The Washington Commanders have been plagued by poor decision-making all season, but at least their veteran receiver, Stefon Diggs, made a smart decision on the final drive against the Los Angeles Rams.
With eight seconds on the clock and no timeouts, Washington snapped the ball for what would be their second-to-last play of the game. Quarterback Jayden Daniels threw the ball down the middle to Diggs near the end zone, but not in it. Diggs did not catch the ball, not because he accidentally dropped it, but because he wanted to ensure the Commanders had another shot at a touchdown.
“I feel like in that situation, I could have been selfish. I could have [caught] the ball. But, I probably wouldn’t have gotten in the end zone,” Diggs said. “So, I just
thought it probably would be the best thing to do is not catch it. It’s like a damn-near loss of play if I would have caught it, got tackled, three seconds of time run out.”
On the final play, Daniels completed a short pass to tight end Chig Okonkwo, who lateralled it to running back Rachaad White, who subsequently tried to lateral it, but it was recovered by Los Angeles. In hindsight, if Diggs knew the plan on the final play was to lateral it and hope for a miracle, perhaps he would have caught the ball and attempted to lateral it at that point. That probably would have had a better chance than what Washington ended up doing.
Now 2-5-1, the Commanders face the New York Giants on Thursday Night Football.
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders' Stefon Diggs explains late-game decision in Week 10 vs Rams
