Ranking who's most to blame for ludicrous Giants-Commanders tie

Tempers have hopefully settled down after a football game that could be described with a variance of adjectives, none of them positive besides the word entertaining. Well, if you're a New York Giants or Washington Commanders fan, you may be calling your doctor to re-up your blood pressure prescription.

The Giants and Commanders played to a mind-boggling 27-27 tie after a 14-point fourth quarter comeback and a scorless overtime period in which rain and ineptitude dominated. It was the third time in NFL history in which the two franchises played to a tie and the second time this decade it's occurred (2022).

Both teams had ample opportunity to walk away with an all-important divisional win but it was Washington who most squandered away the day with the final play in overtime. Quarterback Jayden Daniels, instead of spiking the ball or throwing it out of bounds with no timeouts left, decided to rush for little gain with 14 seconds on the clock. His team couldn't get lined up in time to actually spike the ball and send the field goal team out so the game just ended.

So, how did they get there and who is most to blame for the result? Let's dive into this mess from both sidelines and figure that out.

5. K Dominic Zvada

The rookie Giants kicker missed not one, not two but three field goal attempts during the game. The latter of the two came during the fourth quarter and overtime where New York could've walked away with the win much earlier. Prior to Sunday he had been a perfect nine-for-nine but picked the worst possible time to have the worst game of his professional career.

Sure, you can chalk up most of his unsuccessful attempts to the elements. It was raining and windy for the majority of the contest and those are always difficult conditions for any kicker to work with. However, it's undeniable that if he had converted at least one of those three misses, the Giants would be 4-1 and hold a clear two-game lead over the rest of their NFC East rivals.

4. RB Cam Skattebo

Ball. Security. It's rule number one for any running back that wants to last in the NFL and Giants rusher Cam Skattebo, who ceded a significant number of carries to backups Tyrone Tracy Jr. and Najee Harris on Sunday, did not secure the ball on the most important play of the day for New York. On first and ten just outside the redzone, with less than two minutes remaining in the overtime, Skattebo rushed into the pile to help kill clock and set up Zvada for a potential game-winning kick. He fumbled and Washington recovered, which gave them the final opportunity of the day to win the game.

Had the Commanders not botched the final play, Skattebo would be most to blame for a blown comeback and easy opportunity to walk off the contest. He got bailed out and slipped down this list. Skattebo acknowledged his mistake while speaking to reporters in the locker room postgame but it's a hard lesson he's going to have to take to heart and move past quickly. His and the Giants luck is going to run out eventually but his solid play could delay that eventuality.

3. OC David Blough

The decision to have Daniels run a play with 14 seconds left and no timeouts came from above Blough but he was the one who would've communicated to his QB what specific play to run. The call should've been a spike or a quick throw out of bounds after killing about six seconds. That looked to be the case but instead Daniels rushed forward and slid, thus keeping the clock running. There was literally no need to even glance at a play sheet or even have the team huddle beforehand with the clock still ticking.

Granted, Blough is in his first year as a coordinator and only had four games under his belt going into Sunday. There's a clear learning curve to be applied to his body of work this season but the kind of situation Washington was in should've been discussed many times over the course of the offseason, training camp and practice the week before. Blough won't make that mistake a second time or his career will be chalked up to one big one.

2. QB Jayden Daniels

If Blough actually communitcated to Daniels that he should kill a little time and then stop the clock, then the third-year starter either went rogue or had a massive brain fart. He looked like he had zero awareness of the fact that his team had no timeouts left and was well within field goal range to end things. Up to that point, Daniels had looked like his old self after rushing for two touchdowns and having zero issues with his braced up left elbow which was dislocated two weeks prior.

He took responsibility for the blunder during his postgame press conference but never quite gave a straight answer on whether he was aware of the lack of timeouts. That's problematic if he wasn't too. A breakdown in communication suggests a lazy or unfocused approach to the most critical part of a game across all aspects of the offense. His fantastic return to action was marred by this avoidable mistake.

1. HC Dan Quinn

The buck always stops with the head coach. Dan Quinn would've been the one to communicate with Blough about whether to run a play with 14 seconds left to begin with. His decision to do so, if that's what happened, and not be aware he had no timeouts is a fireable offense. That should've been a Washington win at the end of the day and the stupidest of errors cost the franchise that.

Washington has already looked shaky under Quinn with just Daniels to lean on as the real catalyst for the offense. Without Daniels, the team is just a coin toss over whether it'll play a good game or fall flat on its face. Now there's an example of the team with Daniels face planting and that should have Quinn looking over his shoulder for the rest of the season. Don't be surprised if Sunday's botched ending is what all Commanders fans can point to as the moment his demise was solidified.

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