Jayden Daniels feels like he finally got one moment of situational football right, even though he made a conscious choice to take a 10-second runoff during the dying seconds of the Washington Commanders’ 23-17 defeat to the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6.
Daniels had the chance to lead the Commanders to a winning score on Monday Night Football, but an intentional grounding penalty proved fatal. It occurred on second-and-10 just outside the red zone with 16 seconds left.
Washington’s QB1 heaved the ball out of bounds, rather than taking a sack. The penalty inside two minutes meant the Commanders, who had no timeouts, lost valuable seconds instead.
It was a controversial choice on a night littered with questionable decisions from Daniels. Yet, he defended his thought-process late on at Levi’s Stadium.
Daniels “said he felt taking the intentional grounding penalty was worth it rather than eating the sack. All of his receivers were downfield, so that might’ve burned more time than the 10-second runoff,” per Tashan Reed of The Washington Post.
Would’ve helped if he had an outlet underneath.
The logic here is sound, but Daniels’ decision will still be contentious within recent context. Including throwing the ball away on fourth down in the red zone during the second quarter.
Daniels couldn’t really excuse the first gaffe, but there’s an interesting postscript about the grounding penalty in the final period. One where first-year offensive coordinator David Blough is more at fault.
Jayden Daniels Trying to Sell Improvement in Vital Area
Daniels’ latest displays of dodgy situational awareness follow his role in the end-of-game disaster that turned a potential win into a tie against the New York Giants in Week 5.
That infamous error left the young signal-caller needing to sell improvements. Particularly after Daniels appeared to pass the responsibility for what happened against the Giants.
Daniels was more bullish about his decisions in San Francisco. His acknowledgement of how the Commanders might’ve struggled to reset quickly enough after a sack at least showed one lesson was learned from the farce against the Giants.
There was less awareness when Daniels threw the ball away on fourth down at the 49ers’ 13-yard line before halftime. There was no hiding from that mental lapse, so Daniels admitted, “I just gotta execute better in that situation regardless of a flag or not. Fourth down … don’t die with the ball, so I have to be better in that spot,” per Barry Svrluga of The Athletic.
Head coach Dan Quinn looked set to bear the brunt of the blame for this failure. Social-media detectives soon accused Quinn of not knowing it was fourth down, but he “said that yes he did know it was a fourth down play. Said someone asked him on the headset about the illegal shift. Quinn told them they couldn’t now kick a FG,” according to ESPN’s John Keim.
Quinn will remain under scrutiny for his own situational awareness, but the tougher criticism may eventually focus on his choice to let Blough call the plays.
Commanders’ OC David Blough Ripped for Clutch-Play Design
Svrluga cited how “ESPN’s Laura Rutledge reported that Quinn had said he would stand closer to first-year offensive coordinator David Blough in critical situations to make sure the Commanders avoided such embarrassments as allowing the clock to run out in overtime.”
That made sense after the events of Week 5, but Quinn should also have paid closer attention to what play Blough called with the game on the line against the Niners.
Specifically, Daniels hardly had a chance to avoid a sack or draw an intentional grounding penalty on the potential game-winning drive. Not after Blough called “Four verts with :21 seconds left on the clock??!! That’s a head scratcher,” per 7News DC’s Scott Abraham.
Blough letting all of Daniels’ receivers run deep on second down was a curious choice. It meant the play took longer to develop.
The Commanders would’ve needed longer to get lined up again if Daniels had been sacked. Things might have moved quicker if Daniels checked the ball down underneath and reset quickly to clock the ball ahead of a final, shorter strike to the end zone.
Instead, the play design put the Commanders in a no-win situation. It’s why many, including Monumental Sports Network’s Ethan Cadeaux, focused on Blough’s culpability.
Cadeaux believes “It was a rough game for David Blough. Although Jayden was far from perfect, he bailed him out as much as he could in the second half … this design with the game on the line was questionable at best.”
Blough’s inexperience managing the big picture is putting Quinn’s decision to move on from Kliff Kingsbury in a worse light. Kingsbury’s a former NFL head coach who was used to making clock-management decisions.
His schemes also helped Daniels earn Offensive Rookie of the Year honors in 2024. Daniels is missing Kingsbury’s guidance and concepts.
Jayden Daniels Defends Commanders’ Clock Management vs. 49ers