The New York Giants and Washington Commanders each had an opportunity to end Sunday’s game with a routine overtime field goal. Neither team managed to capitalize, however, and the result was a 27-27 tie.
The missed opportunities left a particularly sour impression on Mike Tomlin — perhaps quite literally.
“I threw up in my mouth a little bit at the end of the game,” the former Pittsburgh Steelers coach said on NBC’s Sunday Night Football panel when asked about the Giants’ and Commanders’ overtime missteps in Landover, Maryland.
It remains unclear whether Tomlin meant that literally, but his assessment of both teams was unmistakable: They had let a winning opportunity slip away.
The Giants took over at the Washington 24-yard line on the third possession of overtime. That was within manageable field-goal range, but New York kicker Dominic Zvada had already missed attempts from 50, 57 and 46 yards earlier in the game. Giants head coach John Harbaugh therefore elected to move the ball closer before trying to win.
Instead of attempting the potential game-winning field goal, Harbaugh gave the ball to running back Cam Skattebo. The decision backfired when Skattebo fumbled, with Washington’s Shy Tuttle recovering the loose ball.
It was unclear whether Tomlin was speaking literally, but he said he vomited a little while watching the game
Quinn absolved his quarterback of blame following the game, but Daniels insisted the mistake was his fault
Washington then had its own chance to avoid the tie, only to make a series of costly decisions during the sudden-death period.
With the Commanders in Giants territory, coach Dan Quinn could have instructed quarterback Jayden Daniels to take a knee, setting up a spike and a final field-goal attempt. Instead, as Harbaugh had done on New York’s preceding possession, Quinn chose to keep pushing for additional yardage.
The decision unraveled amid an unusually long huddle, seemingly unnecessary pre-snap motion and an ill-advised scramble by Daniels. New York eventually brought him down with only three seconds left on the clock.
The Commanders still had an opportunity to spike the ball and set up a winning field goal on fourth down. But Washington could not get properly organized before time expired, and the clock reached zero.
Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn was left livid after his team’s mistake
“I’d describe it as disgusting,” Tomlin said when asked about the finish on NBC. “Division wins are too precious in the National Football League. I was disgusted by the Skattebo fumble.”
Quinn refused to blame Daniels after the game, but the quarterback took responsibility for Washington’s failure to stop the clock.
“We have to stop the clock. We have to know the situation,” Daniels said. “We have to relay that as an offense. It starts with everyone, top down. Ultimately, it’s on me.”
Quinn, however, said the responsibility belonged to him. “The sequencing of that does not fall on [Daniels],” he said. “It’s an outside throw or a clock [spike] — an out-of-bounds throw, or a clock. That has to come from me. I have to put him in that spot. I can do that earlier and we can finish the kick earlier. We don’t need to gain more yards.”
Dominic Zvada endured a nightmare afternoon in Landover on Sunday, missing three field-goal attempts
Tomlin did not single out Quinn, Daniels or Commanders offensive coordinator David Blough for the overtime collapse.
Instead, the Super Bowl emphasized the missed opportunity for both the Giants (3-1-1) and Commanders (1-3-1).
‘It’s just tough,’ Tomlin said. ‘We’ll never know what happened. The head coach said what he’s supposed to say. The quarterback said what he’s supposed to say. But it’s just tough. Division wins are very precious. And they had one in their hand and they let it slip away.’
There was at least one person who was happy to see Sunday’s game end in a tie: Skattebo.
Asked for his reaction to the Commanders’ mishap, the former Arizona State running back admitted it probably saved him a tongue lashing from Harbaugh.
‘It was a sigh of relief,’ Skattebo said. ‘I probably won’t get reamed as much but I’m still gonna get reamed.’
