playJohn KeimOct 12, 2026, 05:57 PM ETCloseJohn Keim covers the Washington Commanders for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2013 after a stint with the Washington Post. He started covering the team in 1994 for the Journal Newspapers and later for the Washington Examiner. He has authored/co-authored four books.
You can also listen to him on ‘The John Keim Report’, which airs on ESPN Richmond radio.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsWashington Commanders coach Dan Quinn met with team owner Josh Harris, as he regularly does, after Sunday’s overtime tie with the Giants and said Monday that no one is happy with the game’s botched final sequence or the team’s 1-3-1 record.And while Quinn declined to say if he was now worried about his job security, he did say, “I do know how the league goes. I’m well aware of that.””Trust me, no one is pleased with this outcome and where we’re at,” Quinn said after his latest meeting with Harris. “But we do have those hard conversations, we’re honest about what we’re at and what we need to fix and what we need to work on. And so I like having that communication with him.”There are no plans to make any coaching changes, a team source with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.
But this start preceded by a 5-12 season has led to such questions only two years after Quinn guided the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game.Those questions were fueled by what happened at the end of overtime Sunday, when Washington reached the Giants’ 24-yard line with 50 seconds remaining and the score tied. The offense did not end up snapping the ball for the next play until 12 seconds remained. With no timeouts left, quarterback Jayden Daniels dropped back to pass after a fake handoff, then started to scramble and was tackled with eight seconds to play.As Commanders players half-heartedly got back to the line, with Daniels and others slow to get off the ground, Washington ran out of time to spike the ball and stop the clock to set up a game-winning field goal attempt.Quinn said offensive coordinator David Blough called the play, but he is ultimately responsible for what transpires.”All of that comes through me,” Quinn said. “Dave’s the one that calls it, but I want to make sure I’m clear on my guidelines, too.
This will break down in a lot of ways, so it starts with me first.”The Commanders do have a game management coordinator in the booth, Connor Nickol, to help. But the issue, Quinn said, was the team trying to do too much. The previous play ended at 50 seconds, but the Commanders subbed in players and did not line up for the next snap until 18 seconds remained — and the ball wasn’t snapped for another six seconds.”It took entirely too long to execute our strategy,” Quinn said, “from subbing to clock awareness to clocking the ball.”Quinn said “burning some time is the smart call” in that situation because three field goals and an extra point had been missed in the game. The Commanders did not want to give New York much time on the clock in a worst-case scenario if they missed a field goal.Washington then ran a play-action pass with three tight ends and a receiver — two of them ended up 14 yards downfield.Quinn said if it hadn’t taken so long to run the next play, then, “you can get back on the ball and clock it. …
Hindsight, don’t sub, we can get back on the ball with the same group and do the same outcome.”Quinn said the communication about the situation must start with him and trickle down to Blough and to Daniels. They have to remind Daniels, who has to pass the information to teammates, how many timeouts are remaining and what the offense needs to do when the play ends. But, Quinn said, these are scenarios they practice multiple times each week — he dubs them “winning time moments.””It definitely looked like the urgency of what I expected from us in that spot wasn’t there,” Quinn said. “That’s the part that pisses you off the most.”Quinn said he isn’t worried about players losing faith in the coaching staff after Sunday.
But he clearly was frustrated after the play, slamming his headset to the ground and then standing on the field at the 25-yard line and staring straight ahead for several minutes.Many fans felt the same emotion. When asked about a loss in confidence in him, Quinn said, “I’m just as pissed. This is a really hard loss, man.”
