The Washington Commanders didn’t lose in Week 5, but they also didn’t win. Instead, they battled to a 27-27 tie against the New York Giants, but the head-scratching way in which the game ended, which saw the Commanders accidentally run out the clock before having an opportunity to get off a game-winning field goal, made the result feel like a loss.
Anytime a catastrophic mishap like this takes place, people are going to play the blame game, and unsurprisingly, head coach Dan Quinn has found himself in hot water in the wake of this result. A day after the game, Quinn attempted to explain what happened as Washington threw away a golden opportunity to get its season back on track.
Dan Quinn Explains Commanders’ Overtime Debacle in Week 5
There was a lot of optimism surrounding the Commanders heading into Week 5. After missing the past two games because of an elbow injury, Jayden Daniels found his way back under center, and he would also have his top wide receiver, Terry McLaurin, at his disposal after he sat out Week 4 due to a hamstring injury.
For the most part, this was a strong performance from Washington. What it did in the fourth quarter and overtime negates all the positives from this game, though. The Commanders shouldn’t have even found themselves in overtime to begin with, but instead, they threw away a 14-point fourth-quarter lead to a Giants team being led by backup quarterback Jameis Winston.
The overtime debacle, of course, was significantly worse. With 12 seconds left on the clock and no timeouts, Daniels snapped the ball for what appeared to be a pass play. Instead, he essentially just tucked the ball and took what amounted to a run for no gain. With the clock running, Washington (which was already in field goal range before running this play) couldn’t stop the clock, and the game ended as a tie. On Monday, Quinn explained his thought process.
“We’re just furious about our execution in the crucial moments of the game,” Quinn said when speaking to reporters. “We wanted to use some clock after getting into field goal range. There had been four kicks that had been missed in the game, so burning some time is the smart call … It took entirely too long to execute our strategy, from subbing to clock awareness to clock awareness. It was a breakdown. It can’t happen … We’ve got a lot of s*** to clean up on.”
Commanders Throw Away Opportunity to Get Season Back on Track
It almost doesn’t even matter who’s to blame for this outcome, because at the end of the day, the final score is set in stone. In hindsight, Quinn should have just trotted his field goal unit onto the field, but Daniels obviously should have done literally anything else once the ball was snapped to him. Having the clock run without any timeouts was something this team could not afford to have happen, but instead, that is how it ended up failing to secure the victory.
All Washington can do is move on, but this was a game the team desperately needed to win, and it should have had an opportunity to kick a game-winning field goal at the very least. Instead, the team will have to turn its attention to Week 6, where a matchup against the undefeated San Francisco 49ers awaits.
Dan Quinn Addresses Commanders’ Controversial Meltdown vs. Giants