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Commanders’ Dan Quinn ‘taking high road’ on mysterious clock stoppage

The Washington Commanders defeated the New Orleans Saints in a close game on Sunday. Washington moved to 9-5 on the season and currently occupies the final playoff spot in the NFC. However, the win over the Saints did not come without some controversy, though the controversy worked against Washington head coach Dan Quinn’s men in the moment.

The Saints drove the ball down the field with the clock ticking down the final seconds. Quarterback Spencer Rattler found tight end Foster Moreau for a seven-yard gain. He was tackled in bounds, but New Orleans was able to line up and spike the ball. The issue at hand is the clock stopped briefly with nine seconds left when it should have kept running. The Saints scored a touchdown on the next play.

The Commanders prevented a two-point conversion to claim a close 20-19 win. After the game, head coach Dan Quinn addressed the controversial clock stoppage. “I don’t know (what happened), and I’m absolutely taking the high road about that. I saw a quick video of that, and I await for the response from New York. But those three seconds were critical,” Quinn said, via Washington Post reporter Nicki Jhabvala.

Refs address clock stoppage late in Commanders-Saints game

Dan Quinn mentioned not being able to ask in the moment what happened. Watching the replay of the play shows something interesting, though. One of the officials signals for the clock to stop once Moreau is ruled down. This solves why the clock stopped, but the reason is a lot less clear.

Referee Shawn Hocculi did not provide a reasoning for why the clock was stopped postgame. However, he did admit that it was a mistake on behalf of the side judge. “The covering official mistakenly stopped the clock in that situation. The clock should not have stopped,” Hocculi said, via ESPN.

The Saints fell to 5-9 after their loss to the Commanders on Sunday. New Orleans has won three of its last five games, however. They are in third place in the NFC South but have a tough remaining schedule. The Saints travel to Green Bay next Monday to take on the Packers at Lambeau Field.

In the end, the Commanders held on to win. Had the Saints converted their two-point conversion, Washington may have taken a different tone after the game. In any event, they have a massive matchup with the NFC East-leading Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday.