WASHINGTON — The Washington Commanders are gearing up for a big game with the Chicago Bears Sunday at Northwest Stadium, a game advertised as a battle of two of the best rookie quarterbacks, Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels.
The latter left Sunday's game during the first offensive drive after suffering a rib injury. Commanders head coach Dan Quinn gave no update Wednesday on Daniels’ status for this Sunday, but did say the quarterback did not practice Wednesday. Quinn says a further update will come after Friday's practice.
"We want to make sure he can fully express himself and do all the things that he does that makes him so unique and special," Quinn said. "That’s what we’ll do, but not much different than any other player. Going through a Wednesday to Thursday to Friday. That’ll be the key, going through the week, that he can be him fully turned up."
Right now, the team is preparing for 10-year veteran Marcus Mariota to be under center.
Mariota relieved the injured Daniels early on and threw for 205 yards and a couple of touchdowns in the Commanders’ rout of the Panthers Sunday. He spoke at the podium Wednesday instead of Daniels.
“It’s never easy when the starting quarterback goes down, so it’s really a collective effort from everybody to step their games up and our guys, unfazed," said Mariota. "Going into this week, just trying to prepare and be ready to go if I am called upon, but I think our guys do a great job of helping that transition.”
Mariota says reps he got with the first team during the spring helped him transition without a hitch Sunday and if he’s asked to start against the Bears, he’ll be ready to go, and his teammates are fully behind him.
"A leader like Marcus is huge," said offensive lineman Nick Allegretti. "He obviously hasn’t been on the field a whole lot this year until this past week, but his leadership is felt every day on the practice field, on the game field. A lot of the stuff you’re seeing from Jayden is because of his leadership. You love having Jayden out there, but leadership-wise, Marcus is a huge part of this team."
No official designation has been given for Daniels' status Sunday, but Mariota says the rookie is still preparing as if he'll play.
"I think every test that he's gotten he's passed with flying colors, right? And this is no different," Mariota said. "He's in here early, he's in here the whole time just getting treatment. He's doing his best to give himself a shot to play, and I think he deserves a lot of credit for that. There's a lot of guys that I've been around over the course of my career where 'I don't feel great, I might just kind of take the week off,' but he's very engaged in this. He's very invested and the way he's approached it is very much similar to how he's approached week by week and I think it's a lot of credit to him and who he is."
Quinn said the layout of the team's playbook is also a benefit to Mariota.
"Good news for him, there’s a lot of banked reps on a lot of plays," said Quinn. "For us, there’s not 50 new plays that go in every game. There’s a lot of banked reps on the things he’s done exceptionally well. Some plays you guys have seen being at practice that other people haven’t. Those are still banked reps. They might be new to the opponent, but they’re not new to us."