The Washington Commanders failed at basic clock management on their final drive against the New York Giants. They got into field goal range, but ran out of time, and the game ended in a tie.
Washington’s clock management was atrocious. With 55 seconds left in overtime, they gave the ball to running back Rachaad White, who gained two yards and got it to the 24-yard line. That would have been a 42-yard field goal to win. They could have just spiked it after that or gotten the field goal unit out for the kick. But instead, they tried to run another play. Quarterback Jayden Daniels tried to run the ball instead of throwing it away, and Washington didn’t have enough time to get up and spike it to stop the clock.
After that debacle, which cost the Commanders
a potential win against the NFC East’s top team, Washington is now 1-3-1 and still last in the division. Wide receiver Terry McLaurin said the team will take accountability for what happened and focus on its next game against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football.
“We’re going to take it on the chin,” McLaurin said. “We’re going to be men about it, keep our heads up and we got to get ready for San Fran on the road. So, it’s a really bad lesson to learn, but we’re going to move forward, and we’re not going to hang our heads because we got another game next week.”
Still, this loss stings. It is not often a team gets so close to victory and makes such an egregious, simple mistake. Even though it is technically a tie and counts against their win percentage differently than a loss would, McLaurin said it feels like a loss.
“Feels like a loss I’ve tied before, especially against them, and it felt like the same,” McLaurin said. “I think this one stings a little bit more because we had right in the position to have a chance to win the game. So, we did not get it done, and that falls on all of us, and a tie’s never good enough, but especially when you have a chance to get [a] win. So, it’s a hard one.”
This article originally appeared on Commanders Wire: Commanders WR Terry McLaurin reacts to Washington's game-ending debacle
