Sunday’s Commanders’ 37-20 loss was disappointing and worse than the score. Here are some postgame quotes:
“You need to struggle to see the identity develop. You don’t want it. But you need it. That happened tonight.” Dan Quinn
“I’m a hard grader. We didn’t win.” Jayden Daniels
“If the Dotson trade wasn’t enough of a reminder, this Commanders team was real bad last year and has serious work to do before they’re competitive again. Management knows this. There are definite questions/problems from this game, but talent-wise, they’re years behind.” JP Finlay of NBC Washington.
“The guys here believe in him because of the work he has put in. They love this guy, what he stands for as a competitor, as a teammate…” Dan Quinn on Jayden Daniels
Cade York missed two field goals and errantly kicked off once out of bounds. Quinn was asked postgame if this meant there would be kicker tryouts. “We’ll have a good talk about that and see where we’re at.” Dan Quinn
“You can’t expect him to go out there and do everything right. He is a rookie. He is still learning how to play the NFL game. But I think today he passed. He gets another chance to go next week and begin to take another step forward.” Brian Mitchell on Jayden Daniels
“I think third down, if I had to look back on it right now, that was the biggest and certainly the story of the game. So, a lot to work on. Tampa was the better team today.” Dan Quinn
“You need to struggle to see the identity develop. You don’t want it. But you do need it. That part is hard, and that struggle happened tonight. We’ll take these lessons and we will work on them.” Dan Quinn
“I missed Terry (McLaurin). That is one I wish I could have back. But, it is a long season. We’re going to hit a couple of those. But Tampa did a good job with their scheme.” Jayden Daniels
“You have to crawl before you walk. This team had to show us something. They showed it today, and they go from there, watch themselves on film, and come out with a better solution next time.” Santana Moss
No, they are not where we want them to be. But you know what? Nothing ever starts out where you want it to be. You have to work towards it, and I believe they will put in the work.” Brian Mitchell
“I’m sure a lot of people are down on us after this game…But I don’t think anyone is panicking. The only thing this means is we’re not going undefeated. The [1972] Miami Dolphins are safe from us…. We have to keep getting better.” TE Zach Ertz