The Washington Commanders and rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels provided fans with exciting last minute drives all season but in Sunday’s regular season finale against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium, backup quarterback Marcus Mariota took charge during the second half and led the Commanders in the final drive of the game to a 23-19 victory against the team’s longtime rival.
Mariota tossed a five-yard fade to wide receiver Terry McLaurin who pulled it down with two seconds remaining on the clock to cap an impressive 11-play, 91-yard drive with the Commanders down 19-16 and 3:17 remaining in the game. The catch gave McLaurin a franchise record 13 touchdown catches for the season, the Commanders an amazing 12 wins for the regular season, and the organization its most wins in a season in 33 years since the organization’s 14-2 record prior to a third Super Bowl victory.
The Green Bay Packers lost to the Chicago Bears moments earlier on a last second Bears field goal, but McLaurin’s touchdown also clinched Washington’s sixth seed in the NFC wild-card playoffs. The Commanders will play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road at Raymond James Stadium next Sunday night at 8 p.m., EST, by virtue of the Buccaneers win over the New Orleans Saints, 27-19, and the Los Angeles Rams losing to the Seattle Seahawks later in the day, 30-25.
Early in the final drive of the Commanders game, Dallas thought it had sacked Mariota at the Washington 5 yard line, but a 15-yard face mask penalty against Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson placed the ball at the Washington 30-yard line.
With 2:27 remaining in the fourth quarter, Mariota threw two consecutive passes to McLaurin for 6 yards each. On second and 15 at the Washington 37 with 1:15 left in the game, Mariota fired a 13-yard pass to McLaurin to the 50 yard line. On third and 2, Mariota was stopped for 1 yard.
But on fourth and 1 at the Dallas 49, with 33 seconds to play, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury called a brilliant fake hand off to Ekeler moving to the right. As the Cowboys defense moved toward Ekeler, Mariota had a wide-open hole to run straight ahead for 33 yards to the Dallas 16 yard line. Mariota then hit Zach Ertz for an 11-yard gain to the Dallas 5-yard line and with seven seconds left on the clock, Mariota spiked the ball. On the next play, he hit McLaurin for the game-winning touchdown.
With the playoff berth clinched following last week’s win against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday Night Football, it wasn’t surprising when head coach Dan Quinn took Daniels out for the second half rather than risk injury prior to next week’s playoff game.
The first half ended 6-3 following a goal line stop by the Commanders defense after Dallas quarterback Trey Lance, who played the entire game, led a 15-play, 68-yard drive to the Washington 2-yard line but could not get the team into the end zone.
Lance and the Cowboys started the third quarter with the ball, driving 12 plays and 53 yards but were again held to a Brandon Aubrey field goal, this time 36-yards to make the score 9-3.
Mariota entered the second half and immediately engaged running back Austin Ekeler with a six-yard run and later in the drive, a 14-yard pass catch and run. Mariota took the ball 10 yards showing that he, too, can run. The eight play, 70-yard drive, also included a 29-yard completion to wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus down to the Cowboys five-yard line.
The catch was redemption for Zaccheaus. On a trick play in the second quarter, Daniels lateraled the ball to wide receiver Dyami Brown who threw a perfect 36-yard pass to a wide-open Zaccheaus who could not bring it in. Instead of a 7-6 lead, the Commanders settled for a 6-3 deficit in the first half following a Zaye Gonzalez 47-yard field goal.
But in the third quarter, following the Zaccheaus 29-yard catch, Mariota finished the drive by tossing a 5-yard TD pass to Zach Ertz for a 10-9 lead with 5:07 remaining in the quarter.
The Cowboys countered with a15-play, 66-yard drive but settled for another field goal after the Washington defense stopped the Cowboys for the fourth time in the red zone. The Aubrey field goal gave Dallas a 12-10 lead early in the fourth quarter and a franchise record for most field goals in a season.
Mariota drove the Commanders again down the field and scored on a 5-yard TD run to give Washington the lead at 16-12. With 11:18 remaining in the game, the two-point conversion attempt failed after Mariota overthrew a well-covered McLaurin on the play. McLaurin was held back in the first half but ended the game with 8 catches and 62 yards, including the final touchdown catch.
Down by four, the Cowboys responded again with an 8 play, 70-yard drive. On third and 5, Commanders cornerback Benjamin St. Juste was called for defensive holding giving a first down to Dallas at its own 40-yard line. Cowboys quarterback Trey Lance then threw a 32-yard completion to wide receiver Jalen Tolbert followed by a 10 yard pass to receiver Ryan Fourney putting the ball at the Washington 28.
Two plays later, on second and 13 at the Washington 21, Lance threw an incomplete pass to Cowboys receiver Jonathan Mingo running toward the end zone but St. Juste was called for a questionable pass-interference penalty and the Cowboys were at the one-yard line.
On third down at the Washington 2-yard line, running back Rico Dowdle plunged into the end zone with 7:02 remaining in the game to give the Cowboys a three-point lead at 19-16.
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