ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt did not mince words about Washington’s offense and Jayden Daniels’ play when asked about the Commanders rookie quarterback ahead of the teams’ game Monday night.
“They don’t make him do a lot,” Taylor-Britt said Thursday. “They keep it really simple for him. Nice college offense.”
Asked Friday, first-year offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury said he had not heard Taylor-Britt's comments.
“He's entitled to his opinion," Kingsbury said.
Daniels has completed 75.5% of his passes through his first two NFL games, and Washington is 1-1 with the league's 10th-ranked offense.
“Kingsbury’s the OC, so they love to move guys around here and there,” Taylor-Britt said. “But just keep it really simple for him. I heard his pass percentage is very high, but he’s only throwing short routes — some intermediate stuff, quick throws.”
Kingsbury coached in college at Houston, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and USC and also in the pros with the Arizona Cardinals before taking a job on Dan Quinn’s staff.
Daniels has thrown for 410 yards and averaged 6.6 an attempt, which is in the bottom third of passers leaguewide. The bigger question around the Commanders is how Daniels can get the ball to top receiver Terry McLaurin, who has been targeted a team-high 12 times but has just eight catches for 39 yards.
Kingsbury called it a “fine line you walk.”
“At some point, we’ve got to find a way to get Terry the football and it really comes down to scheme and me getting him in the right spots to do that,” Kingsbury said. “It’ll come. I’m not worried that that connection will get there. It’s just Terry deserves to get the ball. He’s one of the best players in the league, and I’ve got to do a good job getting it to him.”
Kingsbury had nothing but praise for Daniels' play, which has also included 26 runs for 132 yards and two rushing touchdowns. The No. 2 pick out of LSU who won the Heisman Trophy last year also has not turned the ball over so far.
“One of the best things he’s done is operate and get the ball to the right spot and take care of it,” Kingsbury said. “I think Jayden has executed the offense beyond what we could have anticipated for a rookie in his first two starts against good defenses.”
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Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) looks to pass against the New York Giants during the first half of an NFL football game in Landover, Md., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt, left, intercepts a pass intended for Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Xavier Worthy during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
LONDON (AP) — A rare polar bear that was spotted outside a cottage in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities said Friday.
The bear was killed Thursday afternoon in the northwest of Iceland after police consulted the Environment Agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson told The Associated Press.
“It's not something we like to do,” Jensson said. “In this case, as you can see in the picture, the bear was very close to a summer house. There was an old woman in there.”
The owner, who was alone, was frightened and locked herself upstairs as the bear rummaged through her garbage, Jensson said. She contacted her daughter in Reykjavik, the nation's capital, by satellite link, and called for help.
“She stayed there,” Jensson said, adding that other summer residents in the area had gone home. “She knew the danger.”
Polar bears are not native to Iceland but occasionally come ashore after traveling on ice floes from Greenland, according to Anna Sveinsdóttir, director of scientific collections at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. Many icebergs have been spotted off the north coast in the last few weeks.
Although attacks by polar bears on humans are extremely rare, a study in Wildlife Society Bulletin in 2017 said that the loss of sea ice from global warming has led more hungry bears to land, putting them in greater chance of conflicts with humans and leading to a greater risk to both.
Of 73 documented attacks by polar bears from 1870 to 2014 in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and United States — which killed 20 people and injured 63 — 15 occurred in the final five years of that period.
The bear shot on Thursday was the first one seen in the country since 2016. Sightings are relatively rare with only 600 recorded in Iceland since the ninth century.
While the bears are a protected species in Iceland and it's forbidden to kill one at sea, they can be killed if they pose a threat to humans or livestock.
After two bears arrived in 2008, a debate over killing the threatened species led the environment minister to appoint a task force to study the issue, the institute said. The task force concluded that killing vagrant bears was the most appropriate response.
The group said the nonnative species posed a threat to people and animals, and the cost of returning them to Greenland, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) away, was exorbitant. It also found there was a healthy bear population in east Greenland where any bear was likely to have come from.
The young bear, which weighed between 150 and 200 kilograms (300 to 400 pounds), will be taken to the institute to study. Scientists took samples from the bear Friday.
They will be checking for parasites and infections and evaluating its physical condition, such as the health of its organs and percentage of body fat, Sveinsdóttir said. The pelt and skull may be preserved for the institute's collection.
A Coast Guard helicopter surveyed the area where the bear was found to look for others but didn't find any, police said.
After the shot bear was taken away, the woman who reported it decided to stay longer in the village, Jensson said
This handout photo shows a polar bear that was shot by the police after being considered a threat to people nearby, authorities said, in Westfjords, Iceland, Thursday Sept. 19, 2024. The bear was shot near a summer home in the Westfjords in the north west tip of Iceland. (Ingvar Jakobsson via AP)
