
Watching the Washington Commanders mismanage the clock in Week 5 against the New York Giants may have triggered an unwanted flashback for limited partner Magic Johnson.
In Game 2 of the 1984 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, former Los Angeles Lakers guard Johnson dribbled the clock out with the game tied at 113-113 and seven seconds remaining in regulation. The Celtics won 124-121 in overtime and would take the series in seven games. Afterward, the Basketball Hall of Famer briefly earned the nickname "Tragic Johnson." Fans forgot about it after the five-time champion won three more titles.
As Johnson did in 1984, the Commanders blew it by forgetting to watch the clock in Sunday's home game against New York.
With the game tied 27-27 and 12 seconds left in overtime, the Commanders were at New York's 24-yard line. Despite being in field-goal range and having no timeouts, Washington called a run play for quarterback Jayden Daniels on a 2nd-and-8. He barely made it back to the line of scrimmage after scampering around and subsequently failed to spike the ball before time expired.
The Commanders can't get the play off in time and this game ends in a tie pic.twitter.com/WmPp6q5hU0
— NFL (@NFL) October 11, 2026
Johnson chimed in on X after watching the Commanders bungle the clock, noting all the team had to do was "kick a field goal."
I’m in total disbelief my Commanders had such poor clock management in today’s overtime game against the Giants. All we had to do was kick the field goal and we would have won the game!♂️
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 11, 2026
Daniels and Commanders head coach Dan Quinn accepted blame in their postgame news conferences. The coach said he should've clocked it instead of running a play, while the QB said he should've thrown the ball into the stands on the 2nd-and-8.
"[The] right call is honestly we can go clock it early. ... That is my responsibility nobody else's."
— ESPN (@espn) October 11, 2026
Dan Quinn after the Commanders' poor clock management in overtime. pic.twitter.com/7Hev8zbKm9
Jayden Daniels asked why he didn’t throw the ball away in the final play (and took the sack/let the clock run): “We’ve gotta relay that as an offense. It starts with everyone — top down. Ultimately it’s on me.” pic.twitter.com/Bdr2mk8MkJ
— Henry McKenna (@henrycmckenna) October 11, 2026
The Commanders are now 1-3-1 and may struggle to rebound after the clock snafu. Washington entered Sunday with the seventh-most challenging remaining schedule in the NFL, via Tankathon.
The bleak prospects for the Commanders may leave Johnson wanting to fast-forward to basketball season.
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