Jayden Daniels accomplishes feat last performed by Slinging Sammy Baugh in 1937

Jayden Danielsmeet Slinging Sammy Baugh.

The dynamic Commanders rookie quarterback accomplished a feat in his playoff debut that no NFL quarterback had accomplished since Baugh in the franchise’s first season in Washington in 1937.

Daniels threw two touchdown passes to lead the Commanders to a 23-20 victory at Tampa Bay Sunday night, joining Russell Wilson (2012), Mark Sanchez (2009) and Joe Flacco (2008) as the only rookie quarterbacks in the Super Bowl era to earn a road playoff start.

But Daniels did more than just win. He threw for 268 yards and led the team with 38 rushing yards, becoming the first rookie in NFL history to lead his team in rushing and passing yards in a playoff victory. He also joined Baugh as the only rookie quarterbacks to throw at least two TD passes in a road playoff victory, with Baugh throwing three in the NFL title game victory in 1937 against the Chicago Bears.

Daniels’ 13 victories in the regular season and playoffs are one shy of Ben Roethlisberger’s rookie record set in 2004 for Pittsburgh, and he has five fourth-quarter comebacks.

Daniels was at his best in the clutch, with his passer rating of 117.3 when tied or down by eight points or less in the fourth quarter or overtime, ranking No. 1 among 233 quarterbacks with at least 50 attempts in this situation since 1991.

The Commanders also played their third game this season with Daniels at quarterback when they didn’t throw the ball or commit a turnover. This had only been done twice before in the postseason, with Josh Allen doing it for Buffalo against New England in the 2021 season and Hall of Famer Peyton Manning for Indianapolis against Kansas City in the 2003 season.

Dazzling debut

The success that Coach Dan Quinn What he experienced in his first year as Washington’s coach should bring some optimism to the seven teams making coaching changes this offseason.

Quinn took over a four-win team and guided the Commanders to the divisional round. Such overnight success is not unusual in the NFL, where high draft picks, easier schedules and typical regression to the mean make turnarounds very possible.

Quinn is the ninth coach in the last 10 seasons to reach the divisional round in his first full season with a team, with the 2016 and 2021 seasons being the only ones in that span not to feature at least one. In 2022, the New York Giants with Brian Daboll and Jacksonville with Doug Pederson reached the divisional round with first-year coaches.

Three of those previous eight coaches advanced to the conference title game, with Matt LaFleur losing his trip to Green Bay in 2019 and Doug Marrone losing to Jacksonville in 2017.

Gary Kubiak won the Super Bowl in his first season in Denver in 2015, becoming the fourth coach to win the feat, following Tampa Bay’s Jon Gruden (2002), San Francisco’s George Seifert (1989) and Baltimore’s Don McCafferty (1970).

Familiar faces

The AFC Divisional Round will have an eerily familiar look this season.

For the second time, all four teams participating in a conference’s divisional round will make new appearances with Kansas City, Buffalo, Baltimore And Houston everyone comes back.

The only difference will be the matchups, with the Chiefs hosting the Texans and the Bills hosting the Ravens this year. Baltimore beats Houston during this cycle last year and Kansas City beats Buffalo.

The only time this happened was in the AFC in 2011-12, when New England, Denver, Baltimore and Houston all had it in back-to-back years, with the Patriots and Ravens advancing each time.

The NFC has only one recurring team in the divisional round, with Detroit returns for a second consecutive season after not having gone this far since 1991.

Tomlin Falls

Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers had another disappointing playoff appearance.

THE The Steelers lost 28-14 to the Baltimore Ravens Saturday evening for their sixth consecutive playoff lossplacing Tomlin in a rare coaching venture.

Tomlin is tied with Marty Schottenheimer, Jim Mora and Steve Owen for the second-longest playoff losing streak in NFL history, one loss shy of the seven-game skid Marvin Lewis experienced as coach of Cincinnati.

The games haven’t even been competitive most of the time since the streak began with a 36-17 loss to New England in the 2016 AFC title game.

The Steelers were outscored 73-0 in the first quarter of those losses and didn’t have the ball with a lead once in any of those games. The only time they had a lead was in the 2021 wild-card game against Kansas City, when TJ Watt returned a fumble for a TD to open the scoring.

The Chiefs scored a touchdown on the next drive and never trailed again en route to a 42-21 victory.

The skid also includes a wild-card loss to Buffalo last season, a 48-37 loss at home in the 2020 wild-card round to Cleveland and a 45-42 loss at home to Jacksonville in the 2020 wild-card round. the 2017 divisional round.

Tomlin is the fourth coach since the merger to go at least eight consecutive seasons with a team without winning a playoff game. Lewis never won a playoff game in 16 seasons with the Bengals, Mora had no playoff wins in 11 seasons with New Orleans and Don Shula went eight straight seasons without a playoff win between appearances. to the Super Bowl during the 1973 and 1982 seasons.

Houston poses a problem

Houston’s defense has caused problems for quarterbacks all season.

The Texans held Josh Allen to a 9 for 30 performance in week 5, intercepted Jared Goff five times during week 10, then forced Justin Herbert in one of the worst games he’s ever played.

Herbert threw four interceptions Saturday’s loss to Houston – surpassing his total by 17 games in the regular season – for his most in any NFL or college game.

The Texans had nine interceptions on 62 passes (14.5%) in the two games against Goff and Herbert, while those two QBs threw just 10 on the other 1,013 passes (0.99%) that they launched this season.

The strong defensive effort sent the Texans to the divisional round for the second straight season with CJ Stroud at quarterback. Stroud is the sixth QB to earn playoff starts in each of his first two seasons, joining Brock Purdy, Russell Wilson, Mark Sanchez, Joe Flacco and Ben Roethlisberger.

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