NFC Notes: Jayden Daniels, Vic Fangio, Commanders, Cowboys, Eagles

Commanders

The Commanders have dipped to 7-5 with three straight losses, where QB Jayden Daniels has tossed three interceptions and has dropped in completion percentage, yards per attempt, and touchdown passes. Daniels acknowledged how the NFL season is significantly longer than in college. 

“I mean, I don’t know,” Daniels said, via PFT. “Obviously, it’s longer, so it’s different. It’s just stuff getting used to, like usually right now in college, the season’s about the end. Our season, it’s just starting, somewhere like the second half of the season. So, I mean, that’s different, but I don’t really know the definition of a rookie wall. I just know that NFL season is longer [than] college.”

Cowboys

The Cowboys have suffered numerous injuries to their offensive line, including G Zack Martin (ankle/shoulder) missing Monday’s practice and LG Tyler Smith (ankle/knee) being limited. Third-round C Cooper Beebe said they are always keeping a next-man-up mentality. 

“It’s tough when you lose guys of [high] caliber,” Beebe said, via Josh Tolentino of Lonestar Live. “But we prepare for when people are down, you have to step up, it’s next-man-up mentality…We’re all professionals here. We’re here to win, we’re here to compete, we’re going to go out there and give it everything we’ve got.”

Cowboys RB Rico Dowdle totaled 86 rushing yards in Week 12’s win over the Commanders. Dallas HC Mike McCarthy said their game plan was to keep a “ground-and-pound” attack. 

“That was our plan, it was ground-and-pound,” McCarthy said. “Frankly, I thought if we could’ve done better on third down, we would’ve really been in the type of game we wanted to play. I would’ve liked to have definitely ran the ball more. I thought those guys did a really good job inside…You’d definitely like to have more continuity. I think everybody would like to come out of camp and watch five guys line up in practice every single day together and play together because the numbers speak for themselves – the continuity, success rate is very high.”

As for OL Tyler Guyton being the second-most penalized offensive lineman in the NFL, McCarthy said they are making it a “big emphasis” to correct Guyton’s mistakes. 

“It’s a big emphasis, we obviously talk about it time and time again…It has to stop,” McCarthy said. “He knows it. He feels sick about it. But we’ve just got to get it corrected, those are penalties that potentially took points off the board…We’re far enough down the line, he understands it. He’s a young man with a very bright future. It’s always the little things and the details. It’s the difference between winning and losing. We all need to be better, we need to get that fixed.”

Eagles

• Eagles DC Vic Fangio commented on the idea of DT Milton Williams getting more reps on the edge after DE Brandon Graham went down for the season: “He could. Not a steady diet of it, though.” (Zach Berman)
• Fangio on LB Zack Baun moving to the edge: “I don’t want to weaken another position. If you can not make too many changes for one guy missing, that’s better.” (Berman)
• Fangio said “we’ll find out” when talking about third-rond DE Jalyx Hunt getting a bigger role. (Berman)