Tag: Commanders Head Coach Dan Quinn

What everyone said after Commanders’ road win over Giants

What did everyone say after Washington’s win? Here’s a collection of postgame quotes from players, coaches and analysts.

It wasn’t nearly as dominant as two weeks ago (Panthers) or as exciting as last week (Bears), but the Commanders took care of business, defeating the Giants 27-22 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Here is a collection of postgame quotes from players, analysts, coaches and media personalities.

Jayden Daniels

“We did a tremendous job getting downhill and running the ball…Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns, those guys are hell of players. So to not get sacked by those guys, kudos to my O-line.”

“Knowing where to go with the ball, knowing when to get the ball out helps a lot, but a tremendous job by the O-Line of using their fundamentals and giving me enough time to get the ball off.”

“You have to live in the moment. This could be all good, but hey, we have a game next week. I’m just happy for the fan base that they can be proud of the product we are putting out on the field.”

Nick Allegretti

Nick Allegretti had to pop one of Brandon Coleman’s fingers back in place mid-game. “I almost went down because I’m queasy,” Allegretti said. “He said just pull it so I just looked away… we got it back in. Never had to do it to a teammate. Glad it worked; didn’t enjoy that.”  via John Keim

Dan Quinn (on Terry McLaurin and Jayden Daniels)

“It’s really about winning. That is a big deal. That’s what Terry McLaurin thinks about, winning. He absolutely delivers…I feel his energy. I feel his presence in the game, whatever it takes to go…Terry is a pro’s pro, we are fortunate. He has been so much fun to coach.”

“For a quarterback to really have the regard for the football and the decision-making process — he’s playing the position well, not just throwing it well.  “…That, to me, is one of the things I’ve been most impressed by.”

Dan Quinn on Chris Rodriguez

“I want to start off by recognizing Chris Rodriguez. He didn’t know he was going to until 90 minutes prior. When you get into that spot and demonstrate you are ready, it goes a long way to your teammates. There’s a lot of unseen work to be ready. You don’t get all the reps. Sometimes that comes in the after practice time, the before practice time to be ready. I thought a strong finish at the end of the game by him.”

Terry McLaurin

“Shoot, His ability — I’m just going to say it straight up, it was like he walked that ball to me. … The receiver position is one of the most dependent positions on the football field. There are so many things that you have to depend on to go right for an opportunity, but when you play with a quarterback that you can continue to build with, how competitive he is, how smart he is and his ability to make the throws when we need him most, that’s fun for a guy like me.”

Andrew Wylie on Jayden Daniels

“He can do whatever he wants back there…It’s something special to watch.”

Grant Paulsen

“The Commanders went on the road and beat the Giants. Swept them for the season. 7-2 for the first time since 1996. 5-1 in the NFC and 2-0 in division. Most wins in the NFC as of right now. WASH ran for 150 yards; pounded the Giants into submission in the second half.”
Denton Day
“This is one you hang your hat on  and say, ‘We went on the road to a division rival’s home, you beat them twice and oh by the way, you have now played the Giants twice and you have punted two times.”
Craig Hoffman
“Look around the league. Look what happened to Baltimore last week. Wakcy things happen in division games, especially on the road and Washington avoided that. They handled business against a team they should have beaten. In the fourth quarter, New York never had the ball with a chance to take the lead.”
Olamide Zaccheaus on Dan Quinn
“He does a lot of things well. He does a good job of bringing the right people into the building. I feel like we have a great group of selfless individuals, who just want to play hard and win. He gives us the space to be our selves…He’s a straight shooter. What he says, he means.”
Logan Paulsen
“It was impressive today how all three backs played today, in their roles. And when you give the backs credit you have to give the offensive line credit. I thought those guys really threw it down today. They were really getting after it in pulls and protection. They did a great job, and you don’t get this kind of production from your backs unless the offensive line is playing physical.”

What did Commanders coach Dan Quinn say about Terry McLaurin?

Dan Quinn a big fan of Terry McLaurin, the player and the person.

Dan Quinn likes what he is seeing from Terry McLaurin

The 29-year-old wide receiver leads the Washington Commanders with 40 receptions after a slow start to this 2024 season.

“Yeah, early on, it jumped out to me as professionalism,” said Quinn. “He was so squared away and so on his own details. What’s been really cool for me to see is this relationship with him and the entire team build and take place and leading.”

