The Washington Commanders secured their sixth win of the season courtesy of a last-second Hail Mary from Jayden Daniels,. While the much vaunted rookie quarterback will receive most of the acclaim, the play’s success boils down to defensive incompetence and dumb luck.

From the standpoint of the quarterback a Hail Mary is usually simple. Navigate the pocket long enough and then launch the ball into the endzone once your receivers have made their way down there. From then on, you either need the defence to make a mistake or for a receiver to make a play.

The best way for a defence to snuff out a hail mary is to take down the quarterback before they can get the pass off. This was the Chicago Bears’ first mistake as they only rushed with three defenders, leaving a fourth as a QB spy for some reason. This lack of pressure afforded Daniels 12 seconds to throw the ball, and even still he threw it short of the endzone.

The Bears second big error was when their cornerback Tyrique Stevenson was caught taunting Commanders fans as the play was ensuing. This led to him having to rush to get back into position, and it was his tip ball that allowed Noah Brown to complete an uncontested catch in the endzone.

This is not to take anything away from Jayden Daniels, who has had an outstanding start to his NFL career, but successful hail mary’s shouldn’t be a quarterback stat.

Two weeks ago, Aaron Rodgers, the ‘hail mary master’ completed one against the Buffalo Bills which required Allen Lazard to catch a jump ball in heavy traffic. On that play the Bills defence rushed two defenders, leaving another three to defend a Breece Hall checkdown. This meant that they failed to get any pressure and were left exposed in the secondary.

A smart example of defending a Hail Mary came from the Detroit Lions to end their game against the Minnesota Vikings. The Lions brought five, sacking Sam Darnold before he had a chance to throw, nullifying any possibility of a miracle catch.

The Commanders vs the Bears was ultimately a disappointing first encounter between Jayden Daniels and Caleb Williams. Both offences struggled to live up to their expectations going into the game, and we can expect both to perform much better going forward.

But thanks to the last play, this game will be remembered for providing an early legacy boost in the career of Jayden Daniels. Regardless of whether he is deserving of it or not.

Anthony Richardson’s Breather

Anthony Richardson has not had a good time this season. His completion percentage for the season is 44.4% puts him in the bracket of many maligned quarterbacks such as Tim Tebow, Jamarcus Russell and Akili Smith. His inability to run the Indianapolis Colts offence is being highlighted by how much better the team looks when Joe Flacco is under center.

We always knew that he would be a project considering his lack of starts in college, but his physical talents always made him tantalising. However, his development has been a lot slower than expected, and he has so far shown that he is incapable of running a functional NFL offence.

In order to have any success in moving the ball the Colts have been relying on designed runs and deep shots, which is reflected in his stats.

Not only is his talent as a Quarterback worrying but his commitment is also being called into question. In the third quarter of the Colts’ loss to the Houston Texans this past week, Richardson subbed himself off following a scramble, citing the need for a breather.

In a league where athletes are having to be removed from the field for safety precautions, it’s shocking that a player would voluntarily sit himself out. His decision to do this stands out even more when you look at the context of the game. It was third and goal, late in the game and they were losing to a divisional rival thanks in a large part to Richardson’s poor quarterback play.

The decision has now been made by the Colts to bench Anthony Richardson, with Joe Flacco set to start against the Minnesota Vikings. Keeping Richardson as the starter does a disservice to the rest of the Colts roster as Joe Flacco gives them the best chance to win and make the playoffs.

Richardson now has a chance to sit for a bit longer and properly catch his breath. From the Colts’ point of view, this extra time will allow Richardson to develop into their quarterback of the future. On top of this a benching may be a humbling experience for Richardson and could lead to him not taking the role for granted.

Winston >>>>>> Watson

What a surprise, the Cleveland Browns look a lot better with Jameis Winston under center than they do with Deshaun Watson. It’s almost like having a quarterback who cares about something more than himself can be beneficial.

While the Browns defeated the high-flying Baltimore Ravens, it only took their record up to 2-6, it does give their fans a glimmer of something. Hope. Not hope for the playoffs, because that ship has sailed, but hope that they can have watchable football for the rest of the season.

There’s some similarities between the Browns situation and the Colts, and it just boils down to raising the level of the audience. While Flacco raises the floor of the Colts offence, Winston raises the ceiling of the Browns.

Winston has always been a volatile quarterback and the best evidence of this could be seen on his game winning drive against the Ravens. During this drive, he threw up a duck that Kyle Hamilton inexplicably dropped. Moments later he throws a 38 yard bomb to Cedric Tillman to give them the go ahead score.

As the season goes on there will be peaks and valleys with Winston’s play. There will be plenty of games that will end with Browns fans cursing Winston’s name and tearing their hair out. But unlike Watson, there’s a chance that he might be able to play some actual good football along the way.

The Sorry, Sorry Jets

As if this dysfunctional mess of a New York Jets season couldn’t get any worse, they just lost to the New England Patriots. It shows how bad it is that in a Patriots rebuild year and a Jets Superbowl bound all-in year, that both teams have the same record.

The loss against the Patriots has condemned the Jets to their fifth defeat in a row and is almost surely the death knell for the season. Outside of a miracle to end the season this will be the end of the current Jets regime, as the key individuals involved can’t survive this embarrassment,

The latest loss is completely inexcusable. Literally. Up until now there were always excuses being made.

Robert Saleh is a terrible head coach and should be fired. The wide receivers aren’t good enough, they should trade for Davante Adams. Their pass rush is non-existent, let’s negotiate with Hassan Reddick.

They’ve done all of those things, and yet they’re still losing. Aaron Rodgers is looking his age, lacking his mobility, and being too scared to throw downfield. Their defence, that was one of the league’s best under Saleh, is allowing Jacoby Brissett to complete game winning drives all while Kayshon Boutte is his best receiver.

And the most unbelievable part of the Jets’ incompetence is that they still haven’t cut Greg Zuerlein whose kicking woes have cost his team several potential wins. Only now are they holding a kicking competition to find a replacement, but it is now the definition of too little, too late.

Before the year, the Jets were -175 to make the playoffs with an over-under of 9.5 wins. They would have to go 8-1 for the remainder of the season to hit that number. This season has been an unprecedented disaster considering the talent that is on this roster.

Should their form continue, this will go down as one of the worst seasons in the history of the New York Jets. A feat that should be considered impossible knowing the history of the franchise.

Long time fans of the Jets must feel as if their playoff drought will never come to an end. After this season they will be in line for a rebuild, and looking back at their last few attempts at that, it’s unlikely to go well once more.