The Washington Commanders want to win as many games as possible in general manager Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn's first season. That's the ultimate barometer for success in the NFL, but the larger goal for the new front office is to discover whether No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels can be the guy for years to come.

The latter of those priorities is still in the beginning of a long-term process, but the initial results, albeit a small sample size, have been positive. If they continue in that direction, perhaps the short-term aspirations can be achieved as well.

After putting together a mostly fine Week 1 performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Daniels made his home debut in front of a sold-out crowd and showed marked improvement, rushing less and passing more but still proving himself as an effective player with a 79.3% completion rate and 270 total yards. Daniels' progression had a sanguine effect on the Commanders' offense, and his coaches expect that trend to continue.

"I think he has a real conscience for the ball and security for it," Quinn said. "That was one of the things that made him so unique coming out of college, that many touchdowns for that many interceptions. And so, he has a real mindset about it. It's a really important thing for us, taking care of the ball."

An NFL debut against the Buccaneers was always going to be a challenge with Todd Bowles' constant blitzes to harrying Daniels. It didn't cause Daniels to throw an interception -- he's one of six quarterbacks with at least 50 attempts to avoid that error through two games -- but it did lead to the offense settling for dinks and dunks rather than more explosive plays. Daniel relied on his legs to avoid the pressure; it worked sometimes but didn't give enough time for other potentially positive plays to develop.

The Giants' defense took a more conventional approach with a blitz strategy that was closer to the league average. Although many of Daniels' passes were behind the line of scrimmage, as was the case in Week 1, he also increased his attempts at more explosive plays, hitting on six of nine passes traveling more than 10 yards. That played a role in the Commanders' offense putting up 425 yards, compared to the 299 they had against the Buccaneers, and doubled their third-down conversion rate from 25% to 50%.

"Just go out there and play the game," Daniels said. "I'm seeing it really well. We both have so there wasn't a conversation, like 'hey sit in there a little bit more.' It was just as the game was going. I kind of just played football."

There were still moments where Daniels could have let plays develop before taking off, but considering how well he is taking care of the ball and directing the offense, the Commanders are willing to be patient.

"I will say that the completion, the poise of Jayden and putting the ball at the right spot, that's a really big deal," Quinn said. "And I think the more we play, we are still a new team together, the more reps, the more game experience that we get, these are really valuable times for us. And so, the games are so important, not just because of the win-loss, but how we wanna play. I just kind of anticipated us continuing this trajectory upwards."

It helps that Daniels is rewarding the Commanders' patience. He's third among all quarterbacks in completion rate (75.5%) and eighth in passer rating (97.2). On the ground, Daniels is second in his position with 132 yards behind Lamar Jackson and averaging 5.1yards per carry.

And Washington's offense is showing progress along with Daniels. They went from 17th to 10th in yards per game between Weeks 1 and 2, fueled by their sixth-ranked rushing attack. The biggest increase came on third-down production, as the Commanders' offense went from 26th to 11th with a conversion rate of 40.9%.

There are things the Commanders want Daniels to clean up as he gets more NFL snaps. One thing they don't want is for him to fundamentally change his style.

"No, not at all," Daniels said when asked whether there were conversations about him running less. "Just call the game. At the end of the day, the defense dictates what we do. You go out there and you're just playing football at that point."

Daniels' play style might make fans tense at times -- he sat out a play against the Giants after taking a hit that knocked the wind out of him while converting a third-and-13 -- but it does help the offense show up in critical moments, which is an area it has sorely underperformed in over the past five seasons.

The Commanders had a chance to win the game thanks to a failed fourth-down attempt by the Giants, and Daniels led the offense on an eight-play drive to the Giants' 12-yard line. Daniels' first pass of the series was a 34-yard strike in the middle of the field to Noah Brown that moved the ball to the Giants' 43.

"We had a three-minute concept, front-side over to the left, and defense covered that really well and was able to get back to the end cut with Noah," Daniels said. "We kind of hit it earlier in the game when he made a nice catch for slide, and he was able to win that route. I got the time needed, and he was able to beat the safety with the ball, and he took it from there."

Later in the drive, Daniels escaped to the right for a 14-yard gain, helping set up what was the game-winning field goal. It wasn't pretty, but it was a win and a sign of progress. As Daniels learns to balance his skill sets, Quinn expects the wins will come easier.

"And as we're going into our [third] game and moving forward," Quinn said, "I do think that's going to be one part of the game that you're really going to see take off for him is remaining a passer, putting his eyes down the field first and making some plays that way, too."