Winning-time moments have been the theme of the season for the Washington Commanders, and their regular season finale against the Dallas Cowboys was no different.
The Commanders trailed the Cowboys for much of the game, in part due to a lack of offensive production that led to a field goal as the team's only score in the first half. Led by quarterback Marcus Mariota, the second half of the game saw Washington begin to climb out of the hole they dug themselves into.
Despite being quiet for three quarters, wide receiver Terry McLaurin came alive when the offense needed him most. Mariota connected with McLaurin four times on the final drive of the game to move the ball into scoring position, although Washington was still down three to Dallas.
With six seconds left and the game on the line, Mariota found McLaurin with a ball just over the head of Cowboy's cornerback Daron Bland in the back of the end zone for a winning-time moment that sealed the Commanders' divisional victory, 23-19, and locked up the No. 6 seed in the playoffs.
"I knew it was going to come down to a one-on-one situation," McLaurin said of the thought process behind the final play. "We tried to get a similar route on the two-point conversion, I think the time was a little bit off. Marcus and I haven't quite got all of those reps together, so we talked about it on the sideline and he was going to give me a little more time to work at the line, and in my mind, I wanted to give him a little more time just to form the ball and be able to put it only where I can get it and he did a great job.
"We practice that every week, we call it back-five throws high above the defenders helmet, and I just wanted to save the box for him and use a good release," McLaurin continued. "He put that ball only where I could get it and I wanted to attack it with my hands and get my feet down. That was a tough drive, your wind is getting to you but you've gotta have that laser-light focus to be able to make those plays so for my teammates to trust me to make some big plays on that drive, I'm humbled to be a part of that."
The victory marked Washington's first win over Dallas since January of 2023, as well as multiple milestones for McLaurin, who finished the day with eight receptions for 62 yards and a game-winning touchdown. He set the franchise record for single-season touchdown receptions with 13 and became the only player in franchise history to record 75-plus receptions, 1,000-plus receiving yards and 10-plus touchdown receptions in a single season.
McLaurin, however, isn't focused on his individual achievements. He's more concerned with the team's incredible 12-5 record and a trip to the playoffs, something that seemed out of reach for Washington before welcoming new ownership and a new head coach into the building this year.
"It's amazing," McLaurin said of the team's success this season in his postgame press conference. "That's why you work so hard in the offseason, obviously to win as many games as you can to be sitting here right now going into the playoffs with a chance to win it all. It's a new season, it's anybody's game, it's anybody's trophy and we believe if we put our best foot forward, we could be one of the teams competing for that.
"The great thing about this team, we've been really resilient all year and we've proven we can execute in the gotta-have-it situations, but playoffs is a new season and you've got to be able to play for four quarters and play well if you want a chance to win."
With next week's matchup set, the Commanders will travel to take on the No. 3 seed in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for Sunday Night Football. It's a rematch not only to the start of the 2024 season as well as the 2020 wild card game, although Washington hopes to come away with a different result than their previous losses.
One of the biggest things McLaurin sees as a key to success in the postseason is the ability to start fast rather than rely on clutch plays to catch up and eke out a win.
"We've got to find a way to start faster, start better so our backs aren't against the wall, but it's been kind of the story of our offense, of our team, winning-time moments," McLaurin said. "As we go into the playoffs, we're going to need faster starts, but more importantly, we're going to need to come through clutch in the winning-time moments, so to have that happen backed up against our own zone to drive all the way down there."
Even with a faster start, McLaurin admits that clutch plays won't be going anywhere and will only serve to complement a quick start; The successful practice the Commanders have had with them in the regular season will only help prepare them for what's to come in the wild card round, so it's safe to say those clutch, winning-time moments have been ingrained in Washington's identity.
"We've got a flair for the dramatics, that's for sure," McLaurin said. "Again, it's testament to our team to be resilient and fight through those. We never know how it's going to show up. I think we all know we could be better in that first quarter, first half, and get a little more rhythm for our team to play complimentary football, because when we do that, I feel like we can beat anyone."
