Dan Quinn told the press Wednesday he loves to talk about the impact Marcus Mariota brings to the team.
What a whirlwind last week was for Mariota. He was ill early, as some other players had been the previous week, and then he returned home as a son was born.
Quinn insisted Mariota did his homework, so he was on the sidelines Sunday night communicating with Jayden Daniels about the Falcons’ blitzes in the first half.
The Commanders then scored 17 second-half points on sustained drives and six more, going 70 yards on the opening possession of overtime, defeating the Falcons 30-24.
“When somebody can give you that kind of support and love, it’s really remarkable,” expressed Quinn. “And so great teammates do make great teams.”
“To see him go through that whole week and then in the game give that type of support, like that, was the clearest illustration of brotherhood I saw in the entire game.”
Quinn expressed he loved what he saw from Mariota, giving both wisdom and encouragement to Daniels in the overtime.
the rookie and vet connection 🤝 pic.twitter.com/hFvDn65zHq
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Quinn then asked, “What wouldn’t we all give to have that kind of support from people? Like it’s remarkable. And so, I know that Jayden feels that, we all do.”
Pointing to Mariota’s life experience, Quinn also feels that is important for Daniels. “There’s certain things that he can say from the lens of the helmet that I can’t or the coach can’t, but he can because he lived it and has seen it.”
“I’m really pumped that he’s on our team because he adds a lot to what we do. It may not show up on the stat sheet in that game, but let me tell you, he had a big hand in us winning that game.”
Mariota has also played in playoff games, so his experience could also help Daniels in those situations.