. Daniels still completed 11-of-18 passes for 131 yards against the blitz and added a 38-yard touchdown run, so this wasn't something that wrecked Washington's offense every time New York tried it.

The fourth quarter and overtime were much different.

Fourteen of the Giants' 24 blitzes came during that stretch, pushing their blitz rate to approximately 74%. New York also used Cover 0 on 10 of Daniels' dropbacks, including the final three plays of regulation, and sacked him three times.

Cover 0 leaves the defense without a deep safety, which can create opportunities for the offense if the quarterback has time to find them. When the Giants sent more players than Washington kept in protection, however, someone was going to come free no matter how well the offensive line handled everyone else.

That's when the quarterback needs somewhere else to go with the ball.

“If you're bringing more, then you need to have answers that may not even be part of the play,” Quinn said Thursday. “Okay, now there's eight players up. This is where we can go. This is the next option. And that's always a part of it.”

Quinn didn't explain what those specific answers are, which isn't something Washington would want to give San Francisco anyway. It could mean changing the protection, adjusting a receiver's route, or getting the ball outside before the extra defender gets to Daniels.

This is where the responsibility starts spreading beyond the offensive line. Offensive coordinator David Blough and the rest of the staff have to give Daniels options he can get to when the defense changes the numbers; Daniels has to recognize the pressure and communicate the check, and everyone else has to understand what changes with it.

That doesn't sound overly complicated, but one player missing the adjustment can ruin the entire play.

“You know, sit down with Blough, and offensively his offensive staff, myself, have some answers for it knowing that, you know, teams are gonna try to get the ball out of my hand, heat us up, right, and everything like that,” Daniels said. “So just have an answer from him and, you know, preparing for it.”

Of course, none of this clears the offensive line. Daniels was still sacked four times against the blitz, and there were plays when the protection could have been better. It just means blaming those sacks entirely on the players up front would ignore what Daniels and Quinn both said Thursday.

There are two ways to look at how Washington handled the pressure against New York. Daniels completed more than 60% of his passes against the blitz and made the Giants pay with his legs, but New York also had enough late success to keep bringing it throughout the fourth quarter and overtime.

The Giants found something that worked when they needed it most.

San Francisco will see the same film, and the 49ers won't have to blitz on nearly three-quarters of Washington's late-game dropbacks to find out if the Commanders fixed anything. A few pressure looks in the right situations should be enough to test Daniels' checks and whether the rest of the offense is on the same page.

Considering how the Giants ended Sunday's game, Washington should expect that test to come.

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PHILIP HUGHES

Philip Hughes covers the Washington Commanders with a focus on daily news, film analysis, roster construction, player development, and the fan culture surrounding one of the NFL’s most scrutinized teams. A longtime sports writer and content creator, Hughes has spent more than 20 years building football audiences across the interwebs and following the daily beat of the NFC East. email: hailbng+si@gmail.com