Last week against the Panthers, McLaurin took it upon himself to provide the team some extra leadership, with Jordan Daniels going out of the game with a rib injury during the first offensive possession.

“Like I was referring to yesterday of him up and down the different position groups, to the offensive line, to the quarterbacks last week discussing what he was seeing with [QB] Marcus [Mariota.] And so, I’d say that is probably one of the coolest things to see, is that development of the leader because the professional, it’s there and he’s got very high standards about how he does things. But now to see the extra gear taking place of bringing out in others, that’s the big deal to me.”

Quinn himself continues to learn about leadership, and leadership of a team in particular. Yesterday, he spoke of learning that leadership is not only about his leadership but also about how he influences other players to take on more leadership.

“Like I said, you may have heard me say early on, I thought leadership was about me and then I found out really, it’s about how I can bring out the leadership in others. And so, man, have I seen that in Terry, seen that leadership develop in its own way and it has to be authentic to that person. So, he has been a lot a bit fired up and I’ve liked what I’ve seen from the leading aspect as well.”

Commanders sign a defensive tackle to practice squad

The Commanders make a move after losing Jonathan Allen for the season.

Adam Peters didn’t take long. On Tuesday, the Commanders general manager signed a defensive tackle.

In Sunday’s loss to the Ravens, eight-year veteran Jonathan Allen tore a pectoral muscle, which requires surgery and will miss the rest of 2024. Consequently, the Commanders desperately need their present defensive tackles to step up big time.

According to Mike Garafolo, Peters has added one more defensive tackle to the team, signing Carl Davis to the practice squad.

Davis was with the Cowboys in 2023, so he is known by both Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt Jr. Davis is 32, so Peters is not looking to Davis for a long-term solution but is adding him for this season if he is needed.

At 6-foot-5, 335 pounds, he is more of a run-stopping tackle like Phidarian Mathis (6-4, 312). In the 2015 NFL draft, the Ravens selected Davis 90th overall (round 3) out of Iowa.

Understand, this is only a depth signing for this season. Peters does not have some vision of Davis at this stage of his life/career coming in and being a Dave Butz or Darryl Grant.

Davis has appeared in 75 games in his eight NFL seasons, starting 19. He has played for the Ravens (2015-17), Browns (2018), Colts (2019), Jaguars (2019), Patriots (2020-22), and Cowboys (2023).

Ben Standig reported that the Commanders also worked out defensive tackles Deadrin Senat and Jonathan Marshall, electing to sign Davis. Senat (age 30) was the Falcons’ 2018 90th overall selection. He has played in 37 games for the Falcons and Buccaneers, starting two. Marshall (age 27) was drafted 207th by the Jets in 2021 and has appeared in four games.

Will Commanders change defensive strategy to stop Ravens?

Will Commanders’ change defensive strategy vs. Ravens?

The Ravens repeatedly pound the ball, so will the Commanders make alignment and personnel changes on Sunday?

In the first five weeks, the Commanders have started with an alignment of utilizing five defensive backs, often referred to as “Nickel.” If you are not aware, back in the ’60s, legendary former Washington coach George Allen, a defensive coordinator, invented the “Nickel.” He figured if he removed a linebacker, he could insert a quicker defensive back when the offense was more likely to pass.

Fast-forward to 2024, and the Commanders have started five defensive backs each game. However, on Sunday, they face a Ravens team that leads the NFL in rushing yards, uses a terrific running quarterback (Lamar Jackson), and has a huge full back (Patrick Ricard) who weighs 300 pounds. Last but certainly not least is the NFL’s leading rusher through five games, Derrick Henry.

Will Dan Quinn and Joe Whitt actually come out in their nickel (five DBs) attempting to stop that Ravens offense? I certainly wouldn’t recommend it. If the Commanders do change, what might they change?

Would Washington remove a corner in favor of a linebacker? Mykal Walker, at 230 pounds, might be a better fit than a fifth defensive back. Another candidate that was thought a possibility was rookie linebacker Jordan Magee. At 226 pounds and very mobile, he might have been a candidate to help shadow the speeding quarterback Jackson. However, on Saturday afternoon, the Commanders announced Magee was out for Sunday, still not activated.

