Owner Josh Harris will surely reflect on Sunday’s tie with the Giants when considering his coach’s fate.
Read more After 500 trees fall at D.C. golf course Trump wants remade, foes ask judge for halt
Dan Quinn stared into the distance. The Washington Commanders coach had just slammed his headset in anger. He stood on the field in silence with his hands on his hips. In that moment, he epitomized the collective disbelief within Northwest Stadium.
Nothing about it made sense.
The Commanders had the ball at the New York Giants 24-yard line with the last seconds of overtime ticking away. The game was tied. Neither team had a timeout. Washington’s decision should have been simple: Spike the ball and attempt a game-winning field goal. There was no guarantee that rookie Drew Stevens would’ve made the kick, of course, but that obviously would have been the most rational plan.
Rather than follow that line of thinking, Quinn and offensive coordinator David Blough decided to run another play. Quarterback Jayden Daniels dropped back to pass, got sacked and the rest of the clock ran out.
The inexplicable mismanagement defined Washington’s 27-27 tie with the Giants on Sunday.
“I’m in total disbelief my Commanders had such poor clock management in today’s overtime game against the Giants,” minority owner Magic Johnson said in a social media post Sunday. “All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game!”
Quinn explained afterward that there were two reads on the play — throw the ball away or spike it to stop the clock — but that was seemingly lost on Daniels and the rest of the players on the field.
The pass catchers ran routes downfield, which typically doesn’t happen on a designed throwaway. Daniels briefly looked to throw before scrambling. Even after that failed execution, the sense of urgency didn’t seem to register with Washington (1-3-1).
Daniels looked to the sideline and was slow to get up. The pass catchers remained downfield. The offensive linemen were just standing around.
It wasn’t until right tackle Josh Conerly Jr. ran up to Daniels and told him to spike the ball that the Commanders started getting lined up. It was far too late. Time ran out.
“Ten out of ten,” Quinn said Sunday when asked to rate his level of frustration. “And that falls on me.”
It’s true that the blame game starts with Quinn. While Blough calls the plays, how the Commanders handle any in-game situation is Quinn’s decision. He erred when he didn’t have Blough call a spike.
“It’s easy enough to say, ‘Hey man, let’s clock it right here,’” Quinn acknowledged.
The players, however, must also shoulder responsibility. That starts with Daniels.
Read more Two NFL coaches, two disastrous endings and zero excuses
The third-year quarterback appeared to lose his awareness of the situation. Taking a sack simply wasn’t an option in that scenario.
“We just have to be better,” Daniels said when asked why he didn’t throw the ball away. “Situational football. Starts with me. Everybody will say the same thing, but we have to be better at situational football.”
Daniels said he was aware that the Commanders didn’t have any timeouts but added that “we just got to communicate that.” If he didn’t communicate that to his teammates when they huddled before the final play, that also falls on Daniels.
Coming off a disastrous 2025 season, Quinn added an emphasis on drilling gamelike situations throughout organized team activities and training camp. That makes a meltdown of this magnitude even more perplexing.
“You can be prepared for a moment. You can study and practice. But if you don’t do it when it counts the most, that’s what happens,” wide receiver Terry McLaurin said. “We just didn’t execute. That’s what it comes down to.”
Owner Josh Harris reiterated his support of Quinn — and General Manager Adam Peters — earlier this month, but questions about their job security will only intensify if Quinn can’t find answers.
“We will,” Quinn said. “They’ve been through a lot already in five games. And the locker room, this is a tough team. And so, having gone through adversity in these games, it doesn’t make it any better, but they are equipped to absolutely dig in and get rolling.”
He’s right — the Commanders have been through a lot this season. They’ve already had nine starters miss games because of injuries. Four of them were still out against New York (3-1-1). Most notably, Daniels has played just two full games this season after suffering a re-dislocation of his left elbow in Week 2. Quinn will get some grace because of the injury troubles, the locker room’s support and the proof of concept that was the memorable 2024 season.
“It’s on all of us. It’s not just one individual,” Daniels said. “We’re all in this together. Tough times don’t last; tough people do. We have a brotherhood in there. If you’re rocking with each other, we’re going to stick by each other and weather the storm.”
That sounds good, but the NFL remains a results-based business. And things may only get worse before the Commanders’ Week 7 bye: They’re visiting the undefeated San Francisco 49ers next week on “Monday Night Football.”
Barring a dramatic turnaround, the Commanders are well on their way toward another disappointing year. The reasons are multifaceted. The roster constructed by Peters lacks quality depth and has left Washington with glaring weaknesses along the offensive line and in the secondary. Daniels suffered another major injury. The rest of the team has been battered as well.
If Washington continues down this path, the tie against the Giants will stick in the memories of both fans and those within the organization. As Harris deliberates whether his franchise needs a new direction, that debacle could very well dictate Quinn’s fate.
Read more How the Supreme Court is reshaping the limits of religious rights in America
