Commanders

Just when it seemed the Washington Commanders’ night couldn’t get much worse, it actually got much, much worse.

With his team trailing the Seattle Seahawks by 31 points midway through the fourth quarter Sunday night, Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels suffered a gruesome injury to his non-throwing arm that will likely keep him off the field for several weeks.

After Washington’s 38-14 loss, coach Dan Quinn had little information on his second-year quarterback, saying only that Daniels had a “left arm injury” and that he hoped to provide an update in the morning.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that Daniels dislocated his elbow and will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the severity of the injury.

A former star at Cajon High, Daniels won the Heisman Trophy at Louisiana State in 2023 and was selected at No. 2 overall by the Commanders in the 2024 NFL draft. He immediately took the league by storm, earning Pro Bowl and offensive rookie of the year honors while leading Washington to an unlikely appearance in the NFC championship game.

Season 2 has been a disappointment. Going into this weekend, Daniels had already missed three games with knee and hamstring injuries and the Commanders had struggled to a 3-5 record.

Then came Sunday night. Down by four scores in the fourth quarter, Washington drove to the Seattle 2-yard-line and was looking to make a slight dent in the deficit when disaster struck. On second-and-goal with 7:39 remaining in the game, Daniels faked a handoff and scrambled to his right before being spun down by Seattle’s Drake Thomas for a 2-yard loss.

As he was being taken to the ground, Daniels put out his left arm to brace himself. His elbow bent the wrong way. Commanders guard Sam Cosmi called the scene “gut-wrenching.”

“I didn’t see what happened exactly. I just heard a pause and I kind of put my head down and prayed for him,” Cosmi said. “You just don’t want to see that happen.”

A similar scene took place nearly 13 years ago for Washington, when another rising young star at quarterback, Robert Griffin III, re-injured his knee during a home game against the Seahawks. His career was never the same afterward.

Griffin was one of several people who took to social media Sunday night to comment on the matter. He seemed to speak for the majority of them when he wrote on X, “WHY WAS JAYDEN DANIELS EVEN STILL IN THE GAME?!?!?!”

“The Seattle Seahawks had the game won,” a visbly distraught Griffin said in a video also posted to X. “I understand you want to play to the end, but with the injuries that he’s already had this year, and the injuries he had last year, why is he in the game? Doesn’t make sense.”

Griffin, who currently works as a college football analyst on Fox Sports, added: “You can’t say a knee and a hamstring leads to an elbow injury like that. It was a freak accident, freak play. But I can’t help but feel for Jayden Daniels. Man, I can’t help but feel for Washington Commanders fans. Just a demoralizing blow, man.”

Asked by reporters after the game whether any consideration was given to removing Daniels before that series, Quinn seemed to indicate that the plays being called didn’t seem to present a high injury risk.

“Obviously in hindsight, you don’t want to think that way, where injury could take place,” Quinn said. “Obviously, we’re more concerned in that spot to run and hand off and not have reads to go, but just the end result, obviously I’m bummed.”

Later in the news conference, in response to a similar question, Quinn gave a similar answer.

“Yeah, obviously, I’m just gutted by this, bummed,” Quinn said. “The one that he was on injured is usually a runner or throwing the flats, not a scramble. So it wasn’t a designed read or play into that spot. If we run it 50 times, it’s either hand off or throw, say, 50 times. So it’s a bummer, man, in a big way.”

Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota has led the Commanders to a 1-2 record starting in place of Daniels this season.

In Monday night’s other game, a last-gasp 38-yard Jake Moody field goal with three seconds left gave the Chicago Bears a thrilling 25-24 victory at the Washington Commanders.

The San Francisco 49ers took Moody with a rare pick on a kicker in round three of the 2023 draft but they then cut him a poor week one performance this season.

He signed to the Bears practice squad and was activated for Monday’s game after an injury to Cairo Santos.

“It feels amazing,” said Moody. “To get all that support from all my team-mates after the game, it was an amazing feeling.”

Two Moody field goals and a rushing touchdown from quarterback Caleb Williams put Chicago 13-0 up before Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels found Chris Moore to reduce the deficit to six points at Northwest Stadium.

