Green Bay's Fate Against Jayden Daniels Lies Between the Numbers

When the Green Bay Packers host the Washington Commanders in a Thursday night showdown, it will be a matchup between the youngest and oldest rosters in the NFL — and it could well serve as a playoff preview.

The game will also feature two of the top five quarterbacks in the NFC. Jordan Love and Jayden Daniels are arguably the two most talented signal callers in the conference.

Love led the NFL in Week 1 with the highest big-time throw rate against the blitz at 25%. For context, no other quarterback posted a rate above 14.3% in that category. Meanwhile, Daniels guided the Commanders to a comfortable 15-point home victory over the New York Giants.

Green Bay will have its hands full with Daniels, not only because of his skills as a passer, but also due to his ability to buy time and use his legs to create off-schedule plays. However, the Packers must do one thing to have any chance of slowing down this offense: protect the middle of the field.

A whopping 73.3% of Daniels’ throws against the Giants were between the numbers. He completed 15 of those 22 for 177 yards and a touchdown. While he targeted the intermediate-middle concept most often, with 10 attempts, he found the greatest success on short throws, completing all five of his attempts for 47 yards on passes traveling between zero and 10 yards inside the numbers.

He earned PFF’s highest grade among quarterbacks on intermediate throws (10–19 yards), posting a 93.4 passing grade in Week 1. However, he recorded a below-average 50.5 on short throws (zero to nine yards), ranking 30th out of 33 quarterbacks, and a 77 grade on deep throws (20-plus yards), which ranked 14th.

Daniels was efficient in that category as a rookie and ranked as a top-15 passer in EPA per play when throwing between the numbers. Here is the 33rd Team’s summary of his season:

Meanwhile, Green Bay’s defense allowed Jared Goff to complete 15 of 16 passes traveling zero–10 yards between the numbers, although he averaged only 5.8 yards per completion. Evan Williams picked off the only throw he missed, thanks to Jeff Hafley’s heads-up playcalling.

Covering intermediate concepts will be crucial for Green Bay’s defense to get off the field. Edgerrin Cooper is healthy, but the Packers listed Quay Walker on the injury report as a non-participant on Monday and limited on Tuesday. However, Green Bay held a walkthrough instead of a full practice, which is typical for NFL teams on a short week. Naturally, Ty’Ron Hopper or Isaiah McDuffie would be the next man up.

Furthermore, we could see a heavy dose of Javon Bullard and Evan Williams in the second level to improve coverage. Even so, the Packers will need to play a near-perfect game to keep Jayden Daniels from finding a rhythm, and that starts with taking away what he does best.