Landover, MD. — Things were going so well early in the Washington Commanders’ 40-7 victory over the Carolina Panthers.

The team had gotten on the board thanks to a pick-six from Commanders outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. Then the defense came up with a three-and-out to get the ball back to the offense for the first time and take a seven-point lead.

Then, on the first play of the game, Washington quarterback extraordinaire Jayden Daniels held the ball on an option read and escaped down the right side of the field into Panthers territory.

The run gained 46 yards and appeared to be the play that injured Daniels’ rib(s). Suddenly things weren’t going so well anymore.

When asked when he knew his quarterback was injured, Commanders coach Dan Quinn said, “After the first drive. So maybe at the end of the first drive, right when we get to the goal line.”

Washington got a field goal off the drive to push the lead to 10. Little did the team know they didn’t need any more points. Still, there was less excitement in that moment than there should have been, given the way the game was going overall.

After the game, Quinn couldn’t provide much more information than a time frame for when he might do that.

“I can’t give you an update on Jayden,” Quinn said after the game. “But I will as soon as we find out. We will do some more tests tomorrow and then when we meet in the afternoon we will give you an update.”

More testing on Monday will hopefully reveal more information – the publicly shared kind. And when we next speak to Quinn via Zoom at 3:30 PM ET, hopefully there will be good news for Daniels, the Commanders and the NFL if we’re being honest. After all, they want their matchup between Daniels and Caleb Williams next weekend as much as anyone else.

But first and foremost, Quinn and his staff will prioritize the needs of the player over those of the team as a whole or even the league. Just as happened in previous injury situations, such as with defensive tackle Johnny Newton and more recently running back Brian Robinson Jr.

“If he can go, that would be it,” Quinn said of how he will handle Daniels’ playing status going forward. “And if he can’t do that, then neither will we. But we won’t put (him) or any other guys in a space where they could compromise anything.”

After Monday, the next reasonable chance to expect an update would be Wednesday, the day when Washington’s starting quarterback typically meets with the media for his weekly press conference.

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