The Washington Commanders made a mistake for the ages on Sunday. It’s the kind of mistake other NFL fans and media will mock them for the rest of the season. Washington fans will talk about it for years, like the infamous “Swinging Gate” play from Jim Zorn in 2009.
That play, of course, was Washington letting the clock run out without getting off a field-goal attempt in Sunday’s 27-27 tie with the New York Giants. The Commanders entered field goal range with under a minute remaining on Sunday. They had plenty of time to get to the line of scrimmage, snap the ball, spike it, and send in kicker Drew Stevens to attempt a potential game-winning 42-yard field goal. Instead, the Commanders never even got a chance to kick.
There was plenty of blame to go around after the game. Most of it fell on the shoulders of quarterback Jayden Daniels, head coach Dan Quinn, and offensive coordinator David Blough. After the game, Quinn took full responsibility.
“The last sequence, we throw it out of bounds, we clock it, you give yourself a chance to kick it,” Quinn said. “And we pride ourselves on those moments at the end of the game. And after the first-down run, still trying to gain more for the kick. The right call is honestly like, we can go clock it early and don't put ourselves in that spot, and that is my responsibility. Nobody else’s. I’m gutted for our team. We were given a lot of ops [opportunities] tonight to go find our win in all three phases, and we did not seize them. So, I thought [DT Daron] Payne had an incredible play in overtime: the forced fumble to give ourselves a chance to go into that back the other way. But like I said, just finding a way to nail that moment of that play, we have to do that 100 out of 100 times. And so that falls onto me.”
Quinn was then asked what Daniels was supposed to do on the play.
“Yeah, like the sequencing of that does not fall on him. It’s an outside throw or a clock. You know, those are the two: an out-of-bounds throw or a clock. And that has to come from me. I don’t even have to put him into that spot. I can do that earlier, and we can finish the kick early. We don’t need to gain more yards, so that’s on me. Yeah, I’m saying we don’t need to gain anymore. We were just trying to gain more, and we don’t need to. Like it’s easy enough to say, ‘Hey man, let’s clock it right here. We’re early enough and go get it.’”
Quinn is correct. It is on him. He’s the head coach. Late in games, head coaches often instruct the coordinators what to do. They may not call the plays, but they tell them what they want, specifically if they are playing for a field goal like Washington was.
Quinn is also deflecting from Daniels and Blough here. Whether Daniels called the play or not, he’s got to know how much time is left and that he needs to stop the clock before a field-goal attempt. And Blough communicates with Daniels before every snap. He’s more at fault than anyone. Yes, he’s a rookie offensive coordinator, but that was a costly mistake.
Quinn took responsibility, like he often does. But seeing how upset some players were after the game, you have to wonder if the Commanders will get through this one unscathed. Now 1-3-1, Quinn’s seat is hotter than ever. And things don’t get any easier, with a cross-country trip to San Francisco on deck for Monday Night Football in Week 6.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders' Dan Quinn accepts full responsibility for late-game gaffe vs Giants