The Washington Commanders’ trip to London didn’t go the way they hoped, and the loss came with even more injury concerns. Dan Quinn spoke afterward about Marcus Mariota, Jayden Daniels, the costly penalties and where Washington goes from here.
Opening statement
“I’ll get rolling with some updates on some injuries. Talk about Marcus. I was just gutted for him. I thought he really started off strong. Long run, playing well, and I thought he had an excellent week of practice leading up. The team thinks it’s an MCL injury, and when we get the scan tomorrow, we’ll have further knowledge of what we’re dealing with and length and all those. Charles Omenihu hurt his groin again. Same thing. We’ll find out more tomorrow as we’re going. Jaylin Lane had a serious ankle injury. The hope is that he’s flying back tonight, but I’ll get a better update with you as well when we get back home into that. Then past that, I thought AK came in after 12 plays. It’s not the ideal space to begin it, but I thought he also showed a lot of confidence, some fearlessness with that, and made some of the throws to highlight why he is where he is. As far as a full team, I didn’t think we did enough around him into that spot. I loved the way the defense started, creating some takeaways, but to only get field goals out of those, I thought those were ones that we needed to nail. Our team is really tough, and I told them tonight, man, we are the ones that are built for this type of adversity. We’re back to a division game, and we’re going to do all we can to get ourselves ready. We’ve got a 70-man roster, and we’ll lean into that as we find out more about some of the guys on injuries and also some returning from injuries.”
How much does it change things with Marcus going out, and how much did the Colts change things after that?
“Yeah, it’s a significant change because you don’t do quite the same. I thought he was off to an excellent start. But it’s a factor for sure, when there’s less things that you have to deal with offensively. So, it was a factor.”
And then Terry, what happened? How did he get hurt on Friday, and how does that impact everything?
“Yeah, he was injured Friday, and we wanted to give him every chance to see if he’d have a shot, and it was best to hold him out. He desperately wanted to go. I should have a good update of where we’re at as we get into some work with him into Wednesday, but it was just the best play to hold him out, John. It was during Friday, and we just said, okay, let’s see what the next day looks like and then into the next day, and it just made the most sense to hold him.”
What went into the decision to start Matt?
“I think we want to just keep competing where we’re at at the O-line spot, finding the five with Sam being out. We liked some of the things that we saw with Lucas, and we’ve liked some of the things we’ve seen in practice with Matt. We thought, okay, let’s put him into the space as well. Nick got a little bit banged up at the end of last week, and he was going to be limited at the start. So we thought this was the best chance for this week of where we’d go. That’s all it was.”
Not necessarily a longer-term move?
“No, I don’t see it that way. And we’re hopeful Sam’s turning quickly, too. So if that’s the case, we see Matt center first, but inside when you’re not starting, you’re playing two spots. And we thought that gave us the best space heading into the game.”
What did you make of the penalties, and how do you guys continue to clean those up?
“Yeah, and you probably saw me upset with that. There’s as much of that just the entire day, 10 to one to go. Whether it’s points off the board or once the hit on — we certainly got plenty of work to do. I’d like to look at them and see. But I thought between the penalties and not converting on some touchdowns on the takeaways, those were two big parts of the game.”
Despite all that, Antonio gets the 87-yard play. It looks like it’s going to be the tying score and then there’s the penalty. How disheartening was that?
“It was hard. At the time, I didn’t see what or who for the illegal shift. But I think it’s indicative of the two of them. Antonio’s got it, and so to be outside and rip the ball to him, that was a big play. I like the way he’s developing, Ben, at receiver and making some plays. But definitely it was deflating for sure, and those are difficult to overcome because points were difficult to come by. So when you get a big, long one, that’s what we needed to get done, and so it definitely was tough.”
Do you anticipate looking at a veteran quarterback, or is there optimism Jayden could possibly come back?
“That’s the hope for sure for us, for Jayden coming back. He’ll have a full week of practice beginning Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. That’s the goal, Ben, that he could get into that space. And once we see where Marcus is, that part too, we’ll have a better understanding. But that’s the goal for Jayden, to throw a full-on week. He was able to do some limited this week, and this week would be the plan for him to do all the reps.”
Can you take us through the fourth-down decision?
“Sure. In that spot, different parts of the field, JP, it’s okay, we’d be a go from two or a go from one. So we had one that we thought had good design for that time where we shifted people in to go. In that instance, man, we’ve got to get the space to create it. It was less than one. When you go for it, there’s risk involved. We thought this one was the best plan to go after it at that distance. So with different ones, you punt or go, but that one we thought, hey man, this gave us the best spot to go for it.”
And Reynolds was the back on that play. Was that by design or did that just happen?
