What’s more fun than having doubts from NFL coaches? Nothing, that’s what. So let’s do it here every week. Today: What should the Commanders have done after a miraculous late touchdown against Dallas?
The scenario
At the end of the third quarter, Dallas led Washington 10-9 on Sunday. With one minute to play the score was Dallas 27, Washington 20… so the scores were flying. And so did Washington’s Terry McLaurin, who streaked downfield for an 86-yard touchdown to make the score 27-26 with just 21 seconds left.
The only thing left to force extra time – or a victory – was the decision: kick or go for it?
The case for kicking
The conventional wisdom is that if you lose once late in the game, you go for the tie and overtime at home and go for the win on the road. Washington was at home and after three tough quarters it looked like it had discovered some weaknesses in Dallas’ defense, scoring three times. This year, two-point conversions have been successful at a rate of just 32.4% through the first half of this season, well down from 48.7% from 2010 to 2023, according to an AP study.
Additionally, Washington kicker Austin Seibert was a perfect 22 of 22 on extra points. Comes in the day.
The reason to go for it
This is more of a gambler’s all-in mentality than an analytics-based mentality, but Washington had Dallas on its heels with the touchdown, so why not go for it and try for the surprise win? After all, catching Dallas unprepared wouldn’t exactly be the most shocking outcome of this game.
Additionally, Seibert’s streak of perfect extra points came to an end earlier in the day when he missed an attempt wide left in the third quarter. So why not put the ball in the hands of playmaker extraordinaire Jayden Daniels and see what happens?
The decision
Washington head coach Dan Quinn opted to go for the extra point … and Seibert is now 22 of 24 in extra points. The kick went wide left again. And as if to add insult to injury, Dallas returned Seibert’s offside attempt for another touchdown. That made for a total of 41 points scored in the fourth quarter… but it was the one that wasn’t that made the difference.
The result
Washington has now lost three in a row and fallen to the low end of the playoff bubble. This could be a crucial and costly loss that could very easily have gone the other way.
So, would you have kicked the safe extra point or gone for the two-point conversion and checkmate? What is your call?
