ARLINGTON, Texas — Jayden Daniels sitting in the second half wasn't the plan when the playoff-bound Washington Commanders visited the Dallas Cowboys with only seeding at stake.
Leg soreness led coach Dan Quinn to make the move, and Marcus Mariota turned it into a winning one.
Mariota threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin with 3 seconds left, lifting Washington to a 23-19 victory over Dallas on Sunday and clinching the sixth seed in the NFC playoffs for the Commanders.
Mariota threw for two scores and ran for a TD after replacing Daniels, who said he was fine with his coach's decision but later was adamant that they would have had ''to drag me off the field,'' if his team had been in a win-or-go-home situation.
Instead, the Commanders (12-5) only had playoff seeding on the line, but Quinn's move ended up sparking an offense that produced just 64 yards before the break.
''We were going to have to use the quarterback's legs more, so it was really my decision to say, ‘Hey let's go this route,''' Quinn said. ''It wasn't a pre-determined one.''
It turned out Washington didn't need the rally to keep the sixth seed because Green Bay lost to Chicago on a late field goal. But the victory meant the Commanders finished the regular season on a four-game win streak that answered a three-game skid capped by a loss at home to Dallas.
The Commanders will play in the wild-card round next Sunday night at NFC South champion Tampa Bay (10-7), which clinched the No. 3 seed after a 27-19 win over New Orleans. It's a rematch of the Buccaneers' 37-20 victory over Washington in Week 1 in rookie quarterback Daniels' first game.