Oct 11 (Reuters) – The Washington Commanders closed out their Week 5 game with a tie that felt like a loss, head coach Dan Quinn said on Sunday, after an inexplicable clock management error left them deadlocked 27-27 with the New York Giants.
Giants quarterback Jameis Winston forced the overtime with a pair of late touchdown passes before New York’s luck appeared to run out when running back Cameron Skattebo fumbled with two minutes left in the extra time.
Quarterback Jayden Daniels got Washington within striking distance for a field goal but the Commanders elected to run another play with no timeouts remaining, sending Daniels scrambling up the middle for no gain.
With time running out, Daniels was unable to stop the clock as his teammates could not get to the line of scrimmage fast enough, enraging fans as Washington fell to 1-3-1 for the season.
“I’m gutted for our team. We were given a lot of opportunities tonight,” said head coach Dan Quinn, who repeatedly insisted the fault did not lie with his quarterback.
“The sequencing of that does not fall on him… we were just trying to gain more (yards) – we don’t need to.”
The finish soured Daniels’ return from injury, as he made the decision to play after a two-game absence due to a dislocated elbow.
“We’ve all got to be better situationally,” Daniels told reporters. “We’ve just got to be better overall.”
Basketball Hall of Famer and Commanders part-owner Magic Johnson said he was “in total disbelief” over the poor clock management.
“All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game!” Johnson wrote on social media.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New YorkEditing by Toby Davis)
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