Soccer is a team sport played by a team of 11 players against another team of 11 players on a field (uncategorized).
The team has one designated goalkeeper and 10 outfield players. Outfield players are usually specialised in attacking or defending or both. A team is typically split into defenders, midfielders and forwards, though there is no restriction on players moving anywhere on the pitch.
It is known as soccer in North America, but is called football in most of the rest of the world. Its full name is Association Football.
We bring to you all the latest soccer news (uncategorized), match previews and reviews, as well as international transfer news from clubs around the world. Update 24/7.
Referee Michael Oliver controversially gave Myles Lewis-Skelly a straight red in the first half, reducing the Gunners to 10 men. But they persisted, and Calafiori scored the winning goal just minutes after Joao Gomes of Wolves was sent out for a second yellow card.
Mikel Arteta was left without two crucial midfielders for Arsenal against Wolves in a crucial Premier League match due to injury news. Distribute
Arsenal have been left once again with a critical group of players missing out as Mikel Merino and skipper Martin Odegaard weren’t available for selection against Wolves. Instead, Mikel Arteta welcomed Ethan Nwaneri back into the starting XI whilst an inexperienced bench was picked. Odegaard is unwell and has had trouble getting back to his best since recovering from an ankle injury in November. He wasn’t feeling well, therefore he was benched for Brighton earlier this month.
It is the same with Willy. Let’s see how it goes this week, but I’m sure they’ll be in for next week.” With the opportunity to guarantee a spot in the top eight of the Champions League and, consequently, a direct route into the round of 16, as well as the subsequent visit from Manchester City, Arsenal has a busy week ahead of them. In contrast to Europe, the league does not allow for failure. Arsenal is aware that if things don’t go out, they might finish the weekend just one point above fourth. However, if they defeat Wolves, they will have played an additional game and will be within one game of Liverpool.
THIS SEASON’S RELEGATION battle bears an eerie comparison to last year’s.
All three of the promoted sides went straight back down last season, and this year’s trio of new arrivals currently occupy the drop zone. Southampton, like Sheffield United last season, look doomed; another ill-equipped squad going down with a wretched points total.
Seven-straight defeats and sour murmurs regarding transfer strategy mean Leicester look set to follow Burnley as an established Premier League name unable to gain a footing upon their return to the elite.
Ipswich Town are therefore the Luton Town of this enterprise: the long-absent underdogs playing in a throw-back stadium who end up with the best chance of staying up.
Ipswich may yet break the comparison: where Luton fell short last year, Kieran McKenna and his players might yet succeed.
Ahead of today’s trip to Anfield, Ipswich are 18th, but level on points with 17th-placed Wolves, who today face Arsenal.
Everton are four points ahead and so are barely within touching distance in 16th place. Wolves are Ipswich’s primary target, and so they will be giddy with rumours Matheus Cunha might leave for Arsenal before the end of the transfer window.
Ipswich’s aggression in the transfer market should aid their survival hopes: Having already added Jaden Philogene and Ben Godfrey, they this week completed the loan signing of the highly rated Julio Enciso from Brighton, whose 2023 winner against Man City was nominated for the Puskas Award. (Enciso’s arrival is hardly great news for Ireland’s Sammie Szmodics, who is currently sidelined with injury.)
Only Brighton have had a higher net spend in the Premier League since Ipswich since last summer: in fact, Ipswich’s net spend is currently more than Southampton and Leicester’s added together.
So while the club have given Kieran McKenna a greater chance to succeed, it is McKenna who gives the club its greatest chance of success.
McKenna’s rise is truly astonishing: a first-team coach at Manchester United under Jose Mourinho at only 31, and a Premier League manager with back-to-back promotions on his CV by the age of 37. McKenna can also claim one of the greatest character references in the modern game, given he has been anonymously dismissed as “school-masterly” by sources within the United dressing room. Anyone who didn’t fit into United’s rancid culture should be a good fit elsewhere.
McKenna does not suffer from dogma which appears to have condemned his fellow promoted teams. Leicester, you could argue, were unlucky to lose Enzo Maresca to Chelsea, especially given McKenna was himself linked with the job. Their error, however, was to replace Maresca with Steve Cooper, whose playing style was antithetical and unsuited to those at his disposal. Ruud Van Nistelrooy is now labouring to sift the wreckage.
