With the Washington Commanders down 10-0 in a must-win game against the Philadelphia Eagles, **Jayden Daniels** called his offensive teammates together.

Neither Daniels nor his teammates revealed exactly what the quarterback said, but he did give a shortened, less colorful version after the game.

"Honestly, it was complete BS, just how we started and what we were doing," Daniels said.

Here's what we do know: the Commanders scored 27 unanswered points after that moment and took a 27-10 victory over the Eagles. No one said it publicly after the game, but Daniels' address to the offense served as an unofficial turning point during a night in which the Commanders needed a win. To the players, it was everything they expected from Daniels, who took another step in his development as a leader.

"I feel like he already has a good foundation in him, and knowing how to be a good leader of men," **Antonio Williams** said. "All the guys respect what he has to say, because we know the work he puts in and how much he wants to win."

The Commanders needed a jolt after a sluggish start.

Every offensive player, including Daniels himself, looked off through the first 10 minutes of the night. Daniels missed throws that he normally makes; the offensive line committed back-to-back false starts that turned a third-and-1 into a third-and-11; there were drops on easy throws that would have resulted in first downs; and Drew Stevens hooked his first field goal of the night, giving the Eagles good field position to try their own field goal.

The worst moment came after Eagles kicker Jake Elliott's successful 40-yard attempt, when another set of back-to-back penalties preceded a fumble from Chig Okonkwo that the Eagles recovered at the Commanders' 26-yard line. Saquon Barkley ran into the end zone three plays later.

It was after that moment that Daniels addressed his teammates. He was not overly animated -- that is not Daniels' style -- but it was clear by the video that did the rounds on social media that he was not happy with the unit's performance.

Head coach Dan Quinn has come to expect moments like that from Daniels, but he said he loved it all the same.

"There comes a point when it's enough is enough," Quinn said. "For he and for his teammates to look one another in the eye and say, 'Okay, let's get this part of our football in order and do this now.' It's usually more effective that way."

Daniels' teammates could feel his passion as they do in everything else he does. He told them -- with more descriptive language -- that what they did during their first three drives "wasn't our brand of football that we want to play or showcase." He was frustrated, not just with himself but the entire unit. At that point, he added, "you go up and speak your mind."

Williams summed it up more succinctly than that.

"If we're going to lose, have someone actually beat us," Williams said. "It was along the lines of that."

To the players, Daniels has more than earned the right to speak his mind. According to ESPN's John Keim, he went from Northwest Stadium to the team facility in Ashburn, Virginia, to begin preparing for the Los Angeles Rams until about 3:30 a.m. He elected to stay in the game after taking a rough hit from Nolan Smith Jr., which he said knocked the wind out of him, but prior to that, he worked to recover from the dislocated elbow he suffered in Week 2 to return three weeks later.

So, when Daniels speaks up, his teammates listen.

"He's steadily just going," **Chig Okonkwo** said. "He just does everything for us. He sits in there; he's super tough; he doesn't turn the ball over."

It helped that Daniels backed up his leadership with results on the field. He led the Commanders to points on four of their next six drives, including a series where he completed five of six pass attempts and capped it off with a touchdown throw to Stefon Diggs.

"Lock in for six seconds of a play and go from there," Daniels said. "Take it one play at a time and stop looking at the scoreboard or where we're at."

The box score will show that Daniels was solid in the Commanders' win over the Eagles, which puts them just two games within reach of the division-leading New York Giants. He completed 55% of his passes for 217 yards and a 58.8 QBR. Those are hardly the most noteworthy numbers, but they were enough to win.

But they do not show the contributions Daniels made off the field, and for the team, that had just as much of an effect on the game.

"The fact that it didn't have to be me as the one doing that, I thought was good," Quinn said. "Obviously, frustration and all that builds in, so I like it when that happens."