Under further review, everyone overreacted to Commanders' response to Jayden Daniels injury

Washington's offensive line drew sharp criticism after walking toward the sideline while the star QB was down, but an 11-second video doesn't tell the whole story

Sep 24, 2026 at 12:52 pm ET • 2 min read

The Washington Commanders' season hit a snag when star quarterback Jayden Daniels re-injured his left elbow in the Week 2 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. After taking a snap at the end of the first half, Daniels dislocated his elbow while trying to catch himself after he tripped and had to be carted off the field. X-rays showed no fracture, but Washington's best player is expected to miss some time.

To add insult to injury, Daniels' teammates came under fire for seemingly not supporting their quarterback when he went down. It appeared his offensive line was content to walk off the field while medical staff attended to Daniels. 

Even CBS Sports' Kyle Long took issue with this sequence on CBS Sports' "Set, Hut!"

"What really stood out to me as an offensive lineman is, Jayden Daniels, on the ground, writhing in pain — obviously in tremendous pain — and his offensive linemen are just moseying to the sideline?" Long said. "Nobody is surrounding around their quarterback, nobody is trying to get him up. I did not like that body language from the Washington Commanders. That doesn't look good to me; the optics are really bad." 

However, the NFL world may have overreacted to an 11-second clip as Fox went to halftime. 

Those actually in attendance in Dallas got to work posting pictures and videos from what really happened on social media. As Fox cameras went to commercial, Commanders teammates came back on the field to see their quarterback loaded on the cart. They didn't bolt for the locker room. 

On Wednesday, even Commanders head coach Dan Quinn was asked about the viral clip surrounding the team's reaction to Daniels' injury. 

"Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because it's just the opposite in fact," Quinn said. "These guys were absolutely gutted. When the half is over — the referee even came and said, 'Dan, I can't delay the half. They can't stay on the field.' And [Daniels' teammates] were like, 'No, I'm staying.' So it's just the opposite, in fact. They were gutted, they love this guy, and so halftime was hard, it was emotional in that space." 

So, the officials actually had to kick Daniels' teammates OFF the field because they couldn't stop the halftime clock. It seems much of the NFL world, because of a viral 11-second clip, was a bit too quick to claim Daniels' teammates don't have the same love and respect for their quarterbacks as other teams do.