Southampton, meanwhile, were doomed from the moment Russell Martin demanded his players play the same way as they did in the Championship, despite the slight complication of coming up against vastly better players. Martin preferred to bemoan his crowd’s anxiety at his side’s kamikaze passing rather than analyse the root of that anxiety.
McKenna, though, is flexible and pragmatic in a way that’s increasingly rewarded in the Premier League.
“We have a brave identity of play that we want to stay true to, but we know it’s a huge step up, so we need to be clever how we compete for points”, said McKenna during the course of this season.
An interesting piece by FourFourTwo prior to season’s start accentuated the fact that McKenna is not wedded to any specific passing style, pointing to figures which showed Ipswich ranked mid-table in the Championship last year for short, long, and medium-length passes. McKenna’s Ipswich, in other words, were a little bit of everything, and to great effect.
Arijanet Muric, for instance, was signed from Burnley in the summer to be the number one goalkeeper, with his primary skillset being his comfort with the ball at his feet. He is regrettably error-prone with his hands, however, and McKenna has dropped him in favour of the more stolid – and solid – Christian Walton.
In earning promotion from League One, McKenna played a back three, but switched to a 4-2-3-1 in the Championship. This season he has broadly stuck with that back four, though has occasionally flipped to a back three.
This has sometimes worked (a creditable 2-2 draw away to Fulham; a narrow 1-0 loss away to Arsenal) and sometimes, er, has not. (See last week’s 6-0 hammering at home to Man City.)
If Ipswich are to stay up, they need to add more goals to an attack carried on Liam Delap’s broad shoulders. They have scored only 20 goals in the league so far – the third-lowest in the division – and Delap is responsible for eight of them. Perhaps Enciso and Philogene are the right recruits to address that issue.
Today’s game at Liverpool is their most difficult remaining fixture, and after today only six of their remaining 15 opponents are in the top half. Southampton and Wolves are winnable must-wins at home, while their final away games are at Everton and Leicester.
And if Kieran McKenna keeps Ipswich in the Premier League, the club’s greater battle begins – keeping Kieran McKenna.
A late call being made on the fitness of Callum Hudson-Odoi could leave Nottingham Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo with a big decision to make this weekend.
Hudson-Odoi was forced off in the final minutes of the first half of last Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Southampton. A groin problem saw the winger make way just a matter of minutes after he had put his team 2-0 up.
Nuno has said the wide man will be assessed ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Bournemouth (3pm kick-off). It could leave the Portuguese with a key call to make, particularly if he has designs on naming an unchanged team.
Against the Saints, Jota Silva came on in place of Hudson-Odoi. The summer signing always brings plenty of energy when he gets on the pitch but has had to settle for a substitutes’ role of late – in the league at least.
If Hudson-Odoi is ruled out against the Cherries, Jota will no doubt hope he gets an opportunity but Nuno could also consider other options. Ramon Sosa could step in if required, although he also has only made one start in the league to date.
Another possibility would be to play Elliot Anderson or Nicolas Dominguez out wide. Both are capable of doing so and are valued by Nuno for their versatility.
On the prospect of Hudson-Odoi being available, Nuno said in his pre-match press conference on Thursday lunchtime: “He felt his groin very tight. He was in a lot of pain.
Mikel Arteta was questioned about whether the Gunners would send Raheem Sterling back to Chelsea because he hasn’t performed well in an Arsenal shirt thus far.
Details In order to get another domestic loan this month, Mikel Arteta has disclosed that Arsenal is “not thinking” of sending Raheem Sterling back to Chelsea. Since going on loan to the Gunners in August, 30-year-old Sterling has had difficulties. The former Manchester City and Liverpool player has made 15 appearances this season across all competitions, scoring just one goal and dishing out two assists. He has only played 633 minutes of first-team football and started seven games.
There have been rumors that Sterling might be moved back to Chelsea because of his rough start at the Emirates Stadium. With the addition of second-choice goalkeeper Neto, who came from Bournemouth to support David Raya, the Gunners now occupied both of their domestic loan berths.
