The Washington Commanders suffer double blows as star QB Jayden Daniels and TE Zach Ertz leave Sunday's game versus the Minnesota Vikings game with injuries.
In a game that was expected to highlight the return of arguably the most healthy Commanders offense since week two with both quarterback Jayden Daniels and wide receiver Noah Brown active and available, Washington saw a pair of key players on offense go down in the third quarter vs. Minnesota.
In his first game back in nearly one month, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels left Sunday's game vs. Minnesota midway through the third quarter after the team ruled him questionable to return.
Daniels went into the medical tent then left with a towel over his head on the bench with Marcus Mariota taking over as the Commanders' quarterback with Washington trailing 14-0 at the time in undeniably the worst loss of the 2025 season.
The apparent injury happened on Washington's fourth down attempt, a pass that was broken up at the line of scrimmage for an interception by Vikings' linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel for a 40-yard return as Daniels suffered a big hit while being blocked downfield.
The injury news didn't end there, though, after tight end Zach Ertz was helped off the field in the closing minutes of the third quarter with Washington already trailing, 24-0. Ertz was later carted into the locker room before being ruled out by the team.
Sunday marked Daniels' first appearance since suffering a dislocated elbow in week nine vs. Seattle, an injury that prompted a discussion whether it was worth bringing back the second-year quarterback amid a seven-game losing streak and the postseason outlook a distant reality.
Daniels addressed why sitting out if he was healthy was not a question for either he or the coaching staff despite growing discussion among the fanbase whether it was smart.
“Every season [is] different. A lot of things happen. So you really just trying to go out there and finish the season strong. I'm healthy enough to go out there and play, and who am I to go out there and not tell my teammates I want to play, because something out of my control? So I'm gonna go out there, give my all, and obviously be smart," Daniels said on Friday. But at the end day, I'm really focused on these last couple [of] games and, you know, see where the tables turn.”
“I felt good going into the practice through Wednesday just by the way he threw the ball and that kind of carried over into [Thursday] and after they did a lot of the post practice work, contact and that, the throwing part, you can tell he’s been on that," head coach Dan Quinn said earlier in the week. "Not just the throwing part, he’s been on that the whole time. That looked as sharp as ever. I thought that part would come but we wanted to see everybody around him with the gameplan of how it would work so I just though the whole week, John, he threw a hell of a week.”
Washington will shift its attention to divisional play next week on track to enter the week 15 matchup at the New York Giants at 3-10 overall.