The Washington Commanders were close enough to beat the New York Giants that the ending felt almost unbelievable.
The Commanders had a chance to kick a game-winning field goal, yet the clock ran out before they could even take another snap.
Jayden Daniels ended up at the center of the confusion, but former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky thinks the bigger question is what the coaching staff told him before the play unfolded.
Speaking on ESPN's "First Take," Orlovsky placed the responsibility for Washington's late-game failure on coach Dan Quinn, focusing on the communication between the sideline and the offense.
The Commanders had recovered a fumble and reached the Giants' 24-yard line, putting themselves in position to attempt a potential game-winning kick. Instead, Daniels scrambled on the final sequence, was tackled inbounds, and watched the clock expire before Washington could run another play.
Orlovsky said the coaching staff had time to establish a clear plan before the decisive snap. With the ball already in field-goal range, he wanted to know what Quinn and his staff told Daniels about protecting the clock and avoiding a play that would leave the team unable to attempt a kick.
"I would love to know, and some of the Washington reporters have to ask, what was said to Jayden? What was the communication going on?" Orlovsky said.
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He explained that Washington had already reached the minimum yardage needed to give its kicker a chance, even with the weather conditions. The priority, then, rested with managing the remaining time rather than taking unnecessary risks to gain additional yards.
Orlovsky also questioned why the offense appeared unprepared when Daniels scrambled. He noted that the quarterback had time between plays to receive instructions and communicate the plan to his teammates, yet the final sequence lacked urgency.
"If you watch the play when Jayden's running around on that final snap, no one's playing with urgency," Orlovsky said. "It doesn't look like anybody on Washington's offense has any clue of what is going on."
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For Orlovsky, that confusion pointed to a coaching failure rather than simply a quarterback mistake.
"It's clear they knew there was some form of miscommunication from them to the player and the players," he said.
Quinn accepted responsibility after the game, saying the decision-making sequence should not have fallen on Daniels.
He said , "The sequencing of that does not fall on (Daniels). It's an outside throw or a clock. Those are the two — an out-of-bounds throw or a clock. And that has to come from me. I don't even have to put him into that spot. I can do that earlier. We can finish the kick early.
"We don't need to gain more yards, so that's on me. We were just trying to gain more and we don't need to. Like, it's easy enough to say, 'Hey man, let's clock it right here, we're early enough and go get it.'"
Daniels also declined to shift the blame, saying , "We all got to be better situationally. Football starts with me."
The 27-27 tie left Washington at 1-3-1 and raised fresh questions about its late-game management. Their offense currently sits just outside the top 20 in the PFN NFL Offense Impact Metric %20assigns,red%20zone%20and%20third%20downs.) with a 73.2 grade, while their defense also needs major improvement.
The Commanders now face the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers in Week 6, with Quinn's ability to ensure clearer communication likely to remain under scrutiny.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