The Gunners would have room to consider recruiting another player on loan from an English club in January if Sterling or Neto were sent back. Before his team’s Premier League trip to Wolves on Saturday, Arteta was asked that issue, and the Arsenal manager gave his opinion.
When questioned about the possibility of either Sterling or Neto leaving Arsenal, Arteta said, “We’re not thinking about that.” In other news, Borussia Dortmund is considering acquiring Oleksandr Zinchenko in January. According to The Telegraph, the Ukrainian international is anticipated to depart the Gunners before the end of the transfer window, and the German club is prepared to make their move to sign him.
Regarding incomings, Arteta has not ruled out the possibility of the Gunners adding a first-team player this month. With Kai Havertz failing for consistent form this season and Gabriel Jesus sidelined for the season, a new forward seems to be at the top of their shopping list. “Have I ever said no to a striker?” Arteta went on. “It’s obvious that we lack options and goals up front after losing two crucial players in Jesus and Saka. “If we can get the right player, that’s what we’re actively looking at.”
The TV commentator, speaking exclusively to Villa News, has cited Malen’s versatility and experience at the top level as positive attributes for his addition to Unai Emery’s squad.
“I’ve seen quite a lot of Malen. He blows a little bit hot and cold, but he’s blown mainly hot this season. He’s a Dutch international who can play either side or behind the striker, so he’s a good guy to get in for a comparatively modest fee,” Darke said.
“Philogene seemed to come off the bench quite a lot, but not much lately. That’s just a classic case of a player who they think can develop their career better elsewhere.”
Aston Villa still active in the winter market
Aston Villa remain in pursuit of further incomings but nothing is concrete just yet, now Malen and Andres Garcia have both arrived.
Alongside Philogene, Diego Carlos has now completed a move to Fenerbahce after a succession of exit links from Villa Park, while Lewis Dobbin was recalled from West Brom and sent to Norwich City on a new loan deal.
Arsenal have been the subject of much transfer speculation throughout January, but they’ve yet to make any moves.
The Premier League title contenders are looking to narrow the gap with leaders Liverpool and new signings could bolster their efforts, particularly given their increasing injury list. Mikel Arteta has made no secret of his desire – and ongoing efforts – to bring in fresh talent over the next week or so.
Time is ticking for the Gunners, who are prioritising a new forward. The lack of a high-scoring striker in their squad has proven costly this season, with Arsenal struggling for goals in key moments.
However, securing top-quality players midseason can be tricky, and the north London team are still on the hunt for their ideal player, reports the Mirror. Here’s the latest from the Emirates.
Kieran Tierney has inked a pre-contract agreement with Celtic and will head back to Scotland once his Arsenal contract ends. The North Londoners had previously stated that the defender, who joined them in 2019, would not be offered a new deal to stay.
Tierney was free to discuss potential moves as a free agent, with interest from both foreign clubs and Premier League teams. However, he chose to return to Parkhead, according to the Telegraph.
This agreement with the Scottish champions could complicate his immediate future. While there were rumours of a January move for Tierney, he may now have to wait several months before making his way to the Hoops.
In the last term, Kieran Tierney was loaned out to Real Sociedad after it became obvious he wouldn’t get much game time at Arsenal. His loan spell saw him playing regularly and now he’s back to north London ready to rejoin the fray.
Matheus Cunha of Wolverhampton Wanderers could be set to move this January transfer window(Image: Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images)Arsenal legend David Seaman, who served the club for more than 10 years, has confidently claimed the team’s all in on securing fresh talent upfront. Speaking to talkSPORT, the former goalkeeper said: “Everybody is talking about signing a new striker and that does look like what we need.
“It looks like we’re trying to get a striker but to get a marquee striker, the finished article, in January… that doesn’t happen very often. I know for a fact that they’re trying like mad to get one but whether it will be now or the summer, I don’t know. There’s ones in the pipeline so we will have to wait and see if they get done.”
Sky Sports has reported Wolves would be willing to sell for £60m, if they receive an offer of that magnitude. This information could potentially alter Arsenal’s strategy, as the Gunners have the financial capacity to meet that figure if they choose to do so. In contrast, Forest’s current record signing is Elliot Anderson, who was acquired for £35m.
Jayden Daniels is one game away from going where no rookie quarterback has gone before.
