Jayden Daniels, Commanders win on Hail Mary; Jets, Cowboys reach new lows; Shohei Ohtani expected for Game 3

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🏈 The Football Five

1. The Browns shocked the Ravens, 29-23, behind 334 yards passing and three touchdowns from Jameis Winston. Cedric Tillman was on the receiving end of 99 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner with 59 seconds left. It’s impossible to overstate how much better the offense looked with Winston taking over for Deshaun Watson. Will Brinson says this result should end Watson’s time as starter, and John Breech gave Cleveland an “A+” in his Week 8 grades.
2. Don’t look now, but here come the 5-2 Eagles, as evidenced by a 37-17 blowout of the Bengals. I was really impressed with Jalen Hurts, who went 16 for 20 (80%) for 236 yards, threw a perfect 45-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith and ran for three touchdowns. The defense was excellent. This team has a ton of talent, and the results are reflecting that. Joe Burrow still believes in the Bengals.
3. The Bills thumped the Seahawks, 31-10, in windy, rain Seattle. With his strong arm and athletic gifts, Josh Allen is a great bad-weather quarterback, and it showed. The 6-2 Bills are well out in front of an AFC East that has crumbled behind them.
4. Moving to college football, it was “survive and advance” for both Ohio State and Penn State before their huge meeting. The Buckeyes needed a late score to see off Nebraska, 21-17, and they’ll need to be much better going forward, Tom Fornelli writes. The Nittany Lions, meanwhile, saw Drew Allar leave with a lower-body injury in a 28-13 win at Wisconsin.
5. Also not exactly impressive was Texas, which held on for a 27-24 win at Vanderbilt. The Longhorns look like a CFP team but not a championship frontrunner, David Cobb writes. Texas was one of Shehan Jeyarajah’s Week 9 losers, even in a win.

🙌 Good morning to all, but especially to …

JAYDEN DANIELS AND THE WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

Jayden Daniels has answered Commanders fans’ prayers for a quarterback. Sunday, a prayer of his own was answered. Washington’s star rookie quarterback completed a 52-yard walk-off Hail Mary to Noah Brown to stun the Bears, 18-15.

The showdown between the No. 2 overall pick (Daniels) and No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams lived up to its billing. Williams and Chicago’s offense arrived late, but Roschon Johnson‘s 1-yard touchdown plunge and Cole Kmet‘s two-point conversion with 25 seconds left seemed to cap an unlikely rally for an unlikely win.

But Daniels and Brown had other plans. At 6-2, Washington is off to its best start since 2008, and Daniels is the biggest reason why. He was barely able to practice this week, and his play was up-and-down for the most part before ending on the biggest “up” possible.

While the Hail Mary is the highlight that will live forever, we shouldn’t overlook the two plays preceding it.

• With 12 seconds left, Daniels found Zach Ertz for 11 yards. Timeout. Six seconds left.
• With Chicago playing way back, Daniels found Terry McLaurin for 13 yards, and McLaurin got out of bounds. Two seconds left.

Then, magic.

(Oh yeah, and Chicago cornerback Tyrique Stevenson wasn’t even paying attention at the start of the final play.)

I was at the Commanders’ final preseason practice a few months ago, and in what essentially was a walkthrough, the Commanders worked on late-game scenarios of all types. It didn’t seem particularly notable. But when it counted, those minuscule moments loomed large, and Washington executed them to perfection.

If you want to see how one player can change a franchise — and even a city — you just got all the proof you need.

👍 Honorable mentions

😲 And not such a good morning for …

THE DALLAS COWBOYS …

The Cowboys wanted to show they can beat the big, bad 49ers. They can stop the run. They can respond from a whirlwind, angsty last few weeks. They right the ship post-bye.

As it turns out, no … they can’t. Dak Prescott threw a pair of interceptions, San Francisco racked up 223 yards rushing, and the Cowboys fell to 3-4 with a 30-24 loss.

I don’t have much to add, because this is simply who the Cowboys are. They can’t run the ball or stop the run, they don’t have much outside CeeDee Lamb (although it was encouraging to see him get going), and their banged-up defense doesn’t have the game-wreckers it needs to cover up for the down-to-down struggles. That’s a bad recipe.

… AND ALSO NOT SUCH A GOOD MORNING FOR THE NEW YORK JETS

It was the perfect imagery: Aaron Rodgers hobbling up to the line of scrimmage, trying desperately to get a play off before the clock struck zero. It failed. The Jets ran out of time in an abysmal 25-22 loss to the Patriots, and at 2-6, New York’s season is running out of time, too.

