Forty-three seconds. That’s how long the ball sat at the Giants’ 24-yard line with the game in Washington’s hands, no timeouts left, and Drew Stevens warming up for a 42-yarder to beat the first-place team in the division. All anybody had to do was spike it. That spike never came.
Instead, fans watched helplessly as Jayden Daniels went down for no gain with the clock running, the offense never got set, and the Commanders walked off Northwest Stadium with a 27-27 tie that, in Dan Quinn’s own words, “feels like a loss.” Commies fans will have the image of Dan Quinn looking hopelessly confused and despondent on the field as jubilant Giants players ran off the field.
This historically embarrassing end to the game spoiled Daniels’ wonderful comeback story. Daniels, back from the dislocated left elbow and wearing a brace on that arm, looked like himself right away. Washington went 69 yards in four plays on the opening drive, with two throws to Chig Okonkwo covering 34 yards, and Jacory Croskey-Merritt finished it with a 33-yard touchdown run 2:00 into the game.
The rest of the first half was a grind. The Commies continue to be a mess with pre-snap penalties. Which is what we have come to expect from Dan Quinn’s squad. Pre-snap penalties pushed one drive from the Giants’ 9 back to the 19 and forced a field goal. However, the Commies were able to tack on six more points as Stevens hit from 28 and 40. This helped Stevens to steady himself after missing the extra point after the Commies’ first touchdown. It was after that missed extra point that I felt that this was a harbinger of bad things to come. Missed extra points always bite teams in the end. And this one single point certainly did. At any rate, after Dominic Zvada missed the first of his three field goals for New York, it was 12-3 at the half.
The second half started with the score at 12-3. This is when Daniels put on his Superman cape and went to work. He broke a 38-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, the longest of his career, to make it 19-6. After Jameis Winston hit Isaiah Likely for a 3-yard score, Daniels capped an 81-yard drive with a 26-yard touchdown scramble on third-and-2 early in the fourth and hit Terry McLaurin for the two-point conversion. Washington led 27-13 with 11:05 to play.
“Man coverage and no spy,” Daniels said. “So, try to make them pay for it.”
He did. Unfortunately, for the rest of the half, the offense went to sleep, and the defense couldn’t get off the field. New York answered right away. On fourth-and-8 from the Washington 17, Winston found Likely, who dove for the pylon and had the ball knocked loose. On the field, it was ruled a fumble short of the goal line, recovered by Rasul Douglas for a touchback. Replay reversed it: 17-yard touchdown, 27-20, with 7:20 left.
Washington’s answer was a three-and-out: a 1-yard run, a 1-yard pass, and a sack. This was a brutal series. It appeared that Offensive Coordinator David Blough was not even remotely trying to score again. The offense was conservative either due to Blough’s direction or due to Quinn’s direction.
The Giants got the ball back at their own 28 with 4:56 left; Winston went 72 yards in 10 plays, and Malik Nabers went up over the middle for a 17-yard touchdown with 1:43 to go. Tie game. Fourteen points gone in a little under 9 1/2 minutes of game clock, and both Giants touchdowns came in the final 7:20 of the game. The Commies defense continues to be the least clutch defense around. The Commies defense has consistently crumbled in the second half of games.
Winston completed 10 of his last 13 passes in regulation. He finished 33 of 54 for 326 yards and three touchdowns. The Commies defense made the Giants’ backup quarterback look like primetime Dan Marino. Nabers had 11 catches for 121 yards, and Likely had 11 for 94 and two scores. The Commies defense continues to be utterly bewildered about how to cover or stop a tight end.
Overtime gave Washington two more chances. Zvada missed again from 46 on the Giants’ opening drive. Washington crossed midfield, then a third-down catch came up short, a delay-of-game flag wiped out the fourth-and-5 look, and Tress Way punted. That drive cost something else too: Washington used its second and final overtime timeout at 6:32. The enigmatic timeout that players may have still believed they had in their back pocket. This is a recurring problem with Dan Quinn. His time management skills have been atrocious, and he frequently burns timeouts in a wasteful manner.
But all was not lost. This game still had another stunning surprise up its sleeve! While Commies fans were filing out of the stadium heavy with an expected loss, it happened. The gift. With New York at the Washington 24, in range for a winning kick and able to run the clock down, the Giants handed it to Cam Skattebo on the first snap after the two-minute warning. Daron Payne punched the ball out, and Shy Tuttle recovered at the 23.