With a Commanders win over the Eagles on Sunday in the NFC Championship Game, he would become the first rookie passer in league history to lead his team to a Super Bowl.
Beating Philadelphia for the second time in six weeks and advancing to the title game would be the latest in a series of stunning accomplishments. It would also raise a question I’m not sure even the most optimistic of Washington fans would have expected to ask after the 2024 season:
Is Daniels having the best rookie season in NFL history, regardless of position?
While his season isn’t yet complete, it’s possible to compare the No. 2 pick to other great rookies from the past, many of whom were already on vacation by the time the NFL got down to the final four teams in the playoff bracket.
There’s a significant element of subjectivity in deciding where he stands, but there are a few objective performance measures to help gauge that.
Let’s break all that down. I’ll compare Daniels to great rookies from previous years, contextualize what has made this season so impressive and try to somehow decide where he ranks among the tens of thousands of other rookies in NFL history. All of that has to start somewhere, and I’ll begin by comparing him to the best rookie quarterbacks ever.
How Daniels stacks up vs. other rookie QBs
Daniels has been remarkably productive to start his career. During the regular season, he completed 69% of his passes, with 25 touchdowns against nine picks. His 70.5 Total QBR ranked fourth in the league and first among NFC signal-callers. He posted a passer rating of 100.1, which ranked 11th.
ESPN has QBR data stretching back through 2007. Since then, Daniels’ 70.5 ranks third among rookies, trailing only Dak Prescott in 2016 (77.6) and Russell Wilson in 2012 (74.8). It seems fair to argue that Prescott and Wilson had more help than Daniels, as they shared backfields with Ezekiel Elliott and Marshawn Lynch, respectively, who ran for a combined 3,221 yards during their quarterbacks’ rookie seasons. Daniels led the Commanders in rushing himself, with a figure that would have been even higher if a midseason rib injury hadn’t led the team to lessen his workload.
Let’s go back even further, though, enlisting the help of the index statistics from Pro Football Reference, which are adjusted for era and normalized so that 100 is always the league average. Daniels’ passer rating translates to a 114 Rating+, which is the fifth-best mark posted by a rookie with at least 300 pass attempts. He trails Prescott, Robert Griffin (2012), C.J. Stroud (2023) and Wilson, with USFL transplant Jim Kelly (1986) just behind. Pretty good company, although it’s missing one notable name we’ll get to in a moment.
Passer rating, though, doesn’t do a great job of contextualizing Daniels’ performance.
It doesn’t account for his propensity for taking sacks, his biggest weakness. His 8.9% sack rate is the 10th highest in the league among qualifying quarterbacks this season. Of course, he also ran for 891 yards and six scores, which passer rating also doesn’t consider.
Adjusted net yards per attempt index (ANY/A+) has Daniels ninth among rookies, with Kelly, Justin Herbert (2020) and Baker Mayfield (2018) moving narrowly ahead of him.
Given that the three of them barely made an impact with their legs on the ground as rookies, I’d feel comfortable saying Daniels was more valuable, adjusting for era, than those three. (Kelly also was a different sort of rookie, having played professionally elsewhere.)
Daniels’ strength this season has been that completion percentage.
Even adjusting for an era in which quarterbacks are completing passes at a higher rate than ever before, his 116 Cmp%+ is the third-best rate in league history for a rookie, trailing Prescott and Griffin. It’s reductive to chalk that up to screens and short passes, too. While 26% of his passes have been at or behind the line of scrimmage, that’s only the 12th-highest rate for a qualifying passer this season.
There’s one other player who needs to be mentioned here. Dan Marino narrowly missed the cutoff for pass attempts, as he threw 296 passes for the 1983 Dolphins.
He also blows away everybody else on this list for efficiency, as he led the league in adjusted net yards per attempt, owing to a low interception rate and a microscopic sack rate, a skill for which Marino remains highly underrated. (His 1% sack rate in 1988 is the best, adjusted for era, in NFL history.)
It’s difficult to compare nine starts from Marino to full seasons from just about everybody else on this list, but it’s clear that observers at the time didn’t see Marino as some part-time marvel. The future Hall of Famer finished third in the MVP voting, trailing Joe Theismann and Eric Dickerson.
