Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn shut down speculation about quarterback Jayden Daniels’s injury after he suffered a dislocated elbow in the team’s Week 2 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
Just before halftime during Sunday’s game, the Commanders lined up at the Dallas 1-yard line and looked for a game-tying touchdown before the break.
On 3rd and goal, Daniels lined up under center and took the snap, but his foot was stepped on by left guard Chris Paul. Daniels reached his left hand out to break his fall, but his arm buckled as he went to the ground, and he threw the ball away.
As the offense walked off the field, tight end Ben Sinnott helped him up, but Daniels clutched his left arm before dropping to his knees. Trainers and backup QB Marcus Mariota walked over while the offense walked away, and the referee announced the end of the half.
On the broadcast angle, it looked as though the rest of the offense was unfazed by Daniels’s injury, but Quinn told reporters at his press conference on Wednesday that officials forced him off the field because the first half was over.
Video footage prompted speculation on social media that the rest of the offense didn’t care for Daniels because they walked away instead of circling around him as players normally do when a teammate suffers a serious injury.
A reporter asked Quinn about the breakdown of events at the beginning of Wednesday’s presser.
“I’m glad you brought that up, because it’s just the opposite in fact,” he said. “These guys were absolutely gutted. When the half is over, the referee even came and said, ‘Dan, I can’t delay the half,’ and ‘They can’t stay on the field,’ and [the players] 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 is the second such injury Daniels has had on the same elbow in two years.
Last season, during the Commanders’ Week 9 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Daniels faked a handoff and scrambled out of pressure, but Seattle linebacker Drake Thomas chased him down and spun him to the ground.
Jayden Daniels #5 of the Washington Commanders reacts after sustaining an injury against the Dallas Cowboys in the second quarter of a game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Sept. 20, 2026. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Daniels’s teammates said after the game that they wanted to support him.
“We were just trying to score before the half, and he went down, so that was just really hard,” wide receiver Terry McLaurin said, via the team’s official website. “I know we had to get back in the locker room and make our adjustments, but I felt like nobody really wanted to leave the field because that’s our brother.”
Running back Rachaad White said he had tears in his eyes and was trying to control his emotions on the field.
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs spoke highly of Daniels.
“He’s a [expletive] of a kid and a superstar quarterback,” Diggs said after the game. “Seeing him go down that way, everybody was just a little down. Nobody wants to see a guy get hurt.”
McLaurin added that his teammates would support Daniels. He knows that No. 5 will still be in the building and will likely return later this season.
“He’s going to shake back,” McLaurin said. “That’s one thing I know about him. He’s really resilient. We have a lot of season left, so he’s going to be able to come back, and we’ll be ready for his return.”
