LANDOVER, Md. — Jayden Daniels felt tired. Tired from a game that went well past 60 minutes. Tired from running all over the field for the better part of three-plus hours.
It was all worth it after carrying the Washington Commanders into the playoffs.
Daniels connected with Zach Ertz in overtime for his third touchdown pass of the game to clinch a playoff spot by beating the Atlanta Falcons 30-24 in overtime Sunday night in a back-and-forth prime-time showdown between highly drafted rookie quarterbacks.
“The fan base waited a long time for this,” Daniels said. “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.”
Daniels ran for a season-high 127 yards, including 42 in OT, and completed 24 of 36 passes for 227 yards and had two TD passes to Ertz and another to Olamide Zaccheaus to make the playoffs in his rookie year.
In his latest comeback performance in a season full of them, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft in April shook off an interception and a 10-point halftime deficit and led the winning drive in overtime that was capped with the 2-yard pass to Ertz.
“You want to be in these moments,” said veteran linebacker Bobby Wagner, who saw a look in Daniels’ eyes late in the game that foreshadowed another winning performance. “Him getting hit and making big plays, his confidence, his demeanor never changes. You know that he knows he’s going to make a play, and everybody on the sideline and on the field believes he’s going to make a play.”
The Commanders (11-5) could move up to the sixth seed in the NFC and set up a wild-card round game at Tampa Bay or the Los Angeles Rams if they win their regular-season finale at Dallas next weekend. They otherwise would be seventh and visit division-rival Philadelphia unless Green Bay loses to Chicago.
The Falcons (8-8) lost control of their chances of winning the NFC South and ensuring a home playoff game. They now need to beat Carolina and for the Buccaneers to lose to New Orleans to qualify altogether.
“Control what your controllables are,” Atlanta coach Raheem Morris said. “Go out there and win our football game. That’s all we can do. Everything else is out of our control. Those things don’t matter. Thing we got to do is prepare for this football game. Prepare for the Panthers.”
Atlanta was in control for the first half of the game, gashing Washington’s defense with the running game until abandoning it. Bijan Robinson had 82 yards and two touchdown runs on 13 carries until a minute was left in the second quarter — but had just 8 yards the rest of the way.
Penix did his best to try to carry the Falcons back after they fell behind 24-17 late. The eighth pick in the draft made his second professional start and finished a 12-play, 68-yard drive with a touchdown pass to Kyle Pitts to tie it with 1:19 left.
A throw from Penix to Drake London drew a pass interference penalty with 2 seconds left in regulation and gave Riley Patterson a chance at a go-ahead field goal. But Patterson’s 56-yard attempt fell short as time expired and Atlanta never got the ball back.
“We just went back to our technique and fundamentals: Keep it simple for stopping the run and keep it on the passing game,” Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu said. “Shout out to the quarterback, man. He threw a couple balls at the end of the game. He’s a hell of a player, man, and pulse of that team and they fought. It’s always a fight with them.”
Penix finished 19 of 35 for 223 yards with the TD pass and an interception.
