Can 'Calm and Cool' Jayden Daniels Make History Vs. Eagles

  The NFL’s Divisional Round of the playoffs was filled with veteran star quarterbacks.

From the presumptive 1-2 in the MVP race – Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson and Buffalo’s Josh Allen – to the face of the league in three-time Super Bowl winner Patrick Mahomes, as well as the Eagles’ Jalen Hurts, borderline future Hall of Famer Matthew Stafford of the LA Rams, and Detroit’s Jared Goff.  Even second-year Houston signal caller C.J. Stroud came in with playoff experience.

Somehow the most poised, calm, and collected QB last weekend, at least after the other-worldly Mahomes, was Washington rookie Jayden Daniels, who will lead his upstart Commanders (14-5) into Lincoln Financial Field Sunday against the favored 16-3 Eagles, who are hosting their third Championship Game in eight years.

It won’t be easy, a favored Minnesota team was trounced by Philadelphia 38-7 in the 2018 NFCCG when Nick Foles went on a Vinnie Johnson-like heater, and a well-regarded San Francisco club was “gutted” 31-7 as then-defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon predicted when Haason Reddick decided to play game-wrecker and knocked out every available 49ers quarterback.

If Daniels stays poised and leads the Commanders to victory in the Colosseum-like atmosphere he’ll face in South Philadelphia he wins the mythical title of greatest rookie QB of all-time.

“He's a young quarterback by birth certificate, not by the tape,” Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said earlier this week. … You can tell how much they think he's playing so good by the volume of their offense and the things they trust him to do.

“He's come through for them in a big way, and he's tough to handle.”

Fangio, a 40-year coaching veteran, was then asked of Daniels was the best rookie to play the position.

The thinking cap came on and after a few moments to think about it Fangio said “you know, probably, yeah.”

Daniels followed a spectacular regular season by winning his first two career playoff starts and has already recorded a postseason rookie record of 46 completions, along with 567 passing yards, four touchdown passes, no interceptions, a 116.2 passer rating, and 87 more yards on the ground.

By winning the NFC Championship Game, Daniels can surpass Ben Roethlisberger (14 wins in 2005) for the most wins by a rookie quarterback in NFL history, and become the first rookie starting quarterback to win three postseason games and start a Super Bowl.

On Monday it was Nick Sirianni’s turn and the Eagles coach with the third-best winning percentage in the Super Bowl era praised Daniels' playmaking skills and demeanor.

“I think he's able to win different ways. He can win with his arm. He can win with his legs. He can extend plays and make a play with his legs. He can extend a play and make a play with his arm,” Sirianni said of Daniels. “You can see that he's calm and cool in the biggest moments, and got a lot of respect for how he's playing.”

Sirianni even compared Daniels to his own star QB.

“Jalen is pretty stoic as you guys know, and I love that about him. It’s the same thing I said about [Commanders QB] Jayden Daniels, that he's calm, cool. I feel the same exact thing about Jalen Hurts,” Sirianni said.