This began the ill-fated final possession of the game. Let’s slow things down and break this last possession up play-by-play to get a full sense of what happened. This is per the official game book:
- 1:55, WAS 23: Daniels to McLaurin, 16 yards, out of bounds.
- 1:50, WAS 39: Daniels to Antonio Williams, 6 yards.
- 1:09, WAS 45: Daniels scrambles right for 16 yards, pushed out at the NYG 39.
- 1:02, NYG 39: Daniels to Treylon Burks, 13 yards, out of bounds at the NYG 26.
- :55, NYG 26: Rachaad White up the gut for 2 yards to the 24. Clock running. No timeouts.
- :12, NYG 24, second-and-8: The ball is finally snapped. Daniels rolls left looking for Ben Sinnott toward the sideline, turns back inside instead of throwing it away, and goes down for no gain.
The clock ran out before the offense could line up for a spike. NFL.com’s account shows Josh Conerly Jr. making a spiking motion at Daniels, the Giants celebrating before the whistle, and Quinn ripping off his headset and throwing it to the ground. This was one of the most embarrassing game-ending moments in NFL history. It was truly stunning in how idiotic this game-ending blunder was.
Anyone with half a brain in their head who has watched football for more than a year knows what the Commies should have done. After White ran for 2 yards to the 24, the Commies should have lined up, and then Daniels should have let the play clock drain and then spiked the ball. No play needed to be run again. Simply trot Stevens out there for the game-winning field goal. There was literally no reason at all to run another play.
In fact, running another play could have resulted in a turnover (like what had just happened to the Giants), or a penalty or sack, both of which would make it a much more difficult and longer field goal attempt.
The play call, per Quinn, was simple. “It’s an outside throw or a clock — an out-of-bounds throw, or a clock,” he said. Then he took the hit. “The right call is honestly like we can go clock it early and don’t put ourselves in that spot. That is my responsibility.” Quinn then went further. “I don’t even have to put him into that spot,” Quinn said of Daniels. “I can do that earlier, and we can finish the kick early. We don’t need to gain more yards, so that’s on me.”
Daniels gave a muddy answer. “We have to stop the clock. We have to know the situation,” he said. “We have to relay that as an offense. It starts with everyone, top down. Ultimately, it’s on me.” And: “We all have to be better. Situational football. Starts with me.”
Well, except that Daniels’ quote indicates that the players may not have known that they were out of timeouts. Daniels’ quote suggests that it starts with everyone, top down. This indicates that the head coach and the offensive coordinator need to make sure they are managing the clock and the timeouts and must tell the players when there are no more timeouts.
This supports what I saw after the final play of the game, where wide receivers and offensive players were slow jogging back to the huddle as if they had a timeout ready to be called. There was no sense of urgency from the players at all until they saw the coaches on the sideline going crazy. This would indicate that Quinn and Blough did not convey to Daniels and the offensive players that they were out of timeouts and would have to quickly clock the ball.
Of course, the fact that Blough actually called a play instead of calling Daniels to spike the ball after White’s run would indicate that maybe even Blough did not know that the Commies did not have any more timeouts. If that is true, then the blame would be solely on Quinn for not making sure Blough knew this information or for not overriding Blough’s play call and demanding that the Commies spike the ball instead.
The more concerning possibility is that Blough knew that the Commies had no more timeouts and proceeded to take forever to get the play call in and then called a play that required a package substitution, which then allowed the Giants to make a package substitution. Blough then also called a play that required motion. None of that makes sense if Blough knew he had no more timeouts left.
Another concerning possibility is that if Blough knew that the Commies had no more timeouts, then Daniels also knew there were no more timeouts. This brings into question why Daniels did not realize the mistake of Quinn and Blough and simply realize when he came up to the line after breaking the huddle that there was not enough time to run the play called and get back to spike the ball. At that point, Daniels should have saved his two coaches from themselves and simply spiked the ball. That is what you expect from a true franchise quarterback. The fact that Daniels did not do this is disconcerting. Especially if you think Daniels is going to be your franchise quarterback with a record-setting contract once his rookie deal is over.
Washington is 1-3-1. NFL.com’s NFC East standings have the Giants at 3-1-1, Dallas and Philadelphia at 2-3, and Washington last. With the Eagles and Cowboys both losing, a win would’ve put the Commies one game back of first. Instead, they’re still in the cellar, a half-game behind both of them. This is an embarrassing situation as possible for the Commies.
Quinn summed it up: “We were giving a lot of [opportunities] tonight to go find our win in all three phases, and we did not seize them.” That is the understatement of the century.
