The problem with everyone taking the blame for a colossal clock-management blunder is that, if everyone is Spartacus, it's impossible to know who's truly at fault.
As to the end of the Giants-Commanders game, coach Dan Quinn has taken the blame — and quarterback Jayden Daniels has taken the blame. Presumably, offensive coordinator David Blough will take the blame, too, the next time he speaks to reporters.
So who's truly to blame?
On Tuesday's edition of PFT Live, Chris Simms suggested that Daniels may have been told to throw the ball away on the last snap the Commanders took. If he had, the clock would have stopped and the Commanders would have had time to kick a potential game-winning field goal. If that's the case, it seems logical that there will be reporting from unnamed sources that the internal review came to that conclusion. (And, again, it would have been easier to get to the bottom of it if the Commanders had recorded and preserved all in-game communications.)
Here's another possibility, one that has a historical example. In 2008, after a 13-13 final score between the Eagles and Bengals, Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb admitted that he didn’t know a regular-season game could end in a tie. He wasn't alone; other players on the Eagles' roster didn't realize the game ended when the overtime period expired.
Said McNabb at the time, who was in his tenth NFL season: "In college, there are multiple overtimes, and in high school and Pop Warner. I never knew in the professional ranks it would end that way. I hate to see what would happen in the Super Bowl and in the playoffs."
Eighteen years later, could it have been déjà vu all over again? Is it possible Daniels's lack of urgency in the final seconds of overtime resulted from the fact that he didn't know the game would be over when the clock struck zero?
Given the Eagles' widespread lack of awareness as to the overtime rules in 2008 — which had been in place unchanged for 34 years — is it crazy to think Daniels and possibly other players didn't know? Likewise, is it beyond the realm of possibility that Blough, who is the same age now as McNabb was then, didn't know? (Blough absolutely should be asked that question, just in case.)
Giants safety Jevon Holland said this after the game: "I mean, even when the clock ran to zero, there was a second where I was like, 'Is it going to go to the second overtime?' I don't know if it was two overtimes or not. I've never been in an overtime tie like this."
That makes it a fair question to ask, of Daniels and other members of the offense. Did he, and others, think that once the time ran out, the teams would change ends and the game would continue?
While hardly an acceptable explanation, it would make the complete lack of urgency as the seconds ticked away a little more understandable.