The Washington Commanders and New York Giants tied on Sunday in one of the most bizarre finishes in NFL history. Following a fumble late in the overtime period by star running back Cam Skattebo, with the Giants well in field goal position, the Commanders drove the ball to find themselves in a winning position.
However, after a quick QB draw to set the ball up for Washington’s kicker, Commanders’ quarterback Jayden Daniels allowed the clock to run out rather than spike the ball, despite having no timeouts remaining, and the game went final at 27-27.
On Monday’s episode of First Things First on Fox, analyst Nick Wright did not mince words when criticizing Daniels’ late-game clock management.
“If I were a Commanders fan, I would never look at Jayden Daniels the same way the rest of his career,” Wright proclaimed.
“You can fire Dan Quinn. He’s going to get fired at some point,” Wright went on. “David Blough. Offensive coordinators come and go. Jayden Daniels, you hope, if he’s healthy, is your franchise quarterback for the next decade-plus. And this goes in the same part of my brain as that Josh Allen throw over the back of his head his first playoff game. Doesn’t mean you can’t be a great player.
“It doesn’t mean you won’t have big success. But the fact that this happened and you were totally unaware of what was going on— watch him at the end of this play. He’s not even trying to get up. He has no clue. He has no idea the time-score situation.”
> “If I were a Commanders fan, I would never look at Jayden Daniels the same way… I do not think this defines him, but I am telling you for me, it would take a Magic Johnson-like rest of 80s for me to fully trust him in situational game management.”
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> @getnickwright explains: https://t.co/w3Bo6H2Wpo
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> — First Things First (@FTFonFS1) [October 12, 2026](https://x.com/FTFonFS1/status/2109735606221979808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
Wright’s co-host, Chris Broussard, pushed back on his take some, pointing out that Daniels could still go on to have a legendary career just as Magic Johnson did for the Los Angeles Lakers after dribbling out the clock in the NBA Finals early in his career.
Wright revised his take some, but made it clear that in his eyes, Daniels will have to go on to have a Hall of Fame career to erase Sunday’s gaffe.
“Let me revise the take a bit before you go,” Wright said. “I want to be clear. I do not think this defines him, but I am telling you, for me, it would take a Magic Johnson-like rest of ’80s for me to fully trust him in situational game management at some point in his career. He would have to rip off the type of run that (LeBron James) did or Magic did, for me to be like, ‘you know what, I have no concerns that you are going to know to spike.’ He wasn’t even— it’s not that he thought they had a timeout. He’s not trying to call timeout.
“He didn’t know what was going on.”