
Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn wanted to be aggressive on the final play of the first half of Sunday's game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Things could not have possibly played out worse for him and his franchise quarterback, Jayden Daniels.
Daniels ended up being carted off the field with a left elbow injury that looked especially gruesome following a play where everything went wrong.
The Commanders are already ruled him out for the remainder of the game. He is being replaced by veteran backup Marcus Mariota.
With the Commanders trailing, 17-10, and driving all the way down to the Dallas two-yard line with three seconds to play, Quinn opted against taking the easy three points to go into the break and tried to play for the tie on an all-or-nothing play.
As Daniels took the snap and attempted to drop back, his foot was stepped on by an offensive lineman, knocking him off balance. As he stumbled and tried to keep his balance with his arm, his elbow bent so harshly that it prompted Fox announcer Tom Brady to immediately utter a profanity during his live-viewing of the replay.
Daniels had to be carted off the field before halftime.
Washington QB Jayden Daniels is carted from the field at halftime, his head covered with a towel. https://t.co/BLua7hId80
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdNFL) September 20, 2026
It's an unfortunate result that could have happened on any play, from any spot on the field, and in any situation. It is going to get so much scrutiny from a coaching perspective because it seemed like an obvious situation to take the points and go into halftime down just three points, especially when you knew you were getting the ball back to start the second half.
It also continues a staggering run of bad luck that the Commanders have had with quarterback injuries over the years, with the most recent examples being Robert Griffin III and Alex Smith, and even going as far back to Joe Theisman.
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