Despite a turbulent debut, the undrafted rookie earns a high-stakes road start against a vulnerable Cowboys defense as Tampa Bay seeks to ignite its struggling offensive attack.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ rookie QB Jalon Daniels will get a second chance, coach Todd Bowles confirmed after Sunday’s loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Daniels, starting in place of the injured Baker Mayfield, ended the day with 19 completions on 27 passes for 148 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
An established dual-threat from his days alt Kansas, Daniels rushed for 55 yards on eight carries.
As a rookie undrafted free agent, it’s unclear how long Daniels will be in command even with starter Baker Mayfield on the shelf. The Bucs also has Easton Stick, a veteran with six NFL starts under his belt, and always have the option of trying to trade for a guy like Pittsburgh’s Mason Rudolph or another backup elsewhere.
But for now, Daniels is the guy.
So what did Bowles think about what he saw from the rookie?
As the statline indicates, Daniels has his good moments and bad moments, and Bowles pointed that out in the presser.
He also affirmed that he believes in Daniels, and that, although the NFL is different, this is a game the 23-year-old has been playing his whole life.
“No matter where you come from,” Bowles said, “your first NFL game has to happen at some point.”
Indeed, it does.
Daniels also spoke with reporters after the game, which he’s going to get used to doing as a starter.
He said he felt that, in both interceptions, he had the right read on coverage, but didn’t make the right throw.
“That’s the frustrating part,” he said, “knowing you read the coverage right, but you failed to execute.”
He also said he felt comfortable from the first play onward, which is an encouraging sign going forward.
Now, it’s onto Dallas.
The Cowboys pulled out a big win over the Houston Texans, but gave up 30 points in the process.
Last season, Dallas gave up a league worse 511 points.
Dallas revamped its defense over the offseason, and recently made a big trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. But so far, things haven’t been much better. Dallas is giving up 27.3 points per game, and it’s 82 points allowed were the 10th most in the league as of early Sunday.
It would be a good time for the Buccaneers offense to get going.
Even before losing Mayfield, the Bucs weren’t scoring a lot.
At the end of its loss to Green Bay, Tampa had scored 62 points, which were the 12th fewest in the league. For context, Tampa is averaging 20.7 points per game now. Last year, it averaged 22.4 game, a performance that frustrated Todd Bowles enough to fire coordinator Josh Grizzard after just one season.
Bucs-Cowboys is scheduled for 8:15 Thursday on Prime Video.
