One costly overtime mistake cost the Commanders a chance to beat the Giants, as the game ended in a 27-27 tie. While Jayden Daniels has owned up to the gaffe, some have already suggested that head coach Dan Quinn might have to pay for it. Former NFLer T.J. Houshmandzadeh is one of them.
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“I believe it was like 50 seconds left in the game when they ran the ball and they just kind of went to the huddle, mosey back up to I don’t care who you quarterback who you are,” he said on Speakeasy. “They got to be in your headset saying, ‘ Hey guys, spike this ball now. Hey, we got to throw this away. Somebody has to be telling that because they weren’t in a hurry to snap the ball at all. They were not in a hurry, and that falls on Dan Quinn. He’s gonna cost my man. Dan Quinn lost his job. No, Dan Quinn cost himself the job by doing dumb shit.”
Nobody thought that the Commanders would mess up an opportunity this golden. The Giants’ Cam Skattebo had fumbled the ball in the previous drive. In the ensuing Commanders possession, Daniels made some big plays—a 16-yard pass, a 16-yard run, and a 13-yard pass—to get the Commanders into field goal range. All the Commanders really had to do was spike the ball and send it through the uprights.
Instead, with a little under a minute left, the Commanders entered a huddle with no timeouts left, and by the time they orchestrated their final play, the clock was at 0:12. Daniels opted to run, but was sacked.
Micah Parsons directly blamed Jayden Daniels for the costly mistake.
“Jayden Daniels probably cost my man Dan Quinn his job, to be honest with you,” Micah Parsons said on his podcast, The Edge with Micah Parsons. “To be honest with you. And, like, I’m a big Jayden Daniels fan. But the reality is, he probably cost a lot of people their jobs this past weekend.”
However, Jayden Daniels did take responsibility for his mistake after the game.
“We got to stop the clock,” Daniels said. “We got to know it’s ozone situation. We got to relay that as an offense. It starts from everybody top down, but ultimately you know it’s on me.”
For what it’s worth, head coach Dan Quinn isn’t shying away from taking the blame.
“It starts with me, first off. No doubt about it,” Quinn said at a presser. “And so in that scenario where you’re calling at the start of a drive, in any two-minute drive, you talk about timeouts, talk about field position, kick lines, distances that you need to get to. And so, it needs to be communicated then from me to (offensive coordinator) David (Blough), who has the last words with Jayden (in the headset) on each down, not just the start of a drive.”
Now, with a schedule ahead that includes the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers, the Philadelphia Eagles (after a bye week), Los Angeles Rams, the Giants once again, and Cincinnati Bengals, Dan Quinn’s job will depend on how he manages his team moving forward, as the Commanders are already at 1-3-1.