Washington ran a play at the 1 with 3 seconds left and lost Jayden Daniels — indefensible?

• D2

  Diego 2111h ago

  I work in sports medicine, not for any NFL team, but I'll say this: elbow dislocations from awkward contact at the goal line are not as "freak" as people want to believe. The body position quarterbacks end up in when they get hit near the line is genuinely dangerous. This wasn't a lightning strike. It was a predictable risk of a predictable call.

  267Reply
• R

  Riley14h ago

  The "it's just aggressive football" crowd is going to be very quiet when Daniels misses eight weeks.

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• J

  Jordan5h ago

  We know enough. He was carted off. He's not playing next week. Whatever the final diagnosis, the decision cost the Commanders a quarterback for at least one game and possibly much more, in exchange for a shot at three points that would have left them losing by a touchdown. That's the math. It was bad math before the play ran.

  166Reply
• Z

  Zara9h ago

  The Rodgers comparison doesn't hold. That was a normal play, not a decision to skip points in order to put your franchise QB in a high-contact pile. Context matters enormously here.

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• L

  Leo13h ago

  Here's the thing that actually bothers me — it's Week 2. Week. Two. You have 15 more games and a potential playoff run and you burned a hail mary decision for a chance at a halftime tie at seven points down. How do you square that risk-reward with protecting a guy on a rookie deal you cannot replace?

  143Reply
• DS

  Drew S.14h ago

  I've been a Commanders fan since 1987 and I have never, not once in my entire life, wanted to fire a coach this badly this fast. We finally have a franchise quarterback and Dan Quinn just threw him into a blender for a chance at a tie going into halftime. Unforgivable.

  94Reply
• ZK

  Zara K.12h ago

  Yes. Yes it feels infinitely better because Jayden Daniels walks into the locker room on his own two feet and comes back out in the third quarter.

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• JM

  Jordan M.7h ago

  I played four years of college ball, never made it to the league, but I know this: every offensive coordinator dreams of that moment where you trust your guys and go for it. I get the impulse. I even respect it in the abstract. What I can't respect is that the guy you're trusting with that moment is a 23-year-old who has to play 15 more games and possibly carry you to January. The math isn't close.

  83Reply
• T

  Theo4h ago

  Nobody is rewriting anything. They're applying existing logic — protect your starting QB in low-leverage moments — to a situation where that logic was ignored. That's not revisionism, it's basic football sense that apparently got left in the tunnel.

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• S

  Sam11h ago

  Actually the person above you just explained exactly why their perspective matters, which is more than Quinn offered in his post-game presser.

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• N

  Noah6h ago

  Yes? The coach is responsible for player safety. That's not a controversial position. We don't let players overrule doctors on the sideline either.

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• KM

  Kofi M.10h ago

  The "aggressive football" defense only works if the decision was sound BEFORE the outcome. Was a QB sneak or any play involving Daniels in a pile-on at the one the highest-percentage call with three seconds left? If your answer is yes, walk me through it.

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• C

  Casey13h ago

  I'm a Cowboys fan and even I feel bad about this one. Nobody wants to win like that.

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• N

  Noah2h ago

  Hot take that I'm prepared to defend: the problem isn't that Quinn went for it. Coaches go for it at the one all the time and I'm not opposed to that instinct. The problem is that the play design apparently put Daniels in a position to absorb that kind of contact. You can be aggressive AND protect your quarterback. Those aren't opposites. That's a playcalling failure as much as a strategy failure.

  51Reply
• YT

  Yuki T.8h ago

  Then you're down 17-10 instead of 17-13 and your quarterback plays the second half. Still better!

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• MK

  Maya K.4h ago

  Some of y'all are acting like Quinn invented aggressive fourth-down calls. This happens every week across the league. The injury was devastating and I pray Daniels recovers fully, but let's not rewrite the entire philosophy of modern NFL coaching because of one terrible outcome.

  43Reply
• N

  Noah6h ago

  I keep seeing people say "nobody could have predicted the injury" as if the only measure of a bad decision is whether someone gets hurt. Running your starter in a pileup near the goal line with nothing but pride on the line at halftime was wrong before the snap. The injury just made it undeniable.

