There have been a lot of firsts for Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels in Year 1 of his NFL career, and in a few days, he will have another first that he will experience - playoff football.
The Commanders, with the No. 6 seed, will travel to Raymond James Stadium to face Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Every facet of the game is now magnified at playoff time, and that means that Daniels will be facing pressure, unlike anything he has seen before in his NFL career.
But as we've learned about Jayden, he doesn't get too high or too low when it comes to his emotions, and that hasn't changed when talking about his thoughts on experiencing playoff football for the first time.
”It's just going through my routine that I usually go through,” Daniels said. “I know it's cliche, but it's literally just a another game, it's only a couple teams are still playing left.”
That even-keeled approach has served Daniels and the Commanders well this season, but are playoffs "just" another game? Well, one thing is certain: that's how Jayden looks at it.
With so much pressure on every snap, the Commanders know that the Buccaneers showed them a clean set of heels in Week 1 and will want retribution. But the stakes have now gone through the roof, and it is a true one-and-done scenario for Washington.
Daniels thinks it's just another game, and we imagine it won't take him too long to find out against the Buccaneers that it's not the case.
