It Was a Tie...and We Lost
- It was November 23, 1997 and my father had gotten tickets for him and I to attend the Sunday Night Football game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. FedEx Field was still new-ish, and we sat in the upper deck behind the goal posts looking across to the other end zone where Gus Frerotte decided to headbutt a concrete wall. If you like punting, this was the game to have been at--Matt Turk punted nine times for the Skins while Brad Maynard launched 13 punts for the G-men. There was almost 1,000 yards worth of punts. Jeff Hostetler replaced the self-concussed Frerotte and was able to work the ball to Michael Westbrook, who was significantly bigger than his New York defenders, but nobody could crack the game open (only Gus's skull). With eleven seconds left in overtime, Washington attempted a game-winning field goal from 54 yards, but it would have been shorter if Westbrook hadn't lost his damn mind and removed his helmet on the field of play, which was a 15-yard penalty. Scott Blanton was well short on the kick and the 7-7 tie became a lasting memory for me. I was in college, and my dad had picked me up to go to the game and then drove me back that night, but we had an awesome father-son night--I still have the sweatshirt he got me because it was a cold and windy night in the upper deck and as a college kid, I was perpetually unprepared for the weather. It's been almost 30 years since that day and I still remember it vividly for all of the above reasons. What makes it a core memory though, for all my fellow Inside Out fans, is that I watched my favorite team fail to win a game that the other team seemed to be trying to help us win...and we politely declined.
- That memory seems...somewhat relevant today. When I summarize the day we all lived through 30 years ago and yesterday, it goes like this: "It was a tie...and we lost."
- I am sure I wasn't alone watching the Jacksonville Jaguars do everything in their power to gift the Philadelphia Eagles a win over ion London. It was outrageous...and the Eagles still found a way to lose. The Dallas Cowboys had already lost on Thursday Night Football against a winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers team starting their undrafted free agent rookie quarterback. The NFC East was up for grabs when the weekend started just based on what has transpired over the last few weeks, but by the kickoff of our game yesterday, there was real momentum for us that you could feel. The weather was shitty, which was an advantage our defense totally pounced on early, and the Giants' Jameis Winston was clearly impacted by all of it. Our offense looked crisp out of the gate and Daronte Jones had the boys on defense ready to go. Through the first half, anyone watching could see that Washington was in charge, but the 12-3 score suggested that the game still sat on the razor's edge...and we have not proven yet that we can left alone with a blade of any kind. Sure enough...we hurt ourselves.
- There are two words we have been saying in this column and on Tuesday nights this season with more and more frequency: game management. Both teams yesterday ran one play too many. The Giants probably could have kicked a field goal prior to the handoff that Cam Skattebo fumbled. The Commanders absolutely could have kicked a game-winning field goal instead of running the play they ultimately ran that cost us the win. As most of you know, I am a believer in a "the game is won and lost on plays all game long, and almost never on one play" philosophy. We could certainly look to plays in the first three quarters of the game yesterday and see chances that were squandered. For Giants fans, the desire to lay the blame on Cam's fumble is intense but the men in blue missed opportunities all day, and even got a few favorable penalties that were directly responsible for their comeback. Cam's fumble was the straw that broke the victory's back, but the Giants made boneheaded plays all day that cost them. That said, this is one of those rare times when a single play can be seriously blamed because of how incredibly gigantic the mistake was--and the manner in which so many people had to get it wrong for us to lose on a tie. I trust that the Commanders' staff is infinitely better-informed than me/us on all football matters...but that didn't stop them from doing something THAT WE ALL KNEW WAS WRONG. IN REAL TIME. The only person who seemed to know less about what was happening was Chris Meyers--am I the only person he kind of rope-a-doped into not realizing what was happening for a split second? David Blough changed personnel and dialed up a pass play with less than 20 seconds to go. There was motion from the tight end. If you couldn't see the clock, you might think there was a thousand seconds to spare as you watched as we gleefully tried to improve our 44-yard kick distance to something shorter. The truth is simple--we didn't need the extra play and we could have engineered it so the kick was attempted with no time on the clock (if our concern was giving the Giants the ball back with time). I hate like hell to write these words, but for a coach who was taught one of the cruelest game management lessons by the football gods in a Super Bowl he lost that he NEVER SHOULD HAVE LOST...Dan Quinn has not displayed the kind of game management growth you want from a veteran head coach. Every coach can be second-guessed to death--that goes for every sport on earth. Quinn has built a coaching brand that has leaned aggressive for years, and so it would be fair to say his game management skills are a bit of a known quantity--and we have enjoyed the good more than the bad I think. Watching our team become the poster team for so many different kinds of time/game management issues is no bueno. At this point, this isn't something that just needs cleaning up. This is an area that calls for evolution.
- No, I don't think Dan Quinn should be fired. As good as it feels to scream that (apparently really good because it's almost the only thing I'm hearing today), firing Dan Quinn is step one of a one-step plan that is missing...so many other steps. Regardless of our playoff chances at this point (irregardless, even), we still have two brand-spanking-new coordinators and a staff of coaches built very much for Dan Quinn. Running that white flag up the pole in week 6--which is what I think it would feel like--strikes me as no real plan at all. Who would you promote to head coach? How do you stabilize a locker room in the absence of the man who we have tasked with that specific job? Playing out the string for eleven weeks can be done, but that is a lot to ask some of our veteran players to do who likely aren't ready to surrender. Also, and I don't want to just blow smoke up your kilts, but the NFC East is STILL up for grabs. At this point of the season, there ain't NOBODY in this freakin' division playing well enough to claim dominance. I would argue we aren't even at the line where it becomes "improbable" for us to make the playoffs. I think it is very probable that a mediocre team from our division will win it...and we are as mediocre as they come right now.
- Having three numbers in your record is not fun. Being 1-3-1 sucks. I have argued that ties "help a good team" when it comes to qualifying for the playoffs, but that was more schtick that I developed when Strachan and I would get into it on Tuesdays. You know what sucks harder than watching a tie? Knowing that this tie is as much of a loss as it can be, and knowing that the absence of the win we were on the verge of securing was very likely going to change the whole trajectory of the season. We watched our banged up quarterback that everyone thinks is made of glass lead everyone on the field in rushing with over 100 yards on the ground and two long scoring runs. Except for one play on the day, Jayden Daniels was completely in control of the game and had put us in position to win. The Giants valiantly came from behind to make it a game at the end, but the scale was tilted our way throughout--including up until the last 20 seconds. John Harbaugh and the Giants celebrated like it was a playoff win--which I can't really blame them for since "not losing" is a great result when there was a 99% chance they were gonna have an L hung on them. For us, we went with the feeling of "not winning," which unfortunately is still a familiar feeling for a franchise who thought they had turned a corner from that two seasons ago. For the fanbase, it is yet another road marker on a highway that now has multiple road markers that look like this one. Here's hoping that we're not stuck on this road for another 30 years with no exit before the next tie to these G-men.
Ken Meringolo
is lifelong Washingtonian, covering the Commanders, WCAC and building an image of class, competence and professionalism...one LEGO at a time.