Another option might have been to go with a third safety instead of a third corner. However, rookie, Tyler Owens (215 pounds) is injured and already declared out. Might they go with safety Darrick Forrest (200 pounds) as the fifth defensive back?

These would have been both bigger and more mobile options. With Magee and Owens out of the game, perhaps another option might be playing five defensive lineman instead of four.. The Commanders could remove a corner and go with either a much bigger defensive tackle (Johnny Newton) or perhaps a third defensive end, such as Dante Fowler. This would likely mean more snaps in the rotations for tackles Phidarian Mathis and Newton. It could also mean more for defensive ends such as Andre Jones, Jamin Davis, or Javontae Jean-Baptiste.

Whatever Quinn and Whitt have determined this week, it will most likely mean two corners rather than three. It will also include an extra linebacker or defensive lineman on the field attempting to stop the league’s best running offense.

 

Dan Quinn wants no tickets to the roller coaster for Commanders

What Dan Quinn said about the Commanders’ early success and moving forward.

Dan Quinn likes metaphors.

He pulled out another one Monday when speaking with the media when asked how he wants the Commanders to handle this success they are experiencing.

Quinn has made it clear previously that he has no desire to have his team go on a roller coaster ride. He wants the Commanders to enjoy this, but he wants them to think through it and avoid the sharp turns upward and downward that can occur.

“Well, I think one, you talk about it (success),” Quinn said Monday. “And you make sure, you want them to feel that emotion in the locker room after a win. They’ve worked really hard to put themself into that space to do that. So, seeing that and feeling that, that’s a good thing. What you don’t want to do is tickets to the rollercoaster, man.”

In attempting to avoid emotional swings and swings in performance, Quinn is a big believer in being process-oriented. “We have a real process that we go through every single week to get us ready to play. And so that begins today and all the way through tomorrow and into Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. We have a theme for every day. So, by staying consistent in that approach, I think that helps avoid the highs and lows.”

The same holds true in other sports as well. You need to avoid the trap of becoming results-driven rather than process-driven. You want your team to think and thus work toward the process of getting better.

Quinn still believes that though his team is 3-1, they can still improve in many areas. Thus, he wants that to be the focus.

“That’s the challenge to do the things that are really hard to do and you got to do them a lot. And so that’s the practice, that’s the grind that goes into it. And so that’s what we’ll chase man, absolute obsession with us getting better.”

The Commanders host the Cleveland Browns in Week 5.

What everyone said after the Commanders’ Week 2 win vs. Giants

A collection of postgame quotes after the Commanders’ win over the Giants.

On Sunday, the Washington Commanders defeated the New York Giants 21-18 on Austin Seibert’s game-winning field goal as time expired.

Here are some selected postgame quotes regarding the Commanders’ win.

“I think you got to feel very, very strong about today’s performance by the Washington Commanders offensively, with the caveat that they kicked seven field goals, and some of those need to be touchdowns.”  Logan Paulsen

“There is not a lot of pass rush happening right now. Whether it is the guys in the middle who are getting paid a lot of money or these edge guys. Is that as much of a problem as it feels like it is, and then what do they do about it?”  Craig Hoffman

“Washington worked so much on the red zone throughout camp. But, man, it has not yet paid off, to put it mildly. Too many mistakes/penalties each trip.”  John Keim

Austin Seibert, in a postgame interview, said the Commanders are “the best work environment you can imagine.”  Wow, did we ever hear that during the Dan Snyder era (1999-2023)?

“We did a great job competing to the end…we communicated much better this week. Everybody was feeding off of each other.”  Mike Sainristil

“That’s what you live for…”  Jayden Daniels on the final game-winning drive.

Benjamin St-Juste, on the forced fumble, said he “lost his contain and knew he had to hustle from behind.” This was a huge turnover.

“We’re still undecided,” and will keep looking to compete.” said head coach Dan Quinn on the secondary.

“Everyone came out and played hard. You know guys competed their a** off.” Brandon Coleman on his first NFL win.

“We got a win; that is all that matters. Doesn’t matter how you do it. Austin Seibert, Way to go, brother. We needed to get a drive. They got that drive, and he (Seibert) knocked it down the middle.”  Brian Mitchell

“Who would have thought that we would be saying we actually won a game without scoring a touchdown. It’s great to see everybody come together and go out there. We got a good win.”  Santana Moss