The Washington Commanders have faced two measuring sticks so far this season, falling short of competing against a playoff caliber team in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and grinding out a win over the New York Giants. They'll face another one on Monday night, and this one will be seen in front of an audience of millions.
The Commanders will travel to Cincinnati this weekend to take on the Bengals, who have an 0-2 record but are still considered one of the better teams in the AFC with Super Bowl aspirations. It's another opportunity for Washington, a team with a young and mostly overturned roster from 2023, to show how they stack up against a playoff caliber organization and whether they can build on the offensive improvements in Week 2.
The players believe they will be ready for the challenge.
"It's going to be special, but at the end of the day, it's just another game," said quarterback Jayden Daniels.
The main attraction for the evening will be Daniels and Joe Burrow, both of whom won the Heisman Trophy while playing at LSU, facing off against each other for the first time. Daniels and Burrow broke several program and NCAA records with the Tigers; Daniels is the only player in FBS history with 12,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing yards, while Burrow completed his career the best completion rate (68.5%) and passing touchdowns (76) in school history.
Daniels hasn't spoken to Burrow leading up to the Monday night game, but he has respect for the player Burrow was at LSU and is with the Bengals.
"It's big for the whole state of Louisiana to see both of us go up against each other," Daniels said.
Daniels won't be directly competing against Burrow, though, and for a defense that ranks 23rd in passing yards allowed, he will present some problems. Burrow's 67.7% completion rate ranks 14th in the NFL, and while he has been sacked six times -- tied for fourth-most in the NFL -- he has yet to throw an interception.
Against the Kansas City Chiefs, who boast one of the better secondaries playing today, Burrow with 23-of-36 for 258 yards and two scores, albeit in a 26-25 losing effort. The loss marked the third consecutive time the Bengals have started with back-to-back defeats, but the Commanders' players aren't looking at records to prepare for the primetime game; rather, they're more focused on Burrow and how his weapons can hurt them.
"Oh, they're a really good football team," defensive tackle Jonathan Allen said of the Bengals. "When you have a quarterback like Joe Burrow and receivers like Ja'Marr Chase and the players that they have, it's always going to be exciting to go against them."
Despite the team's 0-2 start, the Commanders are expecting what guard Sam Cosmi called an "electric" atmosphere on Monday. It will be on Cosmi and the offense to take the crowd out of the game, and Sunday's game against the Giants showed that the unit at least the potential to accomplish that. Though the Commanders' six failed red zone trips overshadow the positives from Week 2, they did manage to put 425 yards of offense and convert 50% of their third-down attempts.
Cosmi said the offense was "just that close" in terms of putting it all together. They'll need to figure out the communication errors they experience against the Giants first, though, and if they do, Cosmi believes the unit can be effective.
"When all the pistons are firing at the same time, we're rolling," Cosmi said.
To do that, Washington's offense will need its youth, which has played a key role to start the reason, to perform in primetime. Wide receiver Luke McCaffrey said he wants to set a tone from the start.
"I think we're laying down a lot of foundation for what we can build on," McCaffrey said.
Head coach Dan Quinn just wants the young players to "embrace the buildup."
"I wanted them to enjoy the buildup and knowing there's a routine that goes into place for a night game," Quinn said. "But just going through that process, having the younger players lean into the older guys onto that, it's a big deal and yeah, we're really excited for it."
Much of the Commanders' fate on Sunday will rest with Daniels, who continues to show marked improvement each week and has yet to commit a turnover in his NFL career. Should he lead the team to a win, it would send a clear message to the rest of the league and give Washington a 2-1 start before traveling across the country to take on the Arizona Cardinals.
Daniels isn't worried about the effects of a potential win, though. He's more focused on doing the actual winning.
"I'm just trying to do whatever it takes to help get a win," Daniels said on what he wants to show Monday. "But overall, for the team...that we play hard. We play with effort, we're physical, and we're not gonna back down from nobody."
And the Commanders aren't paying attention to the Bengals' record this week; they know they're preparing for a fight.
"Once eight o'clock or whatever comes, you're not thinking about records," Quinn said. "You're just thinking about 'how do we go win,' and we're really pumped to go battle with them, and we've got respect for them, but we'll be ready to fight as well."
