Did Jayden Daniels think overtime would continue after the end of the first period?

The problem with everyone being blamed for a colossal clock management error is that if everyone is Spartacusit is impossible to know who is really at fault.

As for the end of the Giants-Commanders game, coach Dan Quinn took responsibility – and quarterback Jayden Daniels took responsibility. Presumably, offensive coordinator David Blough will also take responsibility for that the next time he speaks to reporters.

So who is really to blame?

In Tuesday’s edition of Live PFTChris Simms suggested Daniels may have been ordered to throw the ball on the last snap taken by commanders. Had he done so, the clock would have stopped and the Commanders would have had time to score a potential game-winning field goal. If so, it seems logical that anonymous sources would report that the internal review reached this conclusion. (And, again, it would have been easier to get to the bottom of this if the commanders had recorded and preserved all in-game communications.)

Here is another possibility, which has a historical example. In 2008, after a 13-13 final score between the Eagles and Bengals, Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb admitted that he I didn’t know that a regular season game could end in a draw. He was not alone; the other players on the Eagles’ roster did not realize the game was over as the overtime period expired.

said McNabb at the time, who was in his tenth NFL Season: “In college there are multiple overtimes, in high school and at Pop Warner. I never thought in the professional ranks it would end this way. I hate to see what would happen in the Super Bowl and the playoffs.”

Eighteen years later, would it still have been a question of déjà vu? Is it possible that Daniels’ lack of urgency in the final seconds of overtime was because he didn’t know the match would be over when the clock struck zero?

Given the Eagles’ widespread lack of awareness of overtime rules in 2008 — which had been in effect unchanged for 34 years — is it crazy to think Daniels and perhaps other players didn’t know? Likewise, is it impossible that Blough, who is now the same age as McNabb was at the time, doesn’t know? (Blough should definitely be asked this question, just in case.)

Giants safety Jevon Holland had this to say after the game: “I mean, even when the clock was getting to zero, there was a second where I was like, ‘Will it go to the second overtime?“I don’t know if it was two overtimes or not. I’ve never been in an overtime tie like this.

That makes it a legitimate question to ask Daniels and others in the offense. Did he and others think that once time expired, the teams would switch ends and the game would continue?

While it’s not an acceptable explanation, it would make the complete lack of urgency as the seconds ticked by a little more understandable.