If there were ever a “get right” game, you’d think it would be against the Patriots, a team Rodgers shredded and the defense shut down in Week 3, a team that was called “soft” by its own coach just days earlier and a team that lost Drake Maye (concussion) for the game in the second quarter.

But the Jets are not what their big names may make them seem. Even Patriots defensive lineman Davon Godchaux admitted Rodgers “don’t look the same” as his old self. Rodgers’ 61.6% completion percentage is well below his NFL Next Gen Stats “expected” completion percentage of 67%. Only Anthony Richardson, Spencer Rattler and Tyler Huntley have a worse differential.

The defense is just as disappointing. On New England’s game-winning drive, Jacoby Brissett scrambled for 14 yards on third and 9 and found Kayshon Boutte for 34 yards on a third and 10. Rhamondre Stevenson scored on fourth and goal from the 1 to win it. Last year, the Jets were second in the NFL in defensive expected points added. This year, they’re 14th.

The Cowboys and the Jets belong together in this section. There are problems all over, problems we maybe overlooked in the offseason, but problems that are rearing their ugly heads.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

⚾ Shohei Ohtani to play in Game 3 as Dodgers have 2-0 World Series lead

An all-time World Series matchup with all-time great players has already produced an all-time moment and several other clutch ones … and they’re all going the Dodgers‘ way. Los Angeles is two wins away from a World Series title after a pair of excellent, thrilling games.

Let’s start with Game 1, which swung back and forth until Freddie Freeman‘s mighty swing produced the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history for a 6-3 win in 10 innings.

This game had it all:

• Big hits, fantastic starting pitching and great defense
• Fan interference
• Questionable pitching decisions — Nestor Cortes, in his return from injury, gave up Freeman’s slam.
• Parallels to Kirk Gibson‘s iconic walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series

R.J. Anderson ran down the five wildest moments of the game, and Matt Snyder wondered if it was the greatest World Series Game 1 of all time.

Game 2 was plenty exciting, too. Los Angeles tagged Carlos Rodón for four runs early, Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a gem, and Alex Vesia got Jose Trevino to fly out with the bases loaded to clinch a 4-2 win. It’s doubly painful for the Yankees, who missed out on the Yamamoto sweepstakes this offseason.

It wasn’t a perfect game for Los Angeles, though: Shohei Ohtani partially dislocated his shoulder trying to steal second — here’s the injury explanation) — but he’s expected to be in tonight’s lineup. If he’s not, here’s where the Dodgers could turn.

The Yankees need a spark. They really need Aaron Judge, who is 1 for 9 with six strikeouts through two games. No, Aaron Boone won’t move him down in the order, but the struggles are undeniable, Mike Axisa writes.

• Axisa: “Judge saw 21 pitches in his four at-bats in Game 2, took 11 swings, and missed on seven. Only seven of those 21 pitchers were fastballs. The Dodgers have buried Judge with spin — sliders, curveballs, and sweepers — and he seems to have fallen completely out of his approach … During the regular season, Judge swung at only 18.5% of pitches outside the zone, the second-lowest chase rate in baseball behind teammate Juan Soto. That number is up to 28.1% in the postseason, which is higher than the league average.”

Dayn Perry has four keys for the Yankees to get back into it.

🏈 College football Week 9 recap: Texas A&M surges past LSU

Mike Elko is pushing all the right buttons in his debut season at Texas A&M, and for now, his team leads the SEC. The Aggies thundered past LSU, 38-23, outscoring the Tigers 31-6 in the second half after Elko benched Conner Weigman for Marcel Reed at quarterback. Reed only threw two passes, but he kicked the running game into high gear. Shehan Jeyarajah has the inside story on the switch — and what’s next to come.

Even with quarterback up in the air, it’s hard to argue with 242 yards rushing and only 24 yards rushing allowed. The Aggies rose up to No. 9 in Jerry Palm’s bowl projections, No. 10 in the AP Top 25 and No. 11 in the Coaches Poll, and they earned an “A” in David Cobb’s weekly grades.

Here’s more:

📺 What we’re watching Monday

🏀 Bucks at Celtics, 7:30 p.m. on NBA TV
⚾ World Series Game 3: Dodgers at Yankees, 8:08 p.m. on Fox
🏈 Giants at Steelers, 8:15 p.m. on ABC/ESPN
🏀 Lakers at Suns, 10 p.m. on NBA TV