LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — For the second time this season, the Washington Commanders gave up points in the final two minutes of regulation and came back to win on a last-gasp touchdown.
It was not a Hail Mary this time. Instead, it was rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels engineering a 57-yard drive and finding Jamison Crowder in the end zone with six seconds left on the clock to beat Philadelphia and get the Commanders to 10-5.
“Just a regular Sunday afternoon again,” coach Dan Quinn said moments later.
Quinn's team is now on the verge of making the playoffs after again showing its mettle in wacky, back-and-forth games with wild finishes. Playing in and winning those has sort of become Washington's calling card.
“We didn’t flinch at all,” receiver Terry McLaurin said. “We didn’t panic. Not to say we did that in the past, but it was like, we’ve been here before. When you've been through something, you know what it looks like. You know what it feels like. You do everything it takes to get over the hump.”
The Commanders have won three in a row, including holding on at New Orleans by stopping the Saints on a 2-point conversion attempt at the end of the fourth quarter. They're in the postseason if they beat Atlanta on Sunday night or if Tampa Bay loses to Carolina earlier in the day.
But what has gotten this team so accustomed to falling behind, huddling up and getting the job done when it matters most?
“I think we just believe in one another,” said six-time All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner, a Super Bowl champion in Seattle who's in his first season with Washington. “Coach Quinn puts in a lot of positions at practice, and we have confidence in everybody to make those plays. I think it just shows our confidence in one another and our confidence to pull the game out.”
Daniels is an X-factor in that. The 2023 Heisman Trophy winner, No. 2 draft pick out of LSU and runaway favorite for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year may be from Southern California but seems to have ice water in his veins colder than the 31 degree Fahrenheit temperature during his comeback.
“He was poised: cool, calm, collected under pressure,” Crowder said. “A lot of times you don’t get that from a lot of quarterbacks.”
What’s working
Practice makes perfect, apparently. When Daniels connected with Noah Brown on the Hail Mary TD to beat Chicago on Oct. 27, it went exactly as the offense planned after rehearsing it in practice the previous Friday.
Daniels to Crowder was the same thing.
“It’s crazy,” Crowder said. “Friday we actually ran it, and I caught the same pass. We got the same look that we thought we were going to get.”
Crowder knew he needed to slip past the linebacker covering him and found a wide-open spot in the end zone. Then the muscle memory took over.
“I had already hit this in practice, so it was time to just make the throw in the game,” Daniels said. “I just put the ball in the air, and he made the grab.”
What needs help
It's hard to turn the ball over five times and win a game, especially against a first-place team with the NFL's top defense, but that's exactly what the Commanders did.
Daniels threw two interceptions — including one that set up Jake Elliott's field goal to put the Eagles up 33-28 with 1:58 left — while Brian Robinson Jr. fumbled twice rushing and Dyami Brown once after making a catch and turning to run upfield.
“That’s not our standard at all,” McLaurin said. “We’ll get that cleaned up.”
Stock up
Crowder made one catch on one target for 5 yards in the season opener and played a combined 12 snaps in Weeks 1-3. A calf injury put him on injured reserve in early October, and that easily could have been it for the 31-year-old wideout in his second stint with Washington.
Instead, Crowder rehabbed to get back on the active roster, and a kidney injury to Noah Brown opened the door for real playing time. After making three receptions for 27 yards in the victory at New Orleans, his two catches against the Eagles were touchdowns.
“Being on the IR for as long as Jamison had been, it takes a lot of grit to stay in it,” Quinn said. "He might have been out of football technically for 2-3 months, and this is not an easy thing to do, so for him to come back and make the impact he’s had, that’s a man I respect a lot.”
Crowder was a fourth-round pick in 2015 and played his first four seasons in Washington before three with the New York Jets, one with Buffalo and a return in the fall of 2023. He thinks watching from the sideline helped him dissect football better to give him a chance to make an impact on the field again.
“I knew once I got my opportunity I’d be able to just fit right in,” Crowder said.
Stock down
Cornerback Marshon Lattimore affected the Saints game by not being thrown at once in 31 passing attempts in his Commanders debut against his former team. He struggled defending Philadelphia's A.J. Brown and was flagged three times for pass interference before aggravating the hamstring injury that kept him out since the trade from New Orleans and leaving the game.
“I love his competitive nature, honestly, down on the field,” Quinn said. “It’d be good to see what the NFL says about one of the ones that they called a PI. Let’s find out, but he’s the type of person you want to put on that player.”
Injuries
Dyami Brown also left with a hamstring injury in the fourth quarter, and starting right tackle Andrew Wylie was sidelined by a groin injury. Those bear watching.
Key number
1991 — The last year Washington started a season 10-5. It ended with the franchise's third Super Bowl championship.
Next steps
Get ready for prime time with No. 8 pick Michael Penix Jr. and the Falcons coming to town. The Commanders opened as a 4-point favorite on BetMGM Sportsbook.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Stephen Whyno, The Associated Press
