The Commanders and Giants tied after a clock management diasterclass
There are disappointing results for an NFL game.
And then there is what happened at the end of Sunday’s contest between the Washington Commanders and the New York Giants, as the NFC East rivals combined to give fans the first tie of the 2026 season, as the game deadlocked at the end of overtime at 27-27.
But how we arrived there is quite the journey.
On a wet and soggy day at Northwest Stadium, the Commanders built a 27-13 lead early in the fourth quarter when Jayden Daniels, marking his return to the starting lineup for Washington, took off on this 26-yard scramble for a touchdown:
It was Daniels’ second touchdown run of the game, as he ripped off a 38-yard TD earlier in the game.
But then Jameis Winston and the Giants came roaring back. Winston connected with Isaiah Likely on a touchdown pass minutes later, and then with under two minutes to go Winston threw his third touchdown of the afternoon, connecting with Malik Nabers to tie the game at 27-27:
Washington was forced to punt on its ensuing possession, and the game went to overtime.
That is when the chaos kicked up a notch.
New York had a chance to take the lead on the first drive of overtime, which stalled just outside the red zone. Rookie kicker Dominic Zvada came into the game to try a 46-yard field goal, but the kicker hooked the attempt, missing for the third time on the day:
That gave Washington a chance to win the game on the next possession. But the Commanders were eventually forced to punt — and were only able to do so after Dyami Brown managed to recover his own fumble and extend the drive — but now the Giants had their own chance to win the game.
Until running back Cam Skattebo gifted the Commanders yet another chance to win:
New York was closing in on field goal range — although that might have been tricky given Zvada’s struggles — but then Skattebo put the ball on the turf, giving Washington a chance.
A scramble from Daniels moved Washington into New York territory with just over a minute remaining:
Then Daniels connected with Treylon Burks to move closer to field goal range for kicker Drew Stevens who was a perfect two-for-two on the day:
But then, disaster, and the first tie of the 2026 NFL season.
After a running play picked up two yards, Daniels and the Washington offense needed to spike the football to stop the clock, as the Commanders were out of timeouts. But for some reason Daniels did … this:
He could not stop the clock in time, and the game was over.
Here is another look at how this game ended:
It is inexplicable that Washington handled the final few plays of the game like this. The running play prior to the final snap came with over 50 seconds remaining in the game. There was more than enough time to run another play, if Washington wanted to, and then spike the football.
Instead, the final snap came with just over ten seconds left on the clock and Daniels, instead of spiking it right away, ran around and took too much time off the clock, preventing Washington from even giving the field goal team a chance.
You can understand why Dan Quinn did this as time expired:
Some Commanders fans were likely doing the same.