The Washington Commanders just needed to stop the clock with enough time to kick a field goal, and they had a good chance to defeat the New York Giants in the final seconds of overtime. Instead, what happened was a comedy of errors. The Commanders ran out of time, and the divisional game ended in a 27-27 tie, the first tie of the 2026 season.
On second-and-8 with 12 seconds remaining, quarterback Jayden Daniels scrambled, found no one open and held on to the ball. He went down around the line of scrimmage with about eight seconds to go. The one thing the Commanders’ offense needed not to do on that play was keep the ball in bounds and allow the clock to continue to wind.
With no timeouts remaining, time ticked down as the Commanders scrambled to get the ball lined up and snapped, hoping to spike it with enough time to kick about a 41-yard field goal.
They didn’t have nearly enough time.
What Washington should’ve done was kick the field goal on second down, as the next score would win the game anyway. Instead, they got “cute,” as they say, and tried to give themselves a few more yards, not just failing there, but losing any chance to win the game.
After the game, Daniels and Quinn addressed the mishap and explained, or did their best to explain, what happened.
What Daniels had to say
Daniels took responsibility for the mistake and noted that everyone needs to improve.
“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.”
When asked what his goal was on the play that ate up all their time, Daniels said, “We’ve got to stop the clock… We’ve gotta relay that as an offense. It starts with everybody — top down, but ultimately it’s on me.”
He was then asked if he heard anything or said anything in the huddle about not having a timeout, but he didn’t give much away on whether the offense was clued into their situation.
“Um, just got to be better, just got to be better,” he said.
What the head coach said
Head coach Dan Quinn didn’t place the blame solely on Daniels, also taking accountability for putting his team in that situation. He said he hadn’t spoken to Daniels about it yet, but said, “It falls on me.” Quinn complimented Daniel’s performance outside of the final play, adding that his QB made some incredible plays and showed why “he’s so unique.”
He emphasized that he didn’t need to put Daniels in the space to make such a mistake, noting that they could’ve won it then.
“At the end, I can make life easy there,” Quinn said. “We didn’t need to gain more yards.”
The head coach said he himself feels frustrated and is frustrated for the team. While it may read as a tie in the standings, Quinn said it feels like a loss.
One play doesn’t win or lose a game, but when it’s so jarring and handled so poorly, it can feel that way. The Commanders had other chances to set themselves up to win, so they wouldn’t need to be in a position to kick a game-winning field goal.
The Commanders fell to 1-3-1 and are in last place in a struggling NFC East division. The Giants fell to 3-1-1 and are in first place in the division, thanks to the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys both losing this week.
Washington will face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6.