Burrow Has Been Where Daniels is Going

Will DC become the next great team? Or the next Bengals?

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Welcome to FreeForAll Thursday, when I muzzle my cheapness long enough to give away the product. Usually, it’s $8/month or $80/year, less than you’d pay for a French fry at The Precinct. Enjoy.

Jayden Daniels is this week’s next big thing. It didn’t take long. The DC QB was brilliant in Detroit last week, beating the Lions with a diamond cutter’s calm. Rookies don’t do this. Especially not rookie QBs, on the road in a huge game against a very good opponent.

“I will say he's the greatest rookie quarterback ever,’’ said Eagles corner Darius Slay. And so it begins.

By Sunday morning, Daniels will be the talk of everybody’s town. If the Commanders win in Philly, well, no hype will hold him. It will be said that with Daniels, DC will compete for a Super trophy every year, the sky’s the limit, what a player, what an organization. Et cetera.

All aboard the Jayden-wagon.

Meantime, a certain local quarterback could be chuckling at this. He could be cynical. He’d get a pass for that. Joe Burrow has been where Daniels is now.

If Burrow were to whisper sweet somethings to his fellow LSU football alum, it might be, “Enjoy this today, because tomorrow is a mirage. It’s Cinderella’s carriage.’’

OK, so Burrow probably wouldn’t say that. But he just might caution Daniels that winning big is more than having a prodigious quarterback on a generational roll.

“Look at me,’’ Burrow might say.

Winning big requires several moving parts. The QB is just the biggest cog.

The Commanders flipped a disastrous organization in much the same way the Bengals did. You can go from 4-13 to the conference title game quickly. To sustain it, you better be very good everywhere, and be consistent about it.

Here’s the resume of Adam Peters, Washington’s rookie general manager.

Bill Belichick hired him as a Patriots scout in 2003. He stayed for six years. The Patriots made four AFC title games and two Super Bowls.

Peters went to Denver as the Broncos college scouting director. He was there when Denver won a Super Bowl.

Three years later, Peters was the first guy hired by San Francisco GM John Lynch, as VP of player personnel and later assistant GM. Peters was on staff when the 49ers drafted later-round gems such as George Kittle, Fred Warner and Brock Purdy. Peters was in SF for four NFC title games and two Bowls.

Are we sensing a pattern here?

Great teams, great organizations, great mentors. Great decisions.

Last offseason, Peters urged the Commanders to sign Bobby Wagner, Austin Ekeler, Zach Ertz and Frankie Luvu. Wagner will be in the Hall of Fame. He led DC in tackles this year and was a locker-room rock. Ekeler is a veteran RB who caught 35 passes and averaged 4.8 yards a carry. Ertz is a former Pro Bowl TE and Super Bowl champ, who had eight red-zone TD catches, including one last week. Luvu had eight sacks, an interception and two fumble recoveries.

The team drafted Daniels and hired former NFL head coach and QB whisperer Kliff Kingsbury to coach him.

Jayden Daniels is a huge reason Washington is playing Sunday. Without everyone else, he’d be at home watching Jalen Hurts.

A great organization will beat a great QB more often than not.

Bill Belichick earned most of his respect from winning games and titles, but not nearly enough for picking the players who won them. New England’s roll call of ring winners includes Julian Edelman, Deion Branch, Tedy Bruschi, Kevin Faulk and a special-teamer named Matthew Slater, who was an annual teams superstar. They won with a guy named Nate Ebner, with whom I wrote a book.

Shameless plug.

If Slater was 1 on New England’s special teams, Ebner was 1A. He walked on at Ohio State, despite not having played high school ball. He earned a scholarship his senior year. Belichick drafted him because he loved the attitude and the pro’s pro chemistry Nate brought to the locker room. Nate has three rings. (He also had the time to make the US Olympic Rugby Team in 2016. But that’s a whole ‘nother story.)

The Washington Commanders and their quarterback are on the cusp of greatness. Will they get there? More importantly, will it last? No one knows. Joe Burrow might have an idea, though. He has experienced it firsthand.

Maybe Daniels and DC become postseason fixtures. Or maybe they become the Bengals since their carpet-ride season.

Now, then. . .

I REMEMBER WHEN watching X and UC play basketball wasn’t soul sapping. It wasn’t that long ago. It just seems that way.

Days after huge-ness at Marquette, the Musketeers blew a big lead and lost again to St. John’s. After Wednesday’s gut-punch overtime L Xavier coach Sean Miller came close to calling his players chokers. The Musketeers blew a 16-point, 2nd-half lead and lost by 8. Enquirer:

"It's called 'game pressure.' It's time, score, crowd. There's a lot at stake. Possessions are sacred. As a coach, you want a team that's about the same in that moment as you are early in the first half. We aren't. You get to a point where there's three minutes left. We have to be more of the same team as we were in the previous 37 minutes. You smell that popcorn, the crowd is getting loud, guys can't catch, all of a sudden you can't remember and it's a bad feeling. We have some of that."

The way Xavier plays didn’t help. Driving 90 in a 55 zone isn’t often advantageous to holding big leads. XU’s preferred pace allowed the Johnnies back into the game. But if you believe yourselves a Madness team, you can’t blow that kind of lead in any game, let alone a Quad 1 contest.

AS FOR UC. . . It’s hard to offer anything on these Bearcats. I don’t know who they are, and I don’t mean from just a roster standpoint. In Wes Miller’s fourth year, they have no identity, no go-to player, no consistency. Nothing and no one to lean on when the wind rattles the windows.

I’m jaded by covering the Huggins and Cronin teams. UC always brought defense to the party, always played with max effort, usually had a big-time scorer, be it Martin, Fortson, Van Exel, Logan, Kilpatrick or Jacob Evans. They had future pros.

This current team just sort of. . . shows up.

DAN HURLEY, BENGALS FAN, IS FULL OF HIMSELF. A couple nights ago, the UConn basketball coach became incensed after a ref walked away from one of Hurley’s routine rants.

“Don’t turn your back on me,” Hurley can be seen screaming at the official. “I’m the best coach in the f***ing sport.”

By way of justification, Best Coach Hurley blamed the media for his ego eruption. That’s a cliche by now, isn’t it?

“I just wish they would show these other coaches losing their minds I see the other coaches as demonstrative as I am,” Hurley said Tuesday night.

Oh, waaaa.

“I’ve created this for myself. I’m not no victim. I just wish that they would not have the camera on me 90% of the time, unless they feel like it’s driving ratings and more a**holes on Twitter.’’

They do. It does.

Try to control yourself. Don’t make a referee need a spit shield to chat with you. As the Beatles, via Larry Williams, might sing, “Now, junior, behave yourself.’’

TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . Who are your favorite guitarists? Top three. I go with Santana, Hendrix and this guy, whose playing just makes me happy. This is an obscure Dickey tune, on one of the Brothers last albums. And it’s vintage. Get ready to smile.