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Nov 14, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) throws a pass during the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

Commanders face early pressure test while rivals chase legacy goals

Originally posted on Washington Commanders on SI
By David Harrison | Last updated Jun 16, 2025 9:48 AM ET

The Washington Commanders finished second place twice in 2024.

First, the Commanders finished in second place in the NFC East Division, and then they finished in second place in the conference. The division, then, finished in second place in the conference. Both times, they lost out to the Philadelphia Eagles, who eventually finished first a third time, winning the franchise's second Lombardi Trophy in February.

As the page turned to 2025, every team, Washington included, was reset to 0-0 and lined up at the starting line, even with every other franchise in the NFL. When the gun sounds, each of the 32 competitors will race to see who can secure a Super Bowl win at the end of the season, including one rival who says he's more worried about that outcome than he is the total embodiment of his career.

"I wanna win a championship," Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott told the team's website in a recent interview. "The legacy and the things, and whatever comes after I finish playing, will take care of itself. I wanna win a championship. Be damned if it's just for my legacy, for this team, for my personal being, for my sanity -- the legacy will take care of itself. I have to stay where my feet are."

It isn't a bad strategy, if we're being honest, and it is one that has been demonstrated regularly by the Commanders and their key figures as well.

Whether it has been quarterback Jayden Daniels not worrying about competing against Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson because the two aren't ever on the playing field at the same time, or head coach Dan Quinn and his staff insisting on keeping the week-to-week processes the same no matter the context of the game or prestige of the opponent, very few have been able to execute the consistent flow every team preaches quite like Washington.

That approach will likely be tested more in 2025 than it was last season, the first with Daniels under center and Quinn at the controls. Week 1 is always a bit supercharged, but opening at home against another NFC East Division rival, the New York Giants, makes it all the more important the Commanders get off to a hot start.

Follow that by a Thursday Night Football appearance in Week 2 on the road against the Green Bay Packers, then a Week 3 return home against the Las Vegas Raiders who are expected to be much better than their four-win 2024 version, right into back-to-back road games that include a West Coast trip to Los Angeles to face the Chargers, and it is clear that this year's lineup of opponents is much different than the last.

Will Washington be able to keep its flow consistent and focused on the task at hand each week with everything going on around it? History says yes. Opponents like Prescott are aiming to disrupt that flow, however, armed with the knowledge that only one of them can hoist the Lombardi at the end of it all.