Matt Gay and Moody traded field goals before Daniels threw to Luke McCaffrey and Zach Ertz for touchdowns as Washington opened up a 24-16 lead.

A 55-yard D’Andre Swift receiving touchdown gave the Bears a chance to tie the game but they missed a two-point conversion, leaving the Commanders 24-22 ahead.

But a Daniels fumble gave possession back to the Bears, who drove down the field to set up Moody’s winning kick with three seconds left, leaving the Commaneders with a 3-3 record.

“That’s who we are. We fight,” said Williams, who threw for one touchdown and 252 yards as his team moved to 3-2.

“We’re 3-2 because of our fight, because of how we face adversity and come together.”

The Chargers triumphantly dispatched the AFC West.

The NFC East? That’s a different story.

The Washington Commanders barged into SoFi Stadium on Sunday and handed the Chargers their second consecutive defeat — a 27-10 spirit crusher — coming on the heels of an upset of coach Jim Harbaugh’s team by the winless New York Giants a week before.

The visitors iced the win with a 13-play, 99-yard drive that ended with an eight-yard, blitz-beating touchdown pass from Jayden Daniels to Deebo Samuel. That had thousands of blue-clad fans streaming for the exits.

The game had been decided before that. A pivotal play came with 7 minutes, 40 seconds remaining and the Chargers looking to cut into Washington’s 10-point lead.

On third-and-goal from the 4, Justin Herbert dropped back and fired a pass for the sure-handed Keenan Allen. The ball was tipped by Jer’Zhan Newton and intercepted at the goal line by cornerback Mike Sainristil. Threat neutralized.

That blunted a drive that started with a masterful defensive play, a tackle by Chargers defensive tackle Teair Tart, who pried the ball loose from Washington running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt — who was having a tremendous game — then recovered the fumble.

The play hinted at a dramatic comeback by the lurching Chargers (3-2), a team still looking to find its groove. Much like their season so far, the Chargers started strong then faded.

Washington wide receiver Deebo Samuel scores on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Daniels in the fourth quarter of the Commanders’ 27-10 win Sunday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

They jumped out to a 10-0 lead against the Commanders before surrendering 27 unanswered points with the game torturously slipping away from the Chargers in the second half.

Their kryptonite was rookie Croskey-Merritt, who tore off some gains longer than his last name. The seventh-round pick from Arizona finished with a combined 150 yards in 14 carries and two catches.

He had touchdown runs of 15 and five yards around the left side that befuddled a Chargers defense that had played so well to this point. This was a Commanders offense missing star receiver Terry McLaurin, and with Daniels ostensibly limited by a sprained knee and bulky brace.

Daniels did some scrambling, however, and mobile quarterbacks historically have given this defense problems. The onetime star from Cajon High in San Bernardino threw for 231 yards and ran for 39.

Heading into the game, the primary concern of the Chargers offense was protecting Herbert, who was pressured on 46 drop backs in the first four games, more than any quarterback in the NFL, according to TruMedia. He was facing a defense Sunday that includes future Hall of Famers Von Miller and Bobby Wagner.

Washington players celebrate after cornerback Mike Sainristil intercepts a pass intended for Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen in the fourth quarter Sunday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Herbert creates problems for defenses with his arm and legs. On the third play from scrimmage, he broke loose on a run up the middle and picked up 41 yards.

The opening drive appeared to end with a 29-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker, but the Chargers got new life with an offsides call on Washington. That afforded the Chargers a first-and-goal at the six, and two plays later, Herbert found Ladd McConkey with a two-yard pass for a touchdown.

Allen caught five passes, becoming the 16th receiver in NFL history to accumulate 1,000 career receptions. He came into Sunday’s game needing two catches to hit that milestone, and he did that in fewer games than anyone (159), compared with the prior record-holder Marvin Harrison (167).

Herbert is playing behind a patchwork offensive line, as the team lost left tackle Rashawn Slater in training camp — 10 days after making him the highest-paid offensive lineman in history — then lost replacement Joe Alt to a high-ankle sprain in the first quarter of a Week 4 loss at the Giants.