The next year, Marino won the award with what was likely the best season by a quarterback to that point in league history, and the Dolphins made it to Super Bowl XIX. It would be difficult to place Daniels ahead of Marino based on their respective regular-season performance, even though Daniels started nearly twice as many games.
Daniels isn’t going to win MVP this season, but where will his accolades fall among those of the great rookies in NFL history? After all, I’ve started by comparing him to quarterbacks, but there are players at other positions who factor into this conversation, too.
Which rookies have won awards?
I’ll start with the biggest honor of them all.
Daniels isn’t expected to figure into MVP consideration, which leaves him behind a handful of other rookies who have in the past. Fourteen rookies have received MVP votes, albeit across different formats and with varying-sized voter pools. With The Associated Press moving from a single-player format to a five-player ballot in 2022, Stroud received four fifth-place votes last season.
It’s fair to say some of those votes from history feel a little out of place today. Sure, Jim Brown winning MVP after the 1957 season or Randy Moss earning four votes for his 1998 campaign make sense, but Packers kicker Chester Marcol landing two votes when he hit less than 70% of his attempts in 1972? Niners running back Ken Willard, who ranked fourth in rushing and eighth in yards from scrimmage in 1965, receiving a vote? I’m willing to suggest Daniels has been more valuable than those last two players.
Woody’s Jayden Daniels take sparks uproar on ‘Get Up’
Damien Woody says Jayden Daniels is playing the best of all the quarterbacks left in the playoffs, sparking a massive debate among the “Get Up” crew.
These aren’t all players from decades ago, either. Former Titans speedster Chris Johnson landed a vote for his 2008 rookie campaign, and while you might remember him putting together a 2,000-rushing-yard season, that performance actually came the following season, when he failed to receive a single MVP vote.
Johnson had a solid rookie season, with 1,488 yards from scrimmage and 10 touchdowns, but he didn’t even win Offensive Rookie of the Year. Was he really more valuable than Daniels, even though the latter isn’t likely to land a first-place MVP vote?
There are a handful of players whose success makes them stand out from the rest of the pack. Brown won MVP. Earl Campbell won Offensive Player of the Year and was second in the MVP race in 1978. Dickerson had 18 MVP votes and ranked second in 1983 behind Theismann. Marino was third.
Marcus Allen scored a league-high 14 touchdowns during the nine-game strike-shortened season in 1981 and finished third in MVP balloting. Moss had one of the greatest big-play seasons in league history as a rookie and was third in MVP balloting.
The other players receiving MVP votes, though? I’m not sure they’re clearly better than Daniels. Edgerrin James racked up 2,139 yards from scrimmage and 17 touchdowns in 1999, but he was on a team with multiple superstars, one of whom (Peyton Manning) received eight MVP votes.
Willard, Gale Sayers (1965), Calvin Hill (1969) and Franco Harris (1972) all had great seasons, but they weren’t even clearly the best running backs in the league during their respective rookie campaigns, while playing against fewer potential opponents in smaller versions of the NFL.
Ronnie Lott landed an MVP vote, but he didn’t even win 1981 Defensive Rookie of the Year. The guy who did win was Lawrence Taylor, who claimed both the Defensive Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year honors, though he somehow didn’t get an MVP vote.
With that Defensive Player of the Year award under his belt, Taylor should rank ahead of Daniels on the list. Campbell was the only other rookie to win Offensive or Defensive Player of the Year.
While Daniels was named to the NFC Pro Bowl team, the presence of Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen cut off any path he might have had to be a first-team All-Pro.
By my count, 26 rookies have been named first-team AP All-Pros on offense or defense, with Sauce Gardner and Micah Parsons as the most recent examples. Many of them were already mentioned above in reviewing potential MVP and Offensive/Defensive Rookie of the Year nominees.
One player who might have a strong case is Barry Sanders, who won 69 of 70 Offensive Rookie of the Year votes and was first-team All-Pro in 1989.
You don’t need me to tell you how brilliant Sanders could be at his best, but he had nearly as many fumbles (10) as touchdowns (14) that season. He would have more spectacular seasons in his future, but I’m not sure the rookie version was clearly better than Daniels. Mike Ditka set records in 1961 that lasted well into the 21st century, but he wasn’t even the first-team All-Pro tight end as a rookie, which seems foolish.
