Washington Commanders 40, Carolina Panthers 7

The Washington Commanders continued its dominant start to the 2024 season, defeating the Carolina Panthers 40-7 at home, improving to 5-2.

However, it will be a bittersweet victory for fans in the nation's capital as they are frontrunners for starting quarterback and offensive rookie of the year Jayden Daniels left the game in the second quarter with a rib injury and did not return.

Marcus Mariota filled in for Daniels and finished the game 18 of 23 for 205 yards and two passes touchdowns and no Interception. He recorded two great throws and no turnover-worthy plays, leading the offense to an impressive .448 EPA per pass play, the second-best single-game mark of Washington's season so far. Fans are hoping Mariota can maintain this level of play with Daniels out.

There wasn't much to celebrate for Panthers fans. Experienced quarterback Andy Dalton He opened the game with a pretty bad pick-six and threw another interception at the end of the first quarter that appeared to be the result of a miscommunication with his receiver. Dalton previously finished 12 of 17 for 93 scoreless yards Bryce Young took over to end the game.

PFF's dedicated team of evaluators worked hard, analyzing each player on every play in real time. Grades and data will be available tomorrow at 12pm EST after a thorough review.

In the meantime, we've collected some general data and snapshots from the game to give you a first look. Our expert evaluators also nominated the outstanding player of the game, highlighting the exceptional performance on the field.

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PLAYER OF THE MATCH

Marcus Mariota's performance will instill confidence in Washington fans as he looked solid in replacing Daniels. The veteran signal-caller finished the game 18 of 23 for 205 yards, two passing touchdowns and no interceptions, along with two big throws and no turnover-worthy plays.

He was particularly effective under pressure, completing two of his five pass attempts under pressure for 37 yards, a touchdown and two big throws. He also contributed 34 yards and moved the chains three times on 11 rushing attempts, proving that the mobile aspect of the Washington offense remains viable with him under center.

Mariota finished the game with an impressive PFF grade of over 85.0 on initial review.

BOX score

	Panthers	Commanders
Total points	7	40
Overall offensive games	43	63
Average EPA per game	-0.525	0.278
Total Net Yards	180	421
Average yards per game	4.2	6.7
Total first downs	10	26
Rushing first downs	5	8
Surrendered first downs	5	14
Penalty for first downs	0	4
Third-down efficiency	30%	60%
Fourth-down efficiency	0%	0%
Possessions	10	9
Average number of games per drive	4.6	8.1
Average yards per drive	16.4	42.1
Average points per trip	0.6	3.4
Red zone possessions	1	6
Play in the red zone	4	17
Red zone TDs	1	3
Red zone FGs	0	3
Red zone scoring efficiency	100%	100%