ASHBURN, Va. — Nine Washington Commanders quarterbacks have thrown a touchdown pass to receiver Terry McLaurin. None has inspired the confidence in the Commanders fanbase that Jayden Daniels has in a relatively short period of time.
Yet, for two weeks, many watching this version of Washington football take shape as much as it has after three wondered if Daniels and McLaurin would ever connect on one of those signature deep balls every quarterback and No. 1 receiver has in their shared highlight reel.
When it happened in Cincinnati, Ohio on Monday night, you could almost feel the entire DMV and Commanders-loving population around the world exhale all at once. And just like that, all was right in the football world.
“I think it was just a matter of continuing to be patient. Trusting the process. I knew Jayden and I and our offense had clicked in camp and it was just a matter of doing it when it mattered most,” McLaurin said to WUSA9’s Chick Hernandez two days after Washington shocked the NFL world with a 38-33 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The 27-yard touchdown pass from Daniels to McLaurin was a product of the receiver expressing his confidence in winning the route and his coach and quarterback’s trust in him to deliver on his promise. The result was the final score needed to secure the team’s second win of the season.
Some were surprised to learn McLaurin had asked for that route, that pass, and that specific opportunity. Likely due to the veteran’s reputation as a true team player more worried about the team’s success than his own individual accolades, all while possessing the internal knowledge that when he’s performing at the top of his game, it’s good for his team.
He acknowledged that sometimes his lack of outward protest when he isn’t heavily involved in the game plan can be taken as a weakness, or a lack of drive to be one of the best in the league.
That, he says, couldn’t be further from the truth.
“It's the balance of being a pro and understanding patience, but also being confident in my ability and wanting those moments and wanting to have a chance to give us energy,” McLaurin said when asked about his excited reaction that certainly appeared to coincide with the release of some - call it - tension. “So yeah, I was pretty excited. And Jayden, a lot of my teammates, like man, that was a lot of pent up emotion. And for guys who haven't been around, it's probably the first time they seen me with that kind of emotion. But people who've been around me for a while now, they know that that's in there. And I think in that moment our team kind of needed that kind of energy from me being a leader.”
Leading starts with setting the example. But it goes beyond that. Inspiring others takes more than just doing your job well, it takes tapping into what makes the unit tick and helping to inject fuel into their systems at just the right time.
That is what McLaurin was aiming to do when all of that nervous energy exploded into the Ohio night.
“We worked so freaking hard year in year out to complete those plays. And so to do it on the biggest stage when we needed it…for him to trust me, I mean that was probably one of the best opportunities. That ball just fell out the sky. And when I came out the double move, it fell right into the bread basket. So I'm hoping we (can) continue that momentum going forward.”