The Washington Commanders tied the New York Giants 27-27 on Sunday afternoon, moving to 1-3-1 on the season, while New York now sits at 3-1-1.
For the Commanders, though, it felt like a loss given how the game ended.
With just under 20 seconds remaining and in clear field goal range, Washington needed to kick the ball through the uprights to win the game.
Instead, the Commanders kept the offense on the field for one more play in an attempt to get closer, despite having no timeouts remaining. Quarterback Jayden Daniels ran a QB keeper and fell to the ground in bounds, allowing the clock to continue running.
Daniels then realized Washington had no timeouts left, and the offense tried to get back to the line of scrimmage. However, time ran out, resulting in a tie without even an attempt at a game-winning field goal.
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Troy Aikman Sounds Off on Commanders Blunder
While appearing on ESPN’s “Monday Night Countdown” pregame show before calling the Bills-Rams game Monday night, NFL legend Troy Aikman discussed the Commanders’ blunder from a former quarterback’s perspective.
“I wish I knew. I haven’t been in that situation, but we’ve all been in situations where we’d like a mulligan, and that was one,” Aikman said. “It’s just incomprehensible how you can be in a position to win a game and then not even allow yourself an opportunity on the kick. And I hate it. I hate it for everybody involved … but there was not good communication.”
Aikman agreed with host Scott Van Pelt that Daniels should have known the situation, but he also acknowledged that today’s quarterbacks may not be taught how to close out games.
“I just think there’s a lot of quarterbacks [who] come into the league, and they really haven’t been trained as to how then you close out a game and win,” he added.
Scott Van Pelt: “But ultimately, your quarterback has gotta be the one to know the situation, doesn’t he?”
Troy Aikman: “I just think there’s a lot of quarterbacks come into the league, and they really haven’t been trained as to how then you close out a game and win.” https://t.co/1HGhhGtj9Q
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 12, 2026
Daniels and Quinn Take Responsibility
After the tie, both Daniels and head coach Dan Quinn took responsibility for how the game ended.
“We all gotta be better situationally. Starts with me,” Daniels said. “Everybody will say the same thing, but we just gotta be better at situational football.”
Quinn also acknowledged that he shouldn’t have put his quarterback in that situation.
“It falls on me … at the end, I can make life easy there,” Quinn said. “We didn’t need to gain more yards.”
Troy Aikman Sounds Off on Commanders’ Overtime Blunder Against Giants