LANDOVER, Md. – Moments after the Washington Commanders finished the 2023 season at 4-13 and locked up the second pick in the draft, Daron Payne was already feeling optimistic about the organization's long-term future.
In fact, the standout defensive tackle was bullish about success coming much quicker.
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“You see it around the NFL,” Payne said on Jan. 7. "Just last year, the Houston Texans, man, they was horrible. Now, look at them. They’re a playoff team. All it takes is a couple pieces. A couple pieces, a couple good players and just start a run.”
Steps away from his locker stall, 357 days later, new coach Dan Quinn called over new general manager Adam Peters to celebrate the Commanders completing an improbable turnaround. Peters held a game ball from Washington's 30-24 overtime victory in his hand and addressed controlling owner Josh Harris.
“There's no better gift that you can give a man on his 60th birthday than a playoff berth,” Peters said, handing the ball to Harris while players cheered.
“Thank you guys for everything,” Harris exclaimed. “Playoffs!"
Jan. 11, 12 or 13 at Tampa Bay, Philadelphia or the Los Angeles Rams will be just Washington's seventh playoff game this century, and it comes in Jayden Daniels' breakout rookie season after taking the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback with the No. 2 pick.
“The fan base waited a long time for this,” Daniels said after leading another comeback victory. “I really can’t put into words how much it means to them and how much it means to me to be able to go out there and lead this franchise and this team to opportunities like that.”
Who saw this coming?
Payne maybe had a premonition. Super Bowl champion tight end Zach Ertz agreed to join the Commanders in early March long before Daniels was drafted and even before veteran QB Marcus Mariota signed as a free agent.
After Harris and ownership put Peters in charge of football operations, then they collaborated to hire Quinn, Kliff Kingsbury was brought in to run the offense and Joe Whitt Jr. the defense.
“I knew with the staff that they were building that we were going to have a chance,” Ertz said.
Following Ertz to Washington were six-time All-Pro Bobby Wagner and fellow linebackers Frankie Luvu and Dante Fowler, safety Jeremy Chinn, running back Austin Ekeler, defensive end Dorance Armstrong and offensive linemen Nick Allegretti, Tyler Biadasz.
“We started bringing in veterans who I played against my whole life that a lot of them have torched us our whole life: Zach Ertz, Bobby Wagner — all these guys,” punter Tress Way said.
With Peters turning over more than half the 90-man training camp roster, gelling was important.
“Everybody had to get to know each other,” said Wagner, who won the Super Bowl with Seattle when Quinn was defensive coordinator there. “Everybody had to kind of build that camaraderie. And I think we did that really fast. There was a lot of guys that bought into the culture, bought into the people around them, had confidence in the people around them.”
Daniels the difference
Spring workouts allowed for that and helped the light bulb go off for Way, the team's longest-tenured player who endured a lot of losing over his decade in the league. He gave up his number to Daniels so the new face of the franchise could wear the same No. 5 on his chest that he did at Arizona State and LSU.
There were no regrets.
“The first time I saw ‘5’ throw the football, I just thought, ‘Well, let’s play some ball and see what happens,'” Way said.
Daniels was not anointed the starter when he arrived, nor at the beginning of training camp. It took a couple of preseason games before Quinn made that declaration.
“Nothing’s ever been given to anyone on this team,” Ertz said. “Even Jayden, they made him earn it throughout training camp, throughout the offseason. And that stuff doesn’t go unnoticed by players like myself who have been in the league for 12 years.”
Daniels lost his NFL debut, then led the Commanders on a four-game winning streak and victories in seven of the next eight while gutting through a rib injury, including a Hail Mary touchdown throw to beat Chicago among his many spectacular moments.
“His poise, him being able to stay calm in the pocket in pressure situations, you don’t get that from a lot of rookie quarterbacks,” receiver Jamison Crowder said. “I’m just glad, man, that he’s on my team."
‘Finding a way’
The Commanders beat the New York Giants in Week 2 despite not scoring a touchdown thanks to seven field goals on seven tries from new kicker Austin Seibert. They beat Cincinnati on the road on Monday night, then won at Arizona and took care of business at home against Cleveland.
A predictable defeat at AFC heavyweight Baltimore followed to bring them back to earth. Teammates recalled Daniels' anger after losing, and it filtered around the room.
“Nobody gets down, but everybody gets (ticked) off,” Way said. “You don’t get sad. You just get mad and then you go back and do better.”
The rib injury sidelined Daniels early in a rout of Carolina, but he returned the following week to beat the Bears. Winning 27-22 at the Giants the following week to improve to 7-2 was the kind of “ugly game” that showed players what they could do when Daniels didn't have the magic touch.
“It was like, man, we’re just finding a way to win,” Way said. “There’s just this belief."
Daniels completed 60.98% of his passes in his first five games back. The Commanders lost three in a row in November to Pittsburgh, at Philadelphia and to Dallas.
They have not lost since, are 11-5 and have the chance to think about making a playoff run just as surprising as this season.
“I love being part of this group of guys, and it feels awesome to obviously be able to go to the playoffs in our first year,” Ertz said. "But we also feel like we still have some room to grow, room to improve. ... We just can’t rest on our laurels.”
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