It’s been a while since the playoff-bound Washington Commanders won a ring, but defensive back Jeremy Reaves offered one instead on field after his team clinched an NFC Wild Card spot on Sunday.
Reaves ran over to his girlfriend, Mikaela Worley, on the sideline right after the Commanders (11–5) beat the 8–8 Atlanta Falcons 30–24 in overtime. The Pensacola, Florida, area natives have known each other since high school.
Atlanta made it tough on Washington throughout with a 17–7 lead in the first half and then a late rally to force overtime, at 24–24. Reaves had a pair of tackles in the win, which was capped by Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels’s 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Ertz in the extra period.
“If we win this game, it’s destiny,” Reaves said. “She’s earned it. I can’t say enough about her. When I was at my lowest last year, she was there to pick me up every day.”
That lowest point consisted of a partial ACL tear in 2023 in his sixth season. Reaves returned to the field this year and has played all 16 games thus far.
“She showed up,” Reaves said about her support. “That’s my best friend. Been my best friend since high school.”
“You can tell a lot about somebody when they are going through the worst and how they handle it,” Reaves said. “I was going through the worst last year coming off an ACL [tear]. Couldn’t do anything, couldn’t be my own man and she was the crutch there when I couldn’t do it myself.”
Now, Reaves can help the Commanders make a run in the playoffs for the first time since 2020 when the team fell in the Wild Card round to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Washington hasn’t won a playoff game since 2005, and the franchise only has three playoff wins since a Super Bowl-winning season in 1991.
