When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the Washington Commanders in Week 1, people didn't even really bat an eye. The Bucs were expected to win that game considering it was second-overall pick Jayden Daniels' first-ever NFL start and the Commanders were... well, the Commanders.
Fast forward to after Week 4 and the win continues to look even better for the Bucs, who won that game by a score of 37 to 20 (and even that score makes it look more competitive than it was). The Buccaneers defense held Daniels to 184 passing yards and zero touchdowns though he did rush for 88 yards and two scores with his legs.
The reason this win continues to age well is that the Commanders have been pretty much unstoppable on offense ever since they got their butts whooped by the Bucs in Tampa. The Commanders didn't punt in their Week 2 or 3 games and continued to put the absolute smackdown on the Cardinals in Week 4, winning 42 to 14.
Buccaneers Week 1 win over Jayden Daniels is aging like a fine wine
The Commanders offense has continued to thrive thanks to the heroics from Daniels, who has put himself as the easy frontrunner for Offensive Rookie of the Year and truthfully, the league MVP award as well. According to Nick Jhabvala on X, "Through four games, Jayden Daniels has led the Commanders on more scoring drives (23) than he's thrown incompletions (19)."
Yet, when the Bucs hosted the Commanders in Week 1, they had no problem limiting Daniels and the Commanders offense. Yes, this could be an example of Tampa getting Washington at the perfect time but let's take whatever victories we can get here.
Daniels and the Commanders have been a fun story this season but it's even more fun that the Bucs now look like defensive geniuses for having slowed both of them down. Who cares that it was in Week 1 where wins and losses are usually pretty flukey? Again, let's take the wins when we can get them.
Clearly, the Buccaneers are the 1985 Bears (sarcasm of course).