Chargers wide receiver Ladd McConkey celebrates after scoring his first touchdown of the season in the first quarter Sunday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Right guard Mekhi Becton returned from a concussion that sidelined him for the Giants game, but Sunday sustained a hand injury. What’s more, right tackle Trey Pipkins III hobbled off the field in the second quarter with a banged-up knee. It was a true MASH unit.

This has been a roller coaster season for the Chargers, a microcosm of which happened at the end of the first half.

The Commanders were punting from their own end zone and put the ball in the hands of Chargers returner McConkey, who weaved his way to the end zone for an apparent touchdown.

That jubilation didn’t last long for the Chargers, as they were flagged for roughing the punter, giving the visitors a first down. No sooner did the defense get back onto the field than Daniels connected on a 50-yard heave to Luke McCaffrey, younger brother of San Francisco 49ers star Christian McCaffrey.

Two plays later, Samuel picked up 22 yards on a reception for Washington (3-2), setting up a field goal that forged a 10-10 tie the teams took into halftime.

The Commanders carried that momentum into the third quarter when, with a combination of receptions and runs by Croskey-Merritt, they worked their way downfield for the go-ahead touchdown.

Was the Chargers’ loss to the previously winless New York Giants a mere blip or an omen of what life’s going to be like with a patchwork offensive line?

Sunday’s game will be a test of that, because even though the Washington Commanders aren’t quite as imposing along the defensive line, they can still rush the passer.

The Chargers defense has been playing well but tends to struggle with mobile quarterbacks. Enter Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, last season’s Offensive Rookie of the Year who is recovering from a sprained knee. He won’t have his top receiver, Terry McLaurin, who is dealing with a quadriceps injury.

Meanwhile, Chargers receiver Keenan Allen needs two catches to reach 1,000 for his career, and has a chance to hit that milestone in fewer games than anyone in NFL history. This will be his 159th game. Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison has the record, collecting his 1,000th catch in his 167th game.

How the Chargers can win: Protect Justin Herbert. Get the ground game going with rookie Omarion Hampton. Gap discipline — this defense doesn’t handle scrambling quarterbacks well, and nobody scrambles better than Daniels.

How the Commanders can win: Eliminate or at least limit the explosive plays, a weakness of the Commanders defense. Keep that running-back-by-committee approach rolling against a defense that gave up 161 yards rushing last week. Let Daniels use his legs for big yards on unscheduled plays.

Jordan Love throws for two touchdowns and 292 yards, while Josh Jacobs scores a rushing touchdown in his 11th straight game as the Green Bay Packers maintain their impressive start to the NFL season.

WATCH: The Whole 10 Yards weekly NFL show on BBC iPlayer

Available to UK users only.

CLEVELAND — President Trump wants Washington’s NFL franchise and Cleveland’s Major League Baseball team to revert to their former names, which where changed in recent years because many considered them racist.

Trump said Sunday on his social media site that “The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past. Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!”

Josh Harris, whose group bought the NFL’s Washington Commanders from former owner Dan Snyder in 2023, said this year the name was here to stay. Not long after taking over, Harris quieted speculation about going back to Redskins, saying that would not happen.

Cleveland Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti indicated before Sunday’s game against the Athletics that there weren’t any plans to revisit the name change.

“We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously it’s a decision we made. We’ve got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that’s in front of us,” he said.

Both teams have had their current names since the 2022 seasons. Washington dropped Redskins after the 2019 season and was known as the Washington Football Team for two years before adopting Commanders.

Cleveland announced in December 2020 it would drop Indians. It announced the switch to Guardians in July 2021. In 2018, the team phased out “Chief Wahoo” as its primary logo.

The name changes had their share of supporters and critics as part of national discussions about institutions and teams dropping logos and names considered racist.

The Guardians are the fifth name for Cleveland’s baseball franchise. It joined the American League in 1901 as one of the eight charter franchises, as the Blues. It switched to the Bronchos a year later and used the Naps from 1903 through 1914 before moving to the Indians in 1915.

Washington started in Boston as the Redskins in 1933 before moving to the nation’s capital four years later.

