The Washington Commanders' season hit a snag when star quarterback Jayden Daniels re-injured his left elbow in the Week 2 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. After taking a snap at the end of the first half, Daniels dislocated his elbow while trying to catch himself after he tripped and had to be carted off the field. X-rays showed no fracture, but Washington's best player is expected to miss some time.
To add insult to injury, Daniels' teammates came under fire for seemingly not supporting their quarterback when he went down. It appeared his offensive line was content to walk off the field while medical staff attended to Daniels.
Jayden Daniels is down after the Commanders last play.
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 20, 2026
📺: FOX/FOX One pic.twitter.com/s6EE4exa6P
Even CBS Sports' Kyle Long took issue with this sequence on CBS Sports' "Set, Hut!"
"What really stood out to me as an offensive lineman is, Jayden Daniels, on the ground, writhing in pain — obviously in tremendous pain — and his offensive linemen are just moseying to the sideline?" Long said. "Nobody is surrounding around their quarterback, nobody is trying to get him up. I did not like that body language from the Washington Commanders. That doesn't look good to me; the optics are really bad."
"Jayden Daniels' on the ground, writhing in pain and his offensive lineman are moseying to the sideline. Nobody is surrounding around their QB... I did not like that body language from the Commanders."@Ky1eLong on the Commanders offensive lineman after Jayden Daniels' injury pic.twitter.com/OKBWmcnsiJ
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) September 22, 2026
However, the NFL world may have overreacted to an 11-second clip as Fox went to halftime.
Those actually in attendance in Dallas got to work posting pictures and videos from what really happened on social media. As Fox cameras went to commercial, Commanders teammates came back on the field to see their quarterback loaded on the cart. They didn't bolt for the locker room.
It’s crazy to even have to post this video but here’s the moment Jayden Daniels got hurt in Dallas and his teammates gather around him before Dan Quinn tells the guys to the locker room for halftime pic.twitter.com/Cv05sQuDhq
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) September 23, 2026
Teammates gathered around Daniels pic.twitter.com/A9s4JhufvY
— John Keim (@john_keim) September 20, 2026
On Wednesday, even Commanders head coach Dan Quinn was asked about the viral clip surrounding the team's reaction to Daniels' injury.
"Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up because it's just the opposite in fact," Quinn said. "These guys were absolutely gutted. When the half is over — the referee even came and said, 'Dan, I can't delay the half. They can't stay on the field.' And [Daniels' teammates] 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 was emotional in that space."
During today's presser, #Commanders HC Dan Quinn addressed the viral clip of players heading to the locker room after Jayden's injury:
— SleeperCommanders (@SleeperWSH) September 23, 2026
"I'm glad you brought that up, because it's just the opposite, in fact. These guys were absolutely gutted... They love this guy, and so halftime… pic.twitter.com/rTkyuwtlWz
So, the officials actually had to kick Daniels' teammates OFF the field because they couldn't stop the halftime clock. It seems much of the NFL world, because of a viral 11-second clip, was a bit too quick to claim Daniels' teammates don't have the same love and respect for their quarterbacks as other teams do.










