The Commanders were handed a gift by the Giants in overtime of Sunday’s game in Washington and they handed it right back.
Rather than take a knee and work the clock to take a game-winning field goal try with the Commanders out of timeouts after the overtime two-minute warning, Giants head coach John Harbaugh opted to hand the ball to Cam Skattebo on a first down from the Washington 24-yard-line. Skattebo fumbled the ball and the Commanders recovered to give themselves a chance to win the game.
They took advantage of it with Jayden Daniels completing two passes for 29 yards and running for 16 yards on a drive that moved to the Giants’ 24-yard line in the final minute. The Commanders only needed to spike the ball to stop the clock and try a field goal, but Daniels instead took a snap and danced around before being stopped for no gain and the clock ran out before the Commanders could take another snap.
The result was a 27-27 tie that should feel like a loss for both teams and both head coaches given how their decisions shaped the ending. Not only did Commanders head coach Dan Quinn bungle the final play, he also saw his team blow a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter after stifling the Giants offense for the entire afternoon. Jameis Winston threw three touchdown passes in the final 15:44 of regulation and the Commanders punted on their final two possessions.
The Commanders elected to kick off in overtime and forced a Dominic Zvada field goal try from 46 yards. Zvada missed for the third time on the afternoon, but the Commanders punted on their first possession of the extra session.
Daniels ended the game with a boneheaded play, but he looked good in his return from a dislocated left elbow for about 50 minutes of play. He had touchdown runs of 38 and 26 yards while picking up 103 yards on the ground for the day and he moved the Commanders pretty consistently until the wind came out of their sails in the final stretch.
Winston lost a fumble and struggled until catching fire late. He had two touchdowns to tight end Isaiah Likely and tied the game with a strike to Malik Nabers. He was 33-of-54 for 326 yards, but the Giants did experiment with using J.J. McCarthy at points in the early stages of the game. McCarthy ran twice for two yards, handed the ball off and threw a pop pass for a five-yard loss that was wiped out by a penalty.
The result leaves Washington with a 1-3-1 record and they’ll be on the road against the 49ers on Monday night in Week 6. The tie ends a two-game Giants winning streak and the 3-1-1 team will host the Saints next weekend.