Washington Commanders fans could have gone home happier if the players had managed the clock better. The Commanders had a chance to beat the New York Giants in overtime, but they ran out of time before they could kick the winning field goal. The game ended in a 27-27 tie.
Following the disappointing result, Washington head coach Dan Quinn chose not to put all the blame on his players. Instead, he accepted responsibility for the costly mistake and admitted that he should have handled the situation differently.
Dan Quinn Takes Blame for Poor Clock Management
Sunday’s game was wild, with a messy overtime. The Commanders had the ball on second-and-8 and were in field goal range late in overtime, and all they needed to do was manage the clock properly so kicker Drew Stevens could get a chance to steal the win. However, things went south for the team quickly when quarterback Jayden Daniels scrambled with just 11 seconds remaining.
Washington couldn’t get back to the line of scrimmage in time to spike the ball and stop the clock. And that’s how the game ended, with the Commanders not getting the chance to attempt a potential game-winning 42-yard field goal. The Giants looked much happier with the tie because it almost looked like they were going to taste another defeat this season.
The mistake left Quinn visibly frustrated, as cameras caught him slamming his headset down on the sideline. However, later in the postgame press conference, the head coach took full responsibility.
“Leaving tonight with a tie feels like a loss. The last sequence, we throw it out of bounds, we clock it, you give yourself a chance to kick it. We pride ourselves on those moments at the end of the game. After the first-down run, still trying to gain more for the kick. Right call is obviously we can go clock it early. Don’t put ourselves in that spot, and that’s my responsibility, no one else’s,” Quinn said.
The Commanders’ head coach, when asked about Daniels’ role in the final sequence, defended the quarterback. He believes the play required either throwing the ball out of bounds or spiking it to stop the clock. He admitted that he should have given the instructions earlier.
“The sequencing of that does not fall on him,” Quinn said. “It’s an outside throw or a clock. Those are the two, an out-of-bounds throw or a clock. That has to come from me. I don’t have to put him into that spot. I can do that earlier. We can finish the kick earlier, we don’t need to gain more yards. So that’s on me.”
Coming out of a game with a tie that they could have won, the team now sits at 1-3-1. Quinn and the Commanders will need to put the frustration behind them quickly as they prepare for their next challenge against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football in Week 6.
‘Tie Feels Like a Loss’: Commanders Coach on Costly Mistake Against Giants