Dan Quinn knows he has a good offensive coordinator; after all, Quinn hired him.
In the offseason, news flashed that the Raiders would interview Kliff Kingsbury for their offensive coordinator job. However, a couple of days later, the news was that Kingsbury was coming to Washington to work for Dan Quinn.
After scoring 20 and 21 points in the first two weeks, the Commanders’ offense, led by Kingsbury and Jayden Daniels, has scored 38 and 42 points in the last two games. Quinn was asked Monday what makes Kingsbury’s offense effective.
“Right. I think there’s probably more than one thing, like most offenses, that are tough to defend,” Quinn said Monday. “I’d say there’s an element of tempo, right, where it can be in and out at the line working some things, some with cadence, some without.”
We love that Jayden Daniels is playing superbly. Yet, we know that running the ball as effectively as the Commanders really helps the quarterback.
“Then there’s the element, like I was hitting earlier, about the runs and the play passes that go with it. And if you can make those two things look similar, John, with gap schemes and pulls and then be able to throw to the tight end and slants off of run action, that can make it challenging because your eyes are obviously at the line of scrimmage ready to defend the run and then rip a play pass to go.”
Listening to Quinn’s answers, you realize he is saying that the answer is never as simple as one element and only one. No, for a team to have success in the NFL, there are going to be a multitude of reasons.
“So, it’s run and play pass, that’s a combination. And then the combination of Jayden outside the pocket with his legs creating some first downs. That’s what makes it tough, but the tempo’s a big part of it too.”
No doubt, the Commanders rushing for 216 yards Sunday made life miserable for the Cardinal’s defensive personnel.