Mike Florio has seen a lot of football in his five decades covering the NFL, but he had never witnessed anything quite like what Dan Quinn and the Washington Commanders did on Sunday. The Commanders escaped with a 27-27 tie against the New York Giants, but the final seconds were a masterclass in how not to manage a clock — and Florio didn't hold back.
Normally, when Florio posts on X, it's just a teaser for a full article on ProFootballTalk. This time, the take was so hot that he skipped the write-up entirely. He went straight to social media and declared Quinn's clock management an "immediately fireable offense."
"I've been watching football for 50 years. I've never seen an end-of-game failure like the one the Commanders committed," Florio wrote. "I thought the Fox bug was incorrect, and that Washington had a timeout. It's an immediately fireable offense by Dan Quinn."
Here's what went wrong: With the clock stopped and 55 seconds left, the Commanders had a first down and no timeouts. They needed a clear plan — how many plays to run, when to spike the ball, when to get out of bounds. Instead, rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels ran the ball inbounds in the waning seconds, and the clock simply ran out. Tie game. No field goal attempt. No chance to win.
"The clock was stopped with 55 seconds left. They had a first down and no timeouts," Florio continued. "They needed a very clear plan for how many plays to run and when to spike the ball. The failure to have that plan is on the head coach and no one else."
Fans were quick to pile on, with many echoing Florio's call for Quinn's job. "You're damn right it is. Josh Harris better do it now," one fan wrote. Another added, "Florio isn't wrong here. He is 100% spot on." A third lamented, "I hate being a fire your coach guy but with this end of game gaffe and him being a defensive minded coach while the defense is almost dead last….sigh."
But the most damning reaction came from within the organization. Magic Johnson, the NBA legend and Commanders minority owner, took to X to express his disbelief. "I'm in total disbelief my Commanders had such poor clock management in today's overtime game against the Giants," Johnson wrote. "All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game!"
When an owner is publicly calling out the coaching staff, you know things are bad. The Commanders are now 1-3-1 on the season, and Quinn's decision-making is under a microscope. This isn't just a bump in the road — it's a full-blown crisis in the nation's capital.
For a team that was hoping to build momentum with a rookie quarterback and a new regime, this kind of end-of-game meltdown is unacceptable. It's the sort of mistake that can cost a coach his job, especially when the boss is watching and tweeting.
Quinn may survive the week, but the heat is on. If the Commanders don't clean up their act quickly, Florio's words might become prophecy. In the NFL, clock management is non-negotiable — and Quinn just failed the test in spectacular fashion.
