Favre-Aikman. Brady-Manning. Mahomes-Allen. Marquee quarterback duels punctuate NFL history. It’s way, way too early to say that the meeting of the No. 2 and No. 8 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft will ever get anywhere near the heights of those lofty rivalries. But hey, you never know.
The Sunday night showdown between Jayden Daniels and Michael Penix Jr. might be the first in a long, storied line of classic games. According to NBC, it’s already the first prime-time game in NFL history between two rookie quarterbacks who were first-round draft selections:
If that’s too much statistical massaging for you, the larger point remains: these are two highly touted quarterbacks meeting professionally for the first time, and the stakes are high for both teams.
The Sunday night showdown between the Washington Commanders and the Atlanta Falcons carry an immediate impact, with playoff berths and positioning very much on the line for both teams. Plus, if you want a little extra personnel drama, this marks the first time that Washington’s Dan Quinn will face Atlanta as a head coach since the Falcons fired him in 2018.
Both teams ended up in the same spot — a rookie starting at quarterback in a crucial late-season game — in the most widely divergent ways possible. Washington struck gold studded with diamonds in Daniels, who jumped straight from LSU into a potential decade-long NFL starting role. Atlanta, meanwhile, saw its two-year quarterback succession plan detonate a year and a half early, and is in Game 2 of the Michael Penix Jr. experience.
Penix enjoyed this year’s equivalent of a preseason warmup game this past Sunday against the woeful New York Giants, a 34-7 victory in which he played solid but unspectacular ball. He threw for 202 yards, without a touchdown but with an interception that wasn’t exactly his fault. Penix exhibited a stronger arm and more pocket mobility than Kirk Cousins, whom he replaced, had ever shown in an Atlanta uniform.
“I’m happy for him — he waited his time,” Daniels said of Penix earlier this week. “He’s a phenomenal player in my eyes, and I’m excited to be able to match up against him.”
Daniels, for his part, has been spectacular all season, of course. He ranks among the NFL leaders in several major statistical categories, from completion percentage to QBR. More importantly, he’s given Washington hope, the kind of borderline-irrational hope you have when you lead a team to its best season in years.
Washington has all but locked down a playoff spot, and even a division title is still on the table if the Commanders defeat Atlanta and Dallas next week. The Commanders are a four-point favorite at home, and an 11th win would mark Washington’s most since the 1991 season — the last time the franchise won a Super Bowl.
Atlanta, on the other hand, has a much more precarious path ahead. The Falcons and the Buccaneers both have eight wins, but the Falcons hold the division lead by virtue of tiebreakers. However, if Atlanta loses this game and Tampa Bay defeats Carolina — not an impossible proposition — the Falcons will surrender the lead after holding it for all of a week. And given that both the Falcons and Buccaneers are facing the bottom half of their division in Week 18, Atlanta can’t afford to surrender any ground and have confidence of holding onto a postseason spot.
“The reality is that you fight, you fight, you fight and you put yourself in a position to go out there and win your division,” Penix said earlier this week. “You put yourself in a chance to get yourself to qualify for extra play. We’re right in the mix of doing that, and we’ve got to go do it and finish.”
Expect the Falcons to go with a run-heavy attack Sunday; the Commanders rank 29th in the league in rushing defense, compared with fourth in the NFL in passing defense. It’s not the kind of situation that favors a rookie quarterback going to the air. Meanwhile, expect Daniels to look to pick apart Atlanta’s 20th-ranked pass defense, which has proven friendly to quarterbacks all season.
The NFL thought enough of this game to flex it into the marquee Sunday night slot, understandably moving out Miami-Cleveland. If Washington plays up to its season-long standard, or if Atlanta can rise to the occasion, the flex will be well worth it. Either way, it’s an opportunity to watch two of the game’s most highly touted rookies on the field for the first of what could be many memorable matchups.