  39Reply
• R

  Riley14h ago

  ok but nobody knew he was going to get hurt. you cant coach assuming your QB is made of glass.

  37Reply
• J

  Jordan9h ago

  A handoff at the one with three seconds left in a goal line scramble is not meaningfully safer, for the record.

  34Reply
• NB

  Nina B.3h ago

  It means they lose six of the next eight and everyone pretends this moment didn't start it. I've seen this movie.

  33Reply
• D

  Drew12h ago

  My son plays high school ball and his coach would never run his starting QB into the line like that. There are plays designed for the backup or a fullback in that situation. It's just smart football.

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• R

  Ravi7h ago

  if daniels himself wanted to run the play do we still blame quinn completely

  29Reply
• MK

  Morgan K.1h ago

  Not ignoring it — I actually think this is right. The call to go for it and the call to run a play that left Daniels exposed are two separate decisions and both deserve scrutiny. Conflating them lets someone off the hook they should be on.

  28Reply
• C_

  Casey _x8h ago

  quinn needed to kick the field goal. full stop. you take the points, you go down by four, you get the ball in the second half and you play football. this is not complicated.

  26Reply
• Z

  Zara11h ago

  ^^ nobody is paying you to second guess the coaching staff either so

  22Reply
• Q

  Quinn5h ago

  You're right, I misspoke earlier in the thread. Correcting myself: field goal was three points, so they go from down seven to down four. The risk-reward calculation is actually worse than I originally said, not better.

  21Reply
• D

  Drew13h ago

  If that play works and they score, everyone calls Quinn a genius. That's the whole game. Outcome bias is rotting your brains.

  19Reply
• RB

  Riley B.3h ago

  I genuinely don't know how Marcus Mariota or whoever they're starting next week changes the calculus for the rest of this season. Does anyone have a realistic picture of what the roster looks like without Daniels for a month? Because I think people are still in shock and haven't processed what this actually means for 2024.

  19Reply
• L

  Liam7h ago

  honestly the front office should be the ones answering questions here. what pressure exists on quinn to go for it? what's the win-now mandate that makes a week 2 halftime gamble worth the risk? there's a culture question underneath this.

  18Reply
• R

  Riley12h ago

  Someone explain to me what happens if they kick the field goal, go in down 14-13, and lose 28-13. Does that feel better? Genuinely asking.

  17Reply
• L

  Leo2h ago

  this is the most reasonable thing in the whole thread and it's getting ignored

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• M

  Marco4h ago

  the fact that the td would only tie it at 17-17 makes this so much more indefensible to me. you're not even taking the lead. you're tying it. at halftime. in week 2.

  14Reply
• J

  Jordan10h ago

  I moved to DC from Pittsburgh two years ago and adopted the Commanders because my wife is from Virginia. I watched that drive from my couch and when Daniels went down I turned the TV off. Haven't turned it back on. That's not a bit.

  13Reply
• RL

  Ravi L.5h ago

  undeniable is a strong word when we dont even know the severity yet

  12Reply
• L_

  Leo _x9h ago

  I mean Aaron Rodgers tore his achilles on literally his fourth snap as a Jet. Sometimes it's just bad luck and everyone needs to calm down.

  11Reply
• N

  Nina10h ago

  they could have had him hand off instead of sneak it fwiw

  9Reply
• TM

  Theo M.2h ago

  commanders fans have been through enough man. this one genuinely hurts to watch even from the outside.

  9Reply
• A

  Avery14h ago

  lol commanders gonna commanders

  8Reply
• N

  Noah5h ago

  three points not four btw, td would've been seven

  8Reply
• N2

  Nina 217h ago

  culture question lol it's football not a ted talk

  7Reply
• RM

  Ravi M.12h ago

  outcome bias doesnt explain away a dislocated elbow my guy

  6Reply
• C_

  Casey _x6h ago

  this aged well... said nobody about any commanders decision ever

  5Reply
• P

  Priya11h ago

  overreaction season is in full swing i see

  4Reply
• T

  Taylor8h ago

  what if they missed the fg lol then what

  3Reply
• T2

  Taylor 213h ago

  fire everyone

  2Reply

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