The raucous video has made the rounds of Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn giving a game ball to offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury in the locker room following the team’s beatdown of the Cardinals Sunday.
…KLIFF!!!!!!!@budlight | #RaiseHail pic.twitter.com/74IA9wRGCW
— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) September 29, 2024
Even though Kingsbury took the high road with what he said to the media about his Cardinals experience in the days leading up to the game, it had to be gratifying for him to see the way his offense, led by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, sliced and diced the Cardinals defense to the tune of 449 yards and 42 points.
It also was a bitter pill to swallow for an Arizona fan base that never thought Kingsbury should have been hired as head coach to begin with and quietly might have been silently rooting for him to fail so they could be proved right.
The expert outside offensive coordinators and wannabe play-callers reveled in labeling what he coaches a “college offense” and “simplistic,” yet Quinn thought enough of Kingsbury to hire him when he got the Commanders job this past offseason. But what does he know, right?
After the thumping, when asked what the win meant for Kingsbury, Quinn said, “I’ve been in that space before and know there’s some emotion that goes with that of playing somewhere where you put so much into it and it doesn’t go the way that you want. So yeah, he definitely got one (game ball) today and there’ll be some others as we get back home, but I wasn’t going to leave Arizona without presenting one to him.
“He did an excellent job all week, honestly, just like staying in it, the game plan, the focus, the effort and no one would’ve ever known otherwise. The internal side and those emotions that are there; it was really cool to see that after the game.”
Daniels said, “It meant a lot (to him), coming back here after being a head coach here for a couple of years. Now coming back facing his former team; I know it meant a lot to him.”
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