Daniels addresses teammates on OT gaffe, vows 'it'll never happen again'

ASHBURN, Va. -- Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels addressed his teammates, once more blaming himself for the end-of-overtime debacle against the Giants on Sunday before making a vow. "I let guys know it'll never happen again," Daniels said he told players during an offensive team meeting Monday, "and we're going to move forward." Daniels and the Commanders (1-3-1) have spent all week being the focus of an inexplicable ending to their 27-27 tie against the New York Giants. With Washington in field goal range at the New York 24-yard line, Daniels took the snap with 12 seconds left and no timeouts. Rather than throw the ball he started to scramble and was sacked. They failed to get off another play. Daniels and the coaches have been roundly criticized by former players (Richard Sherman), coaches (Mike Tomlin, Rex Ryan) and current players (Micah Parsons) among many others. "I'm moving on to San Francisco," Daniels said. "I can't say it's not warranted because of what happened. Everybody has opinions to speak and rightfully so. So can't stop nobody from saying their opinion or anything like that. It's just about my process and moving forward and learning from it." Daniels said backup quarterback Marcus Mariota told him, "every great one has been through adversity in their career." "I'm not going to say I'm one of the greats," Daniels said. "But ... you can't dwell on it and let it affect you. As a competitor, as a person, you feel like you let everybody around you down." While Daniels accepted blame for the play after the game, he was even stronger in placing fault on himself Thursday. Blough called the play after the previous one ended with 50 seconds left on the clock. But they subbed in multiple players, delaying the play even more. Quinn did not order a spike. Daniels failed to throw the ball out of bounds and there was a lack of urgency by all the players to return to the line of scrimmage in an attempt to spike the ball and stop the clock. "Don't even put it on the coaches," Daniels said. "I've got to be aware, more aware, go out there and manage the game right. And I did not do that. So it doesn't matter what happens on the sideline between the coaches or anything like that. I've got to notice everything that's happening and make sure that we're in the right situation with the football game." He also said it doesn't matter what play is called. "I'm the person on the field supposed to calm everything, control everything," Daniel said. "I know I'm better than that." Quinn also blamed himself again earlier in the day, but said he was pleased with what he has seen from Danies since the game ended. "He's someone that definitely is back and even through tough weeks he is a resilient guy," Quinn said. Teammates also say he's handled it well. "Jayden's pretty cool, calm, collected," said Washington right guard Sam Cosmi. "He's even keel for the most part; his emotions don't waver as much." Daniels said growing up he learned from his father, Jay, to give yourself 24 hours after a game to stew in a loss or bask in a win. Then it's time to move forward. That's what he's trying to do. It wasn't easy at first. "Once you kind of settle down and ... reflect," Daniels said, "it's just something that kept me up at night: What could I have done better, even prior to that play."