Taking on the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes is hard enough.
Try doing it without your star second-year quarterback, like the Washington Commanders are doing on Monday Night Football without Jayden Daniels.
The Commanders have a solid veteran in his place in the form of another former No. 2 overall pick, Marcus Mariota.
But Mariota, especially at this point in his career, isn't Daniels.
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Why isn't Jayden Daniels playing tonight?
Jayden Daniels isn't playing Monday night because he's out with an injury.
He remains out with a hamstring injury that initially forced him out of the Commanders' loss to the Cowboys a week ago.
The Commanders ruled Daniels out a few days before this matchup, locking in Mariota as the starter.
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When is Jayden Daniels coming back?
It's not certain when Daniels will be back, but head coach Dan Quinn said during the week that the injury is "not significant" and shouldn't be long-term.
"We knew it wasn’t going to be significant, meaning long, but also not well enough to say, 'Okay, in six days it’s ready to go based on speed and how you would handle this type of injury,'" Quinn told reporters on Thursday leading into Week 8. "So all of the week will be focused for him on the rehab in hopes of the following week, so I’ll assess that next week as opposed to some practice and some not, just put all of it, all the time and effort into that."
Daniels missed two games earlier this season with a knee injury.
With Daniels out, Mariota's backup is journeyman Josh Johnson.
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