Washington Commanders owner Magic Johnson couldn't contain his disappointment with how his team handled the final play in overtime against the New York Giants, which led to a headscratching tie
Earvin 'Magic' Johnson, a new owner of the Washington Commanders, greets fans at a pep rally after a press conference introducing the team's new ownership at on July 21, 2023 in Landover, Maryland. NFL teams owners have unanimously approved a $6.05 billion sale of the Commanders from Dan Snyder to a group led by Josh Harris
Magic Johnson was left stunned by what he saw at the end of the Washington Commanders' game against the New York Giants(Image: Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
View Image
Magic Johnson could not believe how the Washington Commanders' game against the New York Giants ended.
With the game tied at 27 in overtime, Commanders star quarterback Jayden Daniels opted to run the ball, being brought down with eight seconds on the game clock. However, he took his time getting back on his feet, with Washington quickly scrambling in hopes of spiking the ball to stop the clock.
With no timeouts remaining, the Commanders accidentally let the time run out, ending the game in a 27-27 tie, with head coach Dan Quinn destroying his headset as a result of the headscratching moment from his team.
Upon watching the play, Johnson, the Los Angeles Lakers legend who is also part of the Commanders' ownership group, took to social media to express just how shocked he was by the way the game ended, even suggesting a play that would have worked better than letting the clock run out.
"I’m in total disbelief my Commanders had such poor clock management in today’s overtime game against the Giants," his message on X began after Washington's tie with New York. "All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game!"
Fans on social media generally had the same reaction to Johnson's message, believing that since the 67-year-old is part of the ownership group, he has the authority to make a change at head coach, should he choose to do so.
After the game, Daniels took responsibility for the mishap, telling reporters, "We all got to be better situationally. Football starts with me. Everybody will say the same thing, but we just got to be better in situational football."
He added, "We got to stop the clock. We got to know it's an o-zone situation. We got to relay that as an offense. It starts from everybody top down. But ultimately, it's on me."
When pressed by reporters regarding the final moments of the game, Daniels continued to reiterate that he had to do a better job of knowing what the situation was at all times, and that those instances were what the team practiced during the season, even if it did not have the same result against New York.
As for his message to the team, he said, "It's on all of us. It's not just one individual, one person. We're all in this together. Tough times don't last tough people do. We have a brotherhood in there. If you're rocking with each other, we're going to stick by each other and weather the storm."
When Quinn took the podium, he spoke about his reaction, telling reporters that he broke the headset because he was "frustrated" with how the situation played out for Washington.
"I'm gutted for our team," he said. "And that's the hardest part. Like I said, leaving tonight with a loss, I mean with a tie, feels like a loss.
"We had plenty of chances to do things, have a lead, you know, get it into overtime. That's a whole other discussion. But having the awareness, like I thought he [Daniels] made some incredible plays and showed why he is so unique.
"But at the end, I can make life easy there."