Washington and Cleveland share another thing in common. David Blitzer is a member of Harris’ ownership group with the Commanders and holds a minority stake in the Guardians.

Reedy writes for the Associated Press.

A state funeral service is under way in Iran for about 60 people, including military commanders, killed in Israeli attacks, with thousands joining the ceremony in the capital, Tehran.

State TV showed footage of people donning black clothes, waving Iranian flags and holding pictures of the slain head of the Revolutionary Guard, other top commanders and nuclear scientists in the ceremony that started at 8am (04:30 GMT) on Saturday.

Images from central Tehran showed coffins draped in Iranian flags and bearing portraits of the deceased commanders in uniform.

The United States had carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last weekend, joining its ally Israel’s bombardments of Iran in the 12-day war launched on June 13.

Both Israel and Iran claimed victory in the war that ended with a ceasefire on Tuesday, with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei downplaying the US strikes, claiming Trump had “exaggerated events in unusual ways”, and rejecting US claims that Iran’s nuclear programme had been set back by decades.

The coffins of the Guard’s chief General Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard’s ballistic missile programme, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, and others were driven on trucks along the capital’s Azadi Street as people in the crowds chanted: “Death to America” and “Death to Israel”.

Salami and Hajizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, which Israel said was meant to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme.

Mohammad Bagheri, a major-general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, as well as top nuclear scientist Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi were also killed in Israeli attacks.

Saturday’s ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the ceasefire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children.

Authorities closed government offices to allow public servants to attend the ceremonies.

War of words

The state funeral comes a day after US President Donald Trump launched a tirade on his Truth Social platform, blasting Khamenei for claiming in a video address that Iran had won the war.

Trump also claimed to have known “EXACTLY where he (Khamenei) was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the US Armed Forces… terminate his life”.

He claimed he had been working in recent days on the possible removal of sanctions against Iran, but he dropped it after Khamenei’s remarks.

Hitting back at Trump on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X: “If President Trump is genuine about wanting a deal, he should put aside the disrespectful and unacceptable tone towards Iran’s Supreme Leader.”

Al Jazeera’s Resul Serdar, reporting from Tehran, said Araghchi’s remarks were “a most expected reaction” to Trump’s social media posts.

“Many Iranian people regard him [Khamenei] as chiefly a religious leader, but according to the constitution, he’s not only that – he’s the political leader, he’s the military leader – he’s simply the head of state in Iran,” he said.

Serdar also said Khamenei’s position is not just the top of a hierarchy, but a divine role in Shia political theology.

“Not only in Iran, but across the world, we know there are a significant number of Shia who look for his guidance,” Serdar said. “Anyone who knows that would be meticulously careful not to publicly criticise him, and particularly not to accuse him of lying.”

No nuclear talks planned

There was no immediate sign of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the state broadcast of the funeral.

Khamenei, who has not made a public appearance since before the outbreak of the war, has in past funerals held prayers for fallen commanders over their coffins before the open ceremonies, later aired on state television.

During the 12 days before the ceasefire, Israel claimed it killed about 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites.

Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people, according to Israeli figures.

The Israeli attacks on Iran killed at least 627 civilians, Tehran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education said.

After the US strikes, Trump said negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme for a new deal were set to restart next week, but Tehran denied there were plans for a resumption.

June 21 (UPI) — Israel’s military on Saturday killed two more top Iranian military officials during overnight strikes as fighting between the two nations entered a second week.

Iran warned it would be “very dangerous for everyone” if the U.S. intervened in the conflict. U.S. President Donald Trump said he has a maximum two-week timeline given Thursday on whether the United States will strike.

Saeed Izadi, the head of the Palestine Corps of al-Quds, which is the foreign branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, was killed in a strike at a home in the city of Qom in central Iran, Israel Defense Forces said. He played a key role in the financing and arming Hamas‘ attack of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to IDF.

Behnam Shahriyari, another senior official, also died in a strike. He was responsible for al-Quds helping finance the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

An Iranian nuclear scientist, Isar Tabatabai-Qamsheh, and his wife, additionally died in an Israeli strike in Tehran, the Mehr News Agency reports.

