DETROIT -- Dan Quinn's club entered Saturday night's Divisional Round tilt a heavy underdog. Afterward, the team's simply a dawg.
Music bumped in the visitor locker room deep in the bowels of Ford Field after the Washington Commanders thwarted the No. 1 seeded Detroit Lions resoundingly, 45-31. It was a message from a nationally dismissed No. 6 seed.
"DJ Khaled said, 'They didn't believe in us but God did,'" rookie cornerback Mike Sainristil said after the contest. "All the belief we need is the belief within the team, the belief in each other, the brotherhood that we have here... That's what led us here: the brotherhood, the bond, the camaraderie. We're just playing for each other."
Washington didn't just walk into the No. 1 seed's building -- a place where the Lions had trounced opponent after opponent en route to a 15-2 season -- to compete. No, the Commanders sought to make a statement.
"If we're going to be heavy hitters, we've got to prove that we're going to be heavy hitters," running back Austin Ekeler said. "You got to beat heavy hitters to be a heavy hitter. So that was (Quinn's) message today."
The Commanders outraced the boat racers. They berated the league's heaviest hitters.
The Commanders' defense forced five turnovers, including four interceptions -- two by Sainristil -- a pick-six, and a pivotal early sack-fumble. Jayden Daniels led a big-play offense that tortured the Lions, generating 481 yards, punting a single time and leading five TD drives.
The big plays on defense curtailed a Lions offense that stacked yards (521) but couldn't keep pace with Daniels and an unstoppable offense. Washington won all three phases of the game.
"It just doesn't matter what anyone thinks but you," Sainristil said. "All the belief you need is the one within the team. We believe in each other. The coaches believe in us, we believe in them. Like coach Q says, 'Anybody, anywhere, anytime.'"
Today, it was in Detroit against the top offense in the league in prime time.
After the victory, D.C. heavy hitters milled around as players celebrated a Divisional Round victory inside the locker room. Magic Johnson wore a wry smile. Josh Harris beamed ear-to-ear. Joe Gibbs smirked knowingly, talking to former Lions GM Martin Mayhew. Kevin Durant glowed, towering over the crowd. The exuberant expressions each echoed the same thought: We've got something more than a flash-in-the-pan.
They've got a superstar quarterback in the making.
Daniels was unstoppable Saturday night. The rookie went 22-of-31 passing for 299 yards with two TD passes and added a career-high 16 carries for 51 yards. He finished with a 122.9 passer rating and took zero sacks.
In the face of a 15-win opponent with the backing of a raucous crowd, Daniels didn't flinch. Heck, he might not have even blinked all game. All night, the 24-year-old made the correct read, avoided any pressure, never put his club in a bad spot and dropped big plays when needed.
Every time the Lions threatened to get back in the game, Daniels thwarted it. He wouldn't let his upstart team lose.
"I always believe," Daniels said of being an underdog. "I always believe that we could achieve more than what people give us credit for, but you gotta go out there putting in work, you gotta go out there and work daily, get better each and every day. Just put your head down and grind, and by the time of the season, you look up and you might be in a position like this."
Every time Daniels dropped a big play on third or fourth down, you could feel the Detroit crowd growing in frustration. This rookie just wouldn't act like a rookie. Daniels is a walking narrative-breaker.
The Commanders' signal-caller became just the second rookie QB to defeat a No. 1 seed in the playoffs, joining Baltimore's Joe Flacco (2008 -- defeated Titans in the Divisional Round).
"He just has a different poise about him than most, and he's a rare competitor," Quinn said. "There's no doubt about that. If he was a basketball player, he'd want the last shot. As a ball player, he wants the ball in his hands to make the difference, and he makes great decisions with the football. That takes real mindfulness."
With a quarterback who calmly finds the right answers and a defense that's proven it can come up with a pivotal turnover, the locker room believes its fairy tale can continue.
"I don't know what we see ourselves as," Sainristil said when asked if the club views itself as underdogs. "We see ourselves as, I think, a very tough team. A team that we control our destiny."
Given his play as a rookie, it might not even be a surprise to find out Daniels also controlled destiny.
