NEW ORLEANS — A furious comeback attempt led by New Orleans Saints rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler fell just short on Sunday as the Washington Commanders escaped the Superdome with a 20-19 victory.
Rattler gave his team a chance to win the game and complete a 17-point comeback after tossing a touchdown pass to tight end Foster Moreau as time expired, but his follow-up two-point conversion attempt — a pass — fell incomplete.
It was just the latest game-deciding play in an unpredictable season for the Commanders. They needed a late field goal to beat the New York Giants in Week 2. The Week 8 game against the Chicago Bears was decided by a Hail Mary. Week 12’s matchup with the Dallas Cowboys featured a missed extra point that would have tied the game with less than 30 seconds left.
Last-second victories (and defeats) are nothing new for these Commanders.
On the sideline on Sunday, rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels could only watch as his defense decided the game.
“‘I hope we can win,” Washington’s signal-caller said after the game of his thought process, noting that the offense failed to score on the previous drive. “Defense did a good job getting a stop. If we go down and score, we’re not in that situation.”
Washington’s offense wasn’t the only group responsible for the late-game drama. The game could have ended a few plays earlier if an officiating mistake hadn’t added extra time to the clock.
With nine seconds remaining in the game, Rattler found Moreau for a seven-yard gain that set the Saints up at the one-yard line. But New Orleans was out of timeouts and needed to hurry to the line to stop the clock.
The Saints received some accidental assistance from the men in stripes, though.
An official rushed in and mistakenly signaled for the clock to stop, giving the Saints extra time to spike the football and set up for the next play. If the clock had run properly, Rattler might not have been able to snap the football before time expired.
“The clock should not have stopped,” referee Shawn Hochuli said after the game. “It is not a situation that is reviewable.”
With their focus on the action, most of the players on the field said they didn’t immediately register what happened.
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“When I got up, I knew it was at nine seconds,” said cornerback Noah Igbinoghene, who helped tackle Moreau at the one-yard line. “I didn’t look after; I just ran because I gotta hurry up on the ball. So I looked, and it was at eight, going down a little bit slow. I was like, ‘What’s going on?’”
On the subsequent two-point attempt, Washington’s defense saved the officials from a potential game-deciding mistake. Rattler rolled to his right but couldn’t connect with a tight end Juwan Johnson in the end zone. The Commanders — and the officials — could breathe a sigh of relief.
The defense’s late heroics also spared the Commanders from the embarrassment of a blown lead in a seemingly winnable game.
Daniels played like a Rookie of the Year candidate, throwing for 226 yards and two touchdowns and a team-high 66 rushing yards.
The defense posted a first-half shutout against starting quarterback Jake Haener before allowing Rattler and the Saints to storm back.
Haener was benched after completing just four of his 10 passes in the first two quarters with 49 yards and an interception.
But penalties and issues in pass protection in the second half almost doomed the Commanders.
New Orleans sacked Daniels eight times, stifling drives and placing Washington’s offense into tough situations. It didn’t help that the Commanders committed nine penalties for 84 yards, a new season high.
“Everybody on the offensive side’s got to be better. It starts with me with the details, getting the guys focused,” Daniels said. “I got to be able to get the ball out of my hands and help the o-line out.”
The penalty issues extended to the defense as well, where a handful of crucial calls on the pass rushers and cornerbacks extended drives for the Saints.
“Going into this game, we knew this [officiating] crew was really hot, so kind of ticky-tacky, especially with holding calls,” guard Sam Cosmi said. “We were expecting that for sure; some things just didn’t go our way.”
Even wide receiver Terry McLaurin, who caught seven passes for 73 yards and two touchdowns, struggled on Sunday. Despite catching an improbable first-half touchdown from a scrambling Daniels — the NFL’s Next Gen Stats estimated that he had just a 16% chance of catching the pass — he could’ve had a much bigger day.
McLaurin streaked past the Saints’ secondary three times during the second half. Each time, Daniels heaved a pass deep downfield to hit him in stride. Each time, the ball slid just off the receiver’s fingertips.
“We just got to find a better way of finishing,” McLaurin said. “We’re the type of players, him and I, we expect to make the plays we make, and the ones that we don’t, we’re frustrated.”
Despite a day full of mistakes on both sides of the football, the Commanders will leave New Orleans with their ninth victory of the year. It cements the franchise’s first winning season since 2016 as they cling to a wild-card spot with three games remaining.
“I like winning,” Daniels said. “Nobody wants to lose. We just keep building from here.”
The Commanders return to action next Sunday with a home game against the division-leading Philadelphia Eagles.
• Liam Griffin can be reached at lgriffin@washingtontimes.com.
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