The Commanders didn’t have Jayden Daniels for most of Sunday’s home game against the Panthers, but they didn’t really need him.

Daniels left with injured ribs and the team led 10-0 in the first quarter and the lead only grew from there. Marcus Mariota threw for two touchdowns, Brian Robinson ran for another score and the Commanders cruised to a 40-7 victory over Carolina.

Daniels was initially listed as questionable to return and he was ruled off at half-time. The Commanders were up 27-0 at the time, so it’s hard to understand much about what that meant for Daniels’ condition. It seemed like a good sign that he returned to the sideline in street clothes and the fact that he spent the second half smiling and laughing with teammates would fall into the same category.

Mariota was 18 of 23 for 205 yards, hitting tight ends Zach Ertz and Ben Sinnott for his two touchdowns. Robinson ran 12 times for 71 yards and Daniels had 50 rushing yards before leaving the game.

The Panthers put together a nice drive to open the game, but Andy Dalton was picked off on a third screen pass and Dante Fowler returned the ball 67 yards for the first points of the game. Dalton threw another interception and was 11 of 16 for 93 yards before the Panthers gave Bryce Young a pair of snaps late in the fourth quarter.

The poor performance could lead to questions about a return to Young, but Panthers head coach Dave Canales said at halftime he wasn’t considering a change, so the Panthers may not be thinking about getting back the first overall pick of the 2023 draft in meaningful action on this point.

The 1-6 Panthers will be in Denver next Sunday and the 5-2 Commanders will stay home to take on the Bears. They’re hoping this is a matchup between Daniels and 2024 first overall pick Caleb Williams, but we’ll have to wait to find out the details of Daniels’ injury.