What the Commanders’ Dan Quinn and Jayden Daniels said after game-ending error against the Giants

The Washington Commanders just needed to stop the clock with enough time to score a field goal, and they had a good chance of defeating the New York Giants in the final seconds of overtime. Instead, what happened was a comedy of errors. The Commanders ran out of time and the divisional game ended in a 27-27 tie, the first tie of the 2026 season.

On second-and-8 with 12 seconds left, quarterback Jayden Daniels scrambled, found no one open and kept the ball. He came around the line of scrimmage with about eight seconds left. The only thing the commanders’ offensive needed not what needed to be done on this play was to keep the ball in bounds and allow the clock to continue to wind down.

With no timeouts remaining, time was running out as Commanders rushed to field and snap the ball, hoping to score it with enough time to score a 41-yard field goal.

They didn’t have enough time.

What Washington should have done was kick the field goal on second down, because the next score would win the game anyway. Instead, they got “cute,” as they say, and tried to give themselves a few more yards, not only failing, but losing any chance of winning the game.

After the match, Daniels and Quinn addressed the incident and explained, or did their best to explain, what happened.

What Daniels had to say

Daniels took responsibility for the mistake and noted that everyone needs to improve.

“We all need to be better situationally. It starts with me,” Daniels said. “Everyone will say the same thing, but we just need to be better at situational football.”

When asked what his focus was on the play that ate up all their time, Daniels responded: “We have to stop the clock…We have to relay this as an offense. It starts with everyone – top to bottom, but at the end of the day, it’s on me.”

He was then asked if he heard or said anything about the lack of timeouts, but he didn’t reveal much about whether the infraction was related to their situation.

“Um, I just have to be better, I just have to be better,” he said.

What the head coach said

Head coach Dan Quinn didn’t place the blame solely on Daniels, also taking responsibility for putting his team in this situation. He said he hadn’t spoken to Daniels about it yet, but said, “That’s on me.” Quinn complimented Daniel’s performance outside of the final play, adding that his QB made some incredible plays and showed why “he’s so unique.”

He pointed out that he didn’t need to put Daniels in space to make such a mistake, noting that they could have won then.

“At the end of the day, I can make life easier there,” Quinn said. “We didn’t need to gain more yards.”

The head coach said he felt frustrated himself and he was frustrated for the team. While this could be interpreted as a tie in the standings, Quinn said it felt like a loss.

A game isn’t about winning or losing a game, but when it’s so shocking and so poorly handled, it can feel like that. The Commanders had other chances to prepare to win, so they wouldn’t need to be able to score a game-winning field goal.

The Commanders fell to 1-3-1 and are in last place in a struggling NFC East division. The Giants fell to 3-1-1 and are in first place in the division, thanks to defeats by the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys this week.

Washington will face the San Francisco 49ers in Week 6.