“It was by happenstance. We did an on-the-ball shift, so it was more by happenstance. We didn’t full sub. It was a specific package that we had worked on.”
How does the risk on that play factor in when it’s not Jayden or Marcus at quarterback, but it’s AK, and the field position might be better?
“Yeah, I get what you’re saying, Ben. For sure, I thought we were off to a good start defensively, but I also have a lot of confidence that inside a yard like that we’ll get the down. So that part, I don’t want to overthink it just based on the result.”
Did the referees explain why they rescinded the pass interference?
“They said that another official had a view that it wasn’t. I’m looking forward to watching it, but that was their reasoning: that a deep judge had a different view that said, ‘Hey, it wasn’t a foul.’ In that spot, it’s not something to challenge. You kind of have to just take it and move it on.”
With Jayden potentially getting back out there, that would be a huge lift for the offense as a whole. But around him, how do you think the offense is supporting him as he comes back?”
“I thought Jayden, at the start of the Dallas game, was exceptional because he’s on the move. So the second play with him is critical, where he can get outside the pocket, and he ripped a bunch of throws in that space. For us, having the run game is going to be a big deal. Hopefully Sam’s on his way back, too. So when you’re putting those two together, to me that’s the sweet spot, where you can balance both of them together. We don’t want to make it where he’s a drop-back player, and they do all your magic on every time. So the run, the run action, certainly owning the ball is a big piece of it. Jayden’s exceptional at that in terms of the location, where to go. That’s always been his case. So that’ll be a big piece to it, too.”
If you have a call you don’t agree with, what is the process for documenting that and talking to officials about it? Do you do it right after the game?
“No. We collect them, and then we send them in Tuesday by a certain time, and then we get responses back. So it’s the same process for everyone. It’s probably good you’re not on Monday, so it’s the next day. You’re limited to a certain number. More often than not, I want the education back to say, is there something to learn from this, that this is how it’s going to be called? That’s always what I’m searching for. If we’re going to bang, let’s bang. If we’re going to call it tight, let’s call it tight. I just want to know exactly how it’s going to go. That’s the thing that I get out of it most. There’s no value to say this was a penalty or it wasn’t a penalty because the play’s already happened, and so I have no control over that. But if there is something that I want corrected — he hit him in the back, it was an illegal block above the waist, and here’s why — I like having that. But it gives me no feeling one way or another about, well, it should have been called or didn’t want it called. To me, it’s more the education part of it.”
How would you assess the offensive line today?
“I’d like to give you a better assessment of that tomorrow as I’m going through it. I don’t have enough to go back and say honestly, John. As we’re going through it, anytime we’re into a different package with AK that we didn’t with Marcus, we’re not in and out of as many calls. So it’s not fair for me to say yet. I do know that I have a lot of confidence in them and what we can do, but I’d rather wait and give you an assessment of that tomorrow.”
Despite today’s result, is there anything you want to point out regarding the plays or even the way you guys came out?
“Yes, I’m glad you brought that up. I thought the week of practice leading up, the team had the right mindset, the right energy, and preparation that gives you your best chance. I liked how, defensively especially, the team started. This was going to have to be a slugfest of a game and finding ways in the margins to win it. So I liked our attitude. I like how tough we are and resilient, and we’ll need to lean into that in the weeks ahead.”
The defense started out red hot, as you mentioned, with the fumble recovery, three successive points and then the interception. How pleased are you with the defense’s growth over the first four weeks of the season?
“Yes, I am pleased. In the early stages, we had some miscommunications that resulted in big plays, and to see that process taking place to improve upon, I think that points to the players to say, ‘This is where we can level up and go.’ I know there’s good things in what we are capable of, and so that excited me to see that. In a game like this one, you have to just stay in it the whole time and get your stops. But I was pleased to see that kind of start and what we’re capable of. Getting the takeaways are big for us, and that’s something we really, really believe in.”
Where do you feel like this team is after four games? You’ve dealt with injuries, and tell me if I’m wrong, but you seem more disappointed today.
“I really believe in these guys, and I loved the week of practice leading up to it. I think a good fire has been lit, and so it will stay lit. But I have high expectations of what I think we can be despite the beginning that we’ve had in one quarter. It has not dampened my belief in them in any way. It is difficult to overcome some of the injuries, but I’m certain these are the right guys to battle and fight for it. And so I do think they are one of the more connected groups I’ve been around, and that will be really important to move us forward as we’re heading into a big division game.”
The Commanders now head home with plenty to sort through before getting back into NFC East play. Quinn made it clear the injuries won’t change what he believes about this group, but Washington has plenty to clean up moving forward.
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