What could Washington Commanders’ head coach Dan Quinn say after Thursday night’s loss? He made his first game decision that backfired, and this happened on national TV on the exclusive Thursday Night Football on Prime.
In case you forgot, the play of the game that Quinn was second-guessed on was a 4th down play with 2-yards to go for the first down in a game the Commanders trailed 12-10 in the 4th quarter. With the ball on the 27-yard line, a field goal attempt for Zane Gonzalez would have been a 44-yard try. You make it, the Commanders would have led 13-12 lead with about eight minutes remaining in a chance to grab first place in the NFC East.
Quinn decided to go for it, and quarterback Jayden Daniels was stuffed as he tried to run it around the right side. Daniels bobbled the ball on the snap, and the play was doomed. There was no trickeration with misdirection or an RPO to freeze defenders. The Eagles took over on downs and quickly scored a touchdown to make it a 9-point lead.
Here’s the thing, if the play works, Quinn continues his streak of being the genius. But you also have to do risk assessments that if the Eagles stop the Commanders it further shifts the momentum, and if they turn-around and score a TD with the extra point — it becomes a 2-score game — and that is what happened. The juice wasn’t worth the squeeze in that situation.
But also remember that if Gonzalez kicks the field goal, there is no guarantee of a Commanders win. If Daniels gets the first down in that spot, the Commanders burn more clock and hopefully score a touchdown and make the score 17-12. Then the Eagles have to score a touchdown to win. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. It didn’t work.
“Bold call, but I would also say we were prepared for that moment. Didn’t love the execution, but we’ve been an excellent fourth down team. So going into it, we knew we would have to take our shots against a tough division team on the road.”
— Quinn said after the game
Take a deep breath and keep perspective that the Commanders are still 7-4 on the season with the 5th best record in the NFC. The Commanders play their next game in 10-days and will finally get some extra rest. Hopefully Daniels, and the walking wounded, will get healthier. The schedule gets easier to finish out November and to begin December. For week 12, the Commanders are playing on Sunday November 24 · 1:00 PM EST against the 3-6 Dallas Cowboys at Northwest Stadium, and week 13 on Sunday December 1 · 1:00 PM EST against the 2-7 Tennessee Titans at Northwest Stadium. After that, the Commanders finally have their official bye week.
While we sure were hoping for a Victory Friday celebration today, the Commanders have the strength of schedule on their side in their quest to make the playoffs. If the season ended today, the Commanders would be one of the seven playoff teams from the NFC. Quinn’s best laid plans did not work out yesterday, but get back in the W column on November 24 and the Commanders should be in a good shape. The Eagles and Commanders will play each other again in December, and that game will be at the Commanders home stadium — and with any luck, could be for 1st Place in the NFC East.