The other player who has a reasonable case doesn’t have the same sort of legacy as Sanders, in part because his rookie season was clearly his best campaign.
Jevon Kearse racked up 14.5 sacks and a league-high eight forced fumbles in 1999, helping transform a Titans defense that had combined to generate only 30 sacks the previous season.
Kearse landed 49 of 50 votes for Defensive Rookie of the Year, with Champ Bailey landing the only other nod. He was second in a tight Defensive Player of the Year ballot behind Warren Sapp, and he added three more sacks in the postseason as Tennessee went on a run to Super Bowl XXXIV.
Kearse’s rookie season absolutely deserves to be in the conversation for best ever, even if he didn’t build upon that campaign over the years that followed.
Speaking of the Super Bowl, Daniels is one win away from getting there, which should be part of the discussion.
Which rookies have led their teams to success?
One of the factors strengthening Daniels’ case is that he could be the first rookie quarterback to start a Super Bowl.
A win over the Eagles would dramatically shift the conversation surrounding him. Other quarterbacks have had great numbers as rookies — and some have earned more hardware in their debut campaigns — but Daniels taking his team to the Super Bowl in Year 1 would be unprecedented.
If you’re a Commanders fan, you might want to skip this paragraph. Six other rookie quarterbacks have started conference title games, and as you can probably infer from what you just read, they’ve gone 0-6.
Collectively, they’ve thrown five touchdown passes against 12 interceptions, completed just under 46% of their passes and posted a combined passer rating of 45.6. Gulp.
Several of those quarterbacks were being dragged to a deep playoff run by great defenses, including Shaun King (1999), Joe Flacco (2008) and Mark Sanchez (2009).
Pat Haden had split time during the regular season with the 1976 Rams, while Dieter Brock was a 34-year-old rookie out of the CFL playing his one and only NFL season for the 1986 Rams.
Ben Roethlisberger has managed to escape mention so far. Like Marino, he just missed the 300-attempt cutoff, as the longtime Pittsburgh quarterback threw the ball 295 times in 14 regular-season games in 2004, an average of just 21 pass attempts per game.
On the other hand, when he did throw it, he completed two-thirds of his throws and averaged a staggering 8.9 yards per attempt, albeit with higher-than-average sack and interception rates.
Stephen A. Smith praises Jayden Daniels for his performance in the Commanders 45-31 win over the Lions.
Roethlisberger’s biggest talking point, though, was his record: After the Steelers split their first two games, he went 13-0 as a starter. He added a narrow win over the Jets in the divisional round to make it 14 consecutive victories, only to be felled by Tom Brady and the Patriots in the AFC title game.
Even given his modestattempt totals, had Roethlisberger won 15 straight games and made it to the Super Bowl, it would have been tough to put any rookie quarterback ahead of him. Coming up one game short leaves the door open for Daniels.
And while there have been plenty of rookies who have made it to the Super Bowl and played well, there haven’t been many who have been cornerstone players on conference champions.
Among them, Ja’Marr Chase (2021), Tristan Wirfs (2020) and Nick Bosa (2019) would qualify as recent Super Bowl attendees, with Bosa being particularly transformative for the 49ers’ defense.
Running backs such as Joseph Addai (2006), Jamal Lewis (2000) and Tony Dorsett (1977) were essential for their teams, while Lott was hugely valuable at cornerback for a 49ers team that eventually won Super Bowl XVI.
If Daniels makes it to the NFL title game with the Commanders, he’ll have to qualify as the most essential rookie player on a Super Bowl team.
While acknowledging that Marcus Mariota looked just fine filling in for an injured Daniels in a game against the Panthers earlier this season, it’s impossible to imagine the Commanders coming close to a postseason berth without their rookie passer. Daniels’ instant impact helps strengthen the 24-year-old’s case as a historically impressive rookie.
Nobody saw this coming, did they? While I had the Commanders as one of the teams most likely to improve this season, my prediction was that they would push toward a .500 record.
I did pick a team with a rookie quarterback to advance to the playoffs in the NFC. Unfortunately for me, that team was the Bears. Oops.