At the start of the conflict, several leaders died, including Hossein Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces. Also killed were Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the IRGC’s aerospace forces, and Ali Shadmani, who was recently appointed as head of the central command.

Early Saturday morning, Iran launched missiles at Israel with at least one building in central Israel catching fire from shrapnel of an intercepted Iranian missile. Later Saturday morning, a drone strike damaged a residential building in north Israel. No casualties were reported from the strikes.

Israel said it deployed 50 aircraft over Iran overnight, hitting Iran’s Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant for the second time in Qom. Nearby, a strike on a residential building killed two people and injured four others Saturday, according to Iran’s state media.

More than 400 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict began eight days ago, Iran state broadcaster IRIB reported Saturday in citing Iran’s health ministry.

“As of this morning, the Israeli regime’s hands are stained with the blood of 400 defenseless Iranians, and it has injured 3,056 people with its missiles and drones,” the health ministry said.

“Most of the casualties and fatalities were civilians.”

Iranian strikes have killed at least 25 and injured hundreds, according to Israel. Israel has intercepted 99% of the 470 Iranian drones launched since the war began.

Diplomatic efforts

Talks between Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi and European counterparts in Geneva, Switzerland, ended Friday night with no breakthrough. Britain, France, Germany and the European Union are involved in the negotiations.

“It is obvious I cannot go to the negotiations with the United States when our people are under bombardment, under the support of the United States,” Araghchi told reporters Saturday in Istanbul, Turkey.

Foreign ministers with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation met there.

Araghchi urged for the “aggression” to end “for us to come back to diplomacy.”

The meetings in Geneva were focused on a nuclear deal between the U.S. and Iran as part of a cease-fire. The European nations’ proposal includes Iran moving to zero uranium enrichment, restricting its missile program and ending Tehran’s financing of proxy groups.

Trump has wanted Iran to end all uranium enrichment, claiming they are building a nuclear bomb. Iran has said it is for peaceful purposes, including energy plants.

“Israel is doing well, in terms of war, and Iran … is doing less well,” Trump said Friday. “It’s a little bit hard to get somebody to stop.”

Trump said U.S. officials have been speaking to Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday he spoke on the phone with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, noting that France will “accelerate” negotiations between European nations and Iran.

“Here again, my position is clear: Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons, and it is up to Iran to provide full guarantees that its intentions are peaceful,” Macron wrote in a post on X. “I am convinced that a path exists to end war and avoid even greater dangers. To achieve this, we will accelerate the negotiations led by France and its European partners with Iran.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report on May 31 that Iran had produced enriched uranium to a level of 60%, which was of “serious concern.”

The airstrikes have delayed efforts to build an operational nuclear weapon.

“According to the assessment we hear, we already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb,” Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told German newspaper Bild in an interview published and broadcast Saturday.

Also, more than 50% of Iran’s missile launchers were destroyed, an Israeli military official said.

A senior Iranian official told CNN that they are replacing quantity with quality and the nation has been using more advanced precision missiles.

Strikes hit residential areas

Though the attacks have been focused on military and nuclear targets, tens of thousands of city residents have been displaced, particularly those in Tehran.

Esmaeil Baghaei, who is Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Friday that three aid workers were killed, and six ambulances and four healthcare centers.

“The intentional attack on a Red Crescent ambulance in Tehran is a clear example of a war crime and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” Baghaei said.

Despite the bombings, residents in Tehran told CNN they are trying to return to normal life.

“The initial shock had passed,” one resident said. “People are trying to go about their lives as best and as normally as they can.”

The resident also said: “Things are fine. Roads are getting busier back into Tehran from other areas because the government has said work begins on Sunday.”

In Israel, a two-story residential building in northern Israel was hit by a drone, the Magen David Adom said in a statement Saturday, Al Jazeera reported. No casualties were reported.

On Friday, an Iranian missile hit Israel’s northern city of Haifa, wounding at least 31 people.

When and where did the strikes happen?

Reuters

What has Israel said?

How has Iran responded?

What has the US said?

What is Iran’s nuclear programme?

Who has been killed?