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ARLINGTON, Texas — All that remained inside Jayden Daniels’ locker were two unopened bottles of water and a towel.
Around the empty space, the quarterback’s teammates shuffled in hushed tones — occasionally stealing a glance at their leader’s untouched belongings.
“It sucks, man,” wide receiver Stefon Diggs said a few feet away.
“I knew as soon as I saw his face,” offensive lineman Nick Allegretti whispered.
“I know how hard he worked to get back,” Terry McLaurin said, shaking his head.
Daniels, of course, was long gone by the end of Washington’s crushing 37-20 loss to the Cowboys on Sunday. He spent the second half in an X-ray room, where he was diagnosed with a dislocated elbow that once again threatens to end his season. He then walked off to see his family in a routine that’s become all too familiar.
Daniels did the same last year, when he strained his knee in Week 2. He did it again in Week 7 for an ankle injury. Week 9 for a dislocated elbow. And finally, in Week 14, when he fell on his elbow once more, ending his sophomore season.
Nobody knows how long this latest injury will keep him out. Commanders coach Dan Quinn said there was no fracture detected but that Daniels will require more tests this week to determine the extent of the injury.
But the scene — on the field as Daniels was carted off and in the locker room afterward — was grim.
“We’ve been in this situation before, unfortunately,” McLaurin said. “We’re going to keep supporting [Daniels]. We have to find a way to win some games until he gets back.”
There’s reason to doubt the Comanders on that front.
Washington limped to a 5-12 record and became one of the worst teams in the NFL without Daniels last year. Its offense ranked 22nd in yards and 27th in point differential, and the team lost 10 of its last 12 games.
And this season has already been difficult. The Commanders are 0-2, with both losses coming in the NFC East. The odds from here are daunting: Not even 16% of teams starting with two losses have made the playoffs since 2002.
Washington has to squint just to see any reprieve on the schedule. The defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks come to D.C. next week, and after that it’s a 3,000-mile trip to London to play the Colts.
With Daniels, that would have been hard enough. Without him, it’s much more unnerving.
“It hurts because we are 0-2. Hurts because we lost a brother,” McLaurin said. “We have a lot of season left.”
But the Commanders have, after all, been here before — and they took lessons from losing their young star a year ago. This time they didn’t want to wallow in their thoughts.
“I think, when you suppress those emotions, I think you start to not be yourself,” backup quarterback Marcus Mariota said.
Daniels went down on a fluke play late in the first half. An offensive lineman stepped on his foot, causing him to fall. The team’s medical staff swarmed to him after he fell back to the ground in pain while trying to head to the sideline.
Rather than going into the locker room for halftime, his teammates stayed by his side.
“I just wanted to stay there with him and say, ‘Hey, Dog, I got you. Just want to know that someone is caring for you,’” Mariota said.
McLaurin, who was hurt with Daniels most of last season, couldn’t bear to leave with Daniels still on the field.
“Nobody wanted to leave,” he said.
But, eventually, Washington had to move on. In the immediate sense, it forged through a drubbing at the hands of Dallas. But in the big picture, it has to move into the uncertainty of another potentially lost season.
“If you have belief, that’s all you can really call for,” said Mariota, who completed 11 of 16 passes for 111 yards in relief. “We will find ways to correct the technique. We’ll find ways to correct the execution.”
As Daniels left the stadium, Super Bowl quarterback Tom Brady came over to say hello. Brady once tore his ACL early in a season, costing him a year. The interaction was brief. There wasn’t much he could say.
And, back by Daniels’ locker, his teammates also didn’t say much. The empty locker, and the untouched water bottles, said it all. Another game, and maybe another season, left unfinished.
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