It goes beyond taking over a team that went 4-13 last season. Daniels was drafted to join a team that had been rendered irrelevant by decades of bad football. The Commanders hadn’t won a playoff game since 2005 or posted a winning record since 2015.
A once-proud fan base had been insulted, embarrassed and driven to apathy by Daniel Snyder’s reign as team owner. The new ownership group was starting over with Daniels at quarterback, Dan Quinn as coach and Adam Peters as general manager, but this was supposed to be Year 1 of a multiseason turnaround.
Outside of Terry McLaurin, the Commanders weren’t expected to have even above-average players surrounding Daniels on offense.
The moves Peters had made to solidify the team were relatively modest, adding veterans such as Tyler Biadasz and Nick Allegretti along the offensive line, Olamide Zaccheaus and Zach Ertz as pass catchers and Austin Ekeler to an already-crowded backfield.
Before the season, there was more chatter about draftees such as Luke McCaffrey and Ben Sinnott becoming part of the next great Washington offense in the years to come than there was about the stopgap veterans in the starting lineup. When Peters traded 2022 first-round pick Jahan Dotson to the Eagles just before the season, it felt like the Commanders didn’t care about having as many playmakers around Daniels as possible.
Well, it turns out that Daniels has made all of those players better. Along with a resurgent season from offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, Daniels has formed connections with multiple receivers. Zaccheaus had a pair of 85-yard games.
Ertz caught 66 passes and has been a valuable third- and fourth-down threat. Noah Brown, signed off waivers before the season to replace Dotson, ran as the No. 2 wideout before suffering a kidney injury. Dyami Brown caught 11 passes for 187 yards in Washington’s two postseason wins.
Of course, it’s not just what Daniels has done but how he has done it. He has turned the end of Commanders games into appointment television. In Week 3, he hit my pick for best pass of the season to McLaurin to seal a win over the Bengals.
His Hail Mary gave the Commanders a victory over the Bears in Week 8. He led a dramatic comeback at home against the Cowboys in Week 12 before being let down by his special teams, then pulled off another last-minute win with a late drive to beat the Eagles in Week 16.
He followed a walk-off drive in overtime to beat the Falcons in Week 17 with a four-minute drive that ate up clock and set up the Commanders for a winning field goal in the wild-card win over the Buccaneers.
Oh, and while it didn’t include a dramatic ending, Daniels just played a nearly perfect game in scoring 38 points and knocking the top-seeded Lions out of the playoffs.
Other excellent rookies have their own stories. Washington was in a similarly dreary case when Griffin showed up. Sanders singlehandedly made Lions games watchable overnight. Lott was part of a historic improvement for the 49ers on defense.
The Texans were floundering before Stroud and Will Anderson Jr. arrived last season. But I’m not sure anybody has turned around a franchise and their hopes as a rookie quite as significantly and quickly as Daniels has.
So … where does Daniels rank?
OK, I’ve looked at Daniels’ performance versus other quarterbacks, where players at other positions have earned more hardware, how his team’s success impacts his case and the unique factors that make his season even more spectacular. What does all of that mean in terms of where his rookie season sits among the best ever?
It depends. There’s still at least one more game to go for Daniels, and a dramatic victory over the Eagles in Philadelphia would only add to his résumé.
As good as Daniels has been, there’s a huge gap between a universe in which he gets blown out by the Eagles in the and one in which he outduels Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen in a classic Super Bowl LIX victory.
Let’s split the rankings into three scenarios.
If the Commanders lose in the NFC Championship Game, there will be a handful of players who have to rank ahead of Daniels by their rookie performances.
Brown, as NFL MVP, is at the top of that list. Campbell nearly joined him as league MVP, coming three votes behind Terry Bradshaw. Dickerson was a revelation at running back in an era where that was right alongside quarterback as the league’s glamour position.
Taylor was the immediate Defensive Player of the Year and changed the sport. And while Marino didn’t win a playoff game as a rookie, he was arguably the league’s best quarterback in his debut season. That’s my top tier of rookie seasons.
Are there players in the next tier ahead of him? Maybe. Allen was spectacular, but that was in a nine-game season, and I’m not sure it’s realistic to compare players in a year so badly shortened by the strike to someone who had to suit up for 17 games.
