When the Washington Commanders selected Jayden Daniels at No. 2 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft, they immediately formed new rivalries with the teams that selected quarterbacks directly before and after them. That would be the Chicago Bears (Caleb Williams) and the New England Patriots (Drake Maye). In Year 1, Washington won every battle. Daniels was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and took the Commanders to the NFC Championship game. The other two clubs combined for nine wins.
"You hate to get to this moment, and not play your best game," Warner told Guregian. "That's just what it is. You have to be able to step back and go, 'Look what we did. We were four wins a year ago, 14 wins this year. And the Super Bowl. I almost won an MVP.' Just to put it into perspective."
In 1985, Dan Marino arrived at Stanford Stadium as the undisputed future of football. He was the MVP in just his second season, a golden-armed titan who looked like he'd be making annual pilgrimages to the Super Bowl for the next fifteen years. Then he ran into Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense and a 49ers defense that turned his afternoon into a living nightmare. Marino never made it back. Not once. Remind you of anyone?
The QB struggled to recapture his elite regular-season form in the postseason, and the Patriots managed only 13 points against the Seahawks -- none until the fourth quarter. New England had nearly as many punts (seven) as Maye passing completions (eight) through three quarters, as Seattle's timely blitzes and interior defensive pressure frazzled Maye and his offensive line all game.
Not only did she cite stats and reasoning behind her decision, but she put fellow analyst and Stafford's friend, Dan Orlovsky, to shame. Although he tried to argue immediately that she was wrong, Kimes didn't stutter and spoke the truth, even though most voters wouldn't have chosen the most qualified candidate and would have gone with whoever they felt had the least chance of winning it again.
The New England Patriots got good news on that front when it comes to Drake Maye's banged-up throwing shoulder. Lindsay Jones reported that Maye not only practiced in full on Wednesday, but took every first-team rep. That's a good sign that Maye, after taking most of last week off, will be about as close to 100 percent as possible entering his 21st game of the season.
