Commanders Win Thrilling First Playoff Game in Two Decades
By • January 13, 2025 0 10
The last time the Washington Commanders won a football game I was 19 years old and a college sophomore. I am now 39 years old. To put it bluntly, it’s been a long time!
Last night, the team pulled off a dramatic road win versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, who was just 5 years old when the Commanders last had playoff success, had nerves of steel as he led the team to a 23-20 win. The team won on what former NBC-4 reporter and current WAMU political analyst Tom Sherwood said, “the ‘boink’ heard ‘round the Beltway.”
He is of course referring to Commanders’ kicker Zane Gonzalez’s last second field goal that hit the right upright and miraculously was good.
The team is no stranger to thrilling endings: On October 27 versus the Chicago Bears, they won 18-15 after a Hail Mary pass Daniels threw to wide receiver Noah Brown with two seconds left in the game. Daniels scrambled for 12 seconds before throwing the ball 52 yards to Brown, who caught the ball after it was boinked by someone in a pile of defenders in front of him.
Commanders players rally around kicker Zane Gonzalez after he kicked the game winning field goal in last night’s playoff game versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Photo courtesy Instagram/@commanders.
Other games this season for the Commanders have been just as wild: 21-18 versus the New York Giants, 38-33 versus the Cincinnati Bengals, and 20-19 versus the New Orleans Saints. The Commanders have been the underdog all season, and their gritty passion and determination was on display last night. Daniels played on with a gnarly cut to his cheek after taking a hit from Bucs defensive back Zyon McCollum. When heading out to kick the game winning field goal, Gonzalez inadvertently raised awareness to OCD (he suffers from the mental illness) when he was filmed brushing his hair back multiple times before putting his helmet on. He first joined the practice squad in November and was elevated to the Commanders’ roster just last month.
It’s easy to see that the Commanders are the perfect team to get behind during this year’s playoffs—they’re full of young, scrappy players and head coach Dan Quinn, 54, has over 20 years of experience coaching. Last night, the everyguy coach calmly called plays in his backwards cap, having faith in his team as they battled back and forth with Tampa Bay.
The team will now be headed to Detroit to face the Lions, who finished 15-2 in the regular season, on Saturday at 8 p.m.
