Commanders run out the clock on themselves, settle for tie with Giants in overtime meltdown
Jameis Winston rallied the Giants from 14 down, but a key fumble and Jayden Daniels' clock misread left both NFC East rivals stuck in a tie.
The Giants and Commanders spent overtime trading ways to give the game away before settling for a tie.
The Giants and Commanders couldn’t settle Sunday’s back-and-forth game in regulation or overtime, finishing 27-27 for their second tie in three seasons.
Washington built a 14-point fourth-quarter lead before Jameis Winston rallied New York to force overtime. The real chaos was still to come.
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The Giants appeared to have a chance to win with less than two minutes left in overtime. But as New York tried to run down the clock, Cam Skattebo fumbled, and Washington recovered.
The turnover gave the Commanders possession, but they still had work to do. They took over near midfield and needed a drive to get into field-goal range.
Washington answered with self-destruction.
Jayden Daniels, who ran for 103 yards, drove the Commanders to the Giants’ 24-yard line with 12 seconds remaining.
With no timeouts and facing second-and-8, Daniels scrambled for no gain. Washington couldn’t spike the ball before time expired, throwing away an easy shot for the game-winning boot.
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Skattebo took responsibility for his fumble after the game. "At the end of the day I have to take care of the ball," he said. "I gotta hold on to the ball and make sure these guys know that when my name’s called, we’re gonna be okay."
As the game ended, coach Dan Quinn slammed his headset in frustration.
Quinn took responsibility for the final sequence after the game. "The sequencing of that does not fall on [Jayden]. ... I haven't spoken to him but that one's on me. We don't need to put him in that space." He summed up the result bluntly: "The tie feels like a loss."
Daniels also accepted responsibility.
"We gotta relay that as a offense, it starts from everybody top down. Ultimately, it’s on me."
Commanders part-owner Magic Johnson offered his opinion on the game: "I’m in total disbelief my Commanders had such poor clock management in today’s overtime game against the Giants. All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game!"
No NFC East team won this week.
The Cowboys lost Thursday, and the Eagles fell earlier Sunday, but the Giants and Commanders couldn’t capitalize on the opening.
After 70 minutes, several missed field goals and two costly overtime mistakes, both teams walked away with a tie.
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