For the Washington Commanders, the game, season, and possibly the regime of Head Coach Dan Quinn ended on the last play of the first half Sunday afternoon.
Faced with a third down and goal from the Cowboys three yard line and trailing just 17-10 with three seconds left before halftime (Washington also was set to begin the 3rd quarter with the ball), Quinn passed up an automatic three points deciding to try and tie the score.
Instead, guard Chris Paul stepped on quarterback Jayden Daniels foot. He tried to brace himself with his left hand and dislocated his elbow for the second time in 12 months. As of this writing, its unclear how long Daniels will be out. It could be weeks, it could be the entire season.
Although a freak injury, it contributes to a narrative that the best player on the roster can’t stay healthy.
“We needed touchdowns,” Quinn said in his postgame press conference. “I don’t regret the call. Anytime someones injured you play the ‘what if’ game. I don’t think this is one of those times for me. ”
Dr. David Chao, a former NFL team head doctor who is now an injury analyst for Sirius XM and FOX Sports took to twitter to say Daniels might be back sooner than later.
“When you dislocate your elbow the ligament remains loose and torn,” he said on Twitter right after the injury. “He can return this season with a brace but because its come out a second time, at some point and time they may think about repairing the ligament to prevent this elbow from coming out so easily again.”
Before the injury, Daniels was electric. After a slow start, he put together two scoring drives, one for that ended in a field goal, another that ended with a touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs. Daniels completed 11 of 17 passes for 96 yards and ran for another 69 yards. He appeared to be back to his 2024 form when he was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, leading Washington to the NFC Championship game.
All that ended with a terrible, almost inexcusable decision by the coaching staff. Had the Commanders kicked a field goal, the team would have gone to halftime trailing 17-13. The Dallas offense had been sidelined for more than 30 minutes of real time and the Commanders would receive the second half kick against a team that has as many problems stopping opposing offenses as Washington.
Instead, they went on vibes and gut feelings and the result was a disaster.
Marcus Mariota played well in the second half but not helped by a terrible call on a touchdown pass to Dyami Brown. Then, trailing 27-13 in the third quarter, from the Dallas 23 yard line, offensive coordinator David Blough called a trick play, having wide receiver Antonio Williams throw to Terry McLaurin in the end zone. McLaurin was wide open but the pass was slightly inaccurate and was incomplete. Two plays later, receiver Dyami Brown completed a pass to running back Rashad White. Unfortunately, Dallas wasn’t fooled. Drew Stephens missed a field goal to keep the score 27-13.
From there it was just a matter of time. The Cowboys closed out the game by scoring another ten points making the final score 37-20.
After the game, the loss was palpable.
“I don’t think it’s something that’s going to continuously happen,” Mariota said after the game. “I love how aggressive we were there, I loved the call. It’s just unfortunate.”
“You think about what he’s gone through, ” Mariota continued. “You go through all those emiotions. I wasn’t afraid to go through that. And at the end of the day, to be able to go through that it snapped me into what I had to do.”
Quinn will face questions all week about the decision that got Daniels hurt. Unless he can figure out how to reverse course quickly, the season may well spiral out of control.
Bob Matthews is a 33 year veteran broadcast journalist, spending the last 29 years of his career in Virginia. Bob has covered both news and sports stories and for the last three seasons, the Washington Commanders. He looks forward to continuing to provide coverage to Sportsjourney.com both on the website and through his podcast, The Bob Matthews Show.
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