LANDOVER Md. (AP) — With the game tied at 27, the Washington Commanders and New York Giants each had chances to run the clock down and kick a routine field goal to win in overtime. Here's a recap — call it an oral history of misery — of how each team blew it on Sunday.
It was first-and-10 from the Washington 24. Since it was the third possession of overtime, this was a sudden-death situation. The Giants could have kicked a field goal right then, but
Dominic Zvada had already missed from 50, 57 and 46 yards — and New York coach John Harbaugh's tenure in Baltimore ended last season on a missed field goal from 44 yards.
“That field goal is very makeable, but it's not a gimme,” Harbaugh said. “I've had some experience with that.”
So the plan was to try to advance a little bit closer while also running more time off the clock. The Commanders were out of timeouts — remember that for later — and the Giants could have run so much time off that even if Zvada missed again, Washington would have had no chance to drive the other way and the game would end in a tie.
“That's the strategy we'll probably do next time, too,” Harbaugh said.
The Giants could have run the clock down by simply taking a knee a couple of times. Instead, Cam Skattebo took a handoff and was met behind the line of scrimmage. Washington's Daron Payne knocked the ball loose and Shy Tuttle recovered for the Commanders.
“There's 11 guys on the other team just screaming at you,” Skattebo said. “Telling you you messed up, it's your fault, you sold the game, everything. You get that.”
Two passes and a run had the Commanders across midfield. Then Jayden Daniels threw a pass to Treylon Burks, who went out of bounds with 55 seconds left. It was now first-and-10 from the New York 26. Washington was in the same position the Giants had just squandered — with a chance to run the clock down and try a field goal for the win on the final play.
“Defense did a great job of getting a stop and forcing the turnover,” Daniels said. “At that point, it was like, OK, we got to go win this football game.”
Rachaad White ran the ball 2 yards to the New York 24 — and the clock started ticking.
Once the clock was under 40 seconds, Washington could have taken a knee, let the time run all the way down and then had Daniels spike the ball with under 5 seconds remaining. Instead, the Commanders went into a huddle, and with 27 seconds to go they were still in it.
The plan was apparently to throw the ball — to someone who could easily get out of bounds. If need be, Daniels could always toss the ball away for a clock-stopping incompletion.
“It’s an outside throw or a clock — an out-of-bounds throw, or a clock,” coach Dan Quinn said.
The Commanders broke the huddle and Daniels lined up under center. Someone even went in motion. By the time the play began, the Commanders could not risk having someone tackled in bounds, because the clock could run out.
“We have to stop the clock. We have to know the situation,” Daniels said. “We have to relay that as an offense. It starts with everyone, top down. Ultimately, it's on me.”
After the snap, Daniels rolled to his left and Ben Sinnott ran a route toward the sideline. Instead of throwing, Daniels turned inside and was tackled. It's still not clear if he knew Washington was out of timeouts.
“We just got to communicate that,” he said. “That's the whole thing. As I said, it starts with me communicating to the whole offense in the huddle, and I think everyone will say that top down.”
Washington's fate might have been sealed the moment Daniels was tackled, but the clock would still have stopped if the Commanders could have lined up legally and had the quarterback spike the ball before it expired. It's hard to say how many players realized exactly what the situation was.
Daniels stayed down for a couple seconds, looking around. Tackle Josh Conerly Jr. started making a bit of a spiking motion with his hand as if to tell Daniels what was needed. Sinnett headed back toward the line of scrimmage with nowhere near enough urgency. New York edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux stood with his hands on his hips.
Tight end John Bates lined up out wide to the far side, motioning to hurry up.
“The right call is honestly like we can go clock it early and don't put ourselves in that spot,” Quinn said. “That is my responsibility.”
The clock ran out. Defensive lineman Shelby Harris started waving both arms to indicate the game should be over. Cornerback Deonte Banks leaped in the air, ran across the line of scrimmage, then leaped again in celebration. Quinn ripped off his headset and threw it to the ground.
A tie snatched first from the jaws of victory and then from the jaws of defeat.
“I wanted to get off the field before they could take it away from us, I guess,” Harbaugh said. “I was surprised. I can't say that I wasn't. It was a pretty shocking end there.”
And for Skattebo, relief.
“I probably won't get reamed as much,” he said. “But I'm still going to get reamed.”
___
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