Lott was an instant superstar and his team won the Super Bowl, but his case is hurt by not winning Defensive Rookie of the Year, which is a lesson to not show up in the same year as the greatest defensive player in league history.
Kearse deserves to be in the discussion, especially because he was the lone standout on a Titans defense that didn’t have another Pro Bowler in the lineup. Moss was a phenom by the end of the first quarter of his first game and was the fantasy football WR1 in his first season. I’d put Kearse and Moss ahead of Daniels.
Attacking midfielder Dowman turned 15 in December but has featured repeatedly for Arsenal’s Under-18 side this season, and even came off the bench for the U21s. Now, Gunners manager Arteta says the teenager is “very impressive” but admitted his age causes “restrictions” with his development for now.
He said, via journalist Jordan Davies: “Very impressive. Some of the things he [Dowman] does are unbelievable. We have a lot of belief we can develop him into one of our own. There are a lot of restrictions for his age so we will have to wait and see. He is taking fast steps.”
Dowman has been billed as the next big thing at Arsenal but managing his development and expectations will be key to his future success. If they can harness his ability correctly, the Gunners appear to have a real gem on their hands.
While Arsenal watch Dowman’s progress with real interest, Arsenal’s first-team take on Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Wednesday.
West Brom’s move for Ipswich Town striker Ali Al-Hamadi has broken down following failed talks between the two clubs earlier today, according to new reports.
Al-Hamadi has struggled for minutes at Portman Road so far this season due to the form of star man Liam Delap, and is understandably seeking a move away this month after he failed to seal an expected exit in the summer window.
He joined the Tractor Boys in the last January window from AFC Wimbledon, and went on to net four times in 14 Championship games as they won promotion to the Premier League, but he has only played 11 times in the top-flight so far, with all of those appearances coming from the bench.
West Brom are firmly in the play-off race as it stands, and while Tony Mowbray’s recent re-appointment as manager has been met with excitement at The Hawthorns, their squad was dealt a huge blow last week with news that top-scorer Josh Maja is set to be sidelined for the foreseeable future with a leg injury.
The Baggies are now in the market for a new striker, but after reports had emerged that Iraqi international Al-Hamadi was set to join the club this week, it now looks as if the deal is off, and they will have to focus their attention elsewhere.
Claims around Al-Hamadi’s imminent arrival at The Hawthorns first emerged on Tuesday morning, with the Express & Star reporting that the Baggies were eyeing a deal to bring the 22-year-old in on loan from Ipswich for the rest of the season.
Despite those claims, East Anglian Daily Times reporter Stuart Watson has now stated that the move has broken down, and he will not be joining the Championship club this month.
Ipswich outlet TWTD have also reported that the progress of the deal had previously been overstated, with claims that Al-Hamadi was with the Baggies to undergo a medical regarding a loan proving to be false.
They claim that he had, however, held talks with Tony Mowbray’s side regarding a permanent switch, but with no deal agreed between the two clubs, as discussions regarding the potential transfer then subsequently broke down in the afternoon.
The Baggies have not exactly been free-scoring this season, but their play-off chasing position has been built upon a strong defensive unit and the attack being centered around Josh Maja, yet one of Mowbray’s first issues that he must address as boss is coming up with new ways for his side to find the net.
The former Sunderland frontman has scored 12 goals in 26 Championship appearances for West Brom so far this season, with Karlan Grant having only bagged half as many in the league, and the likes of Tom Fellows, Mikey Johnston, Grady Diangana and backup striker Devante Cole all struggling to net on a regular basis up to now.
In their first game without the 26-year-old against Stoke City last time out, interim head-coach Chris Brunt lined up with Grant as the main striker in a 4-2-3-1, with that aforementioned trio behind him trying to score and create.
The Potters held the Baggies to a 1-1 draw at The Hawthorns, however, as Brunt’s men had 23 shots on Viktor Johansson’s goal, but only forced him into three saves, so it is clear that they are in real need of a new centre-forward to come in and start games every week and hopefully try to replicate Maja’s scoring form.
It looked as if Al-Hamadi would be that man, yet he will now seemingly not be on his way to the West Midlands this month, and both he and the Baggies are set to be left to explore their respective second-choice options.
