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Grant & Danny debate how hot the seat of Commanders' head coach Dan Quinn is. Year three is off to a rocky start.
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00:00Welcome back, Grant and Danny on the fan.
00:01We talked a lot at the start of the show about Jaden Daniels' ongoing recovery,
00:06made predictions on when we'll see him again.
00:08The other of the main characters in this television show that is
00:12Commander's Football of Late, head coach Dan Quinn.
00:15And I want to have a conversation about Quinn standing within the organization.
00:22They're 0-2.
00:24I told you earlier, Danny, I don't think we focus enough on who teams play
00:29when they get off to really good or really bad starts.
00:31If this was Week 8 and Week 9, and they played back-to-back,
00:37the Eagles and the Cowboys, and they'd lost both of those games,
00:42we'd just view it as a tough part of the schedule.
00:45It's two games.
00:46But the fact that you start the season, it's like starting 0-14 at the plate in baseball.
00:51It's just heavier.
00:53Yeah, that average on the board looks terrible.
00:54So to your point, go back to 2024.
00:57Three straight losses, Steelers, Eagles, Cowboys.
01:00That's a footnote.
01:01That's a – remember that weird downturn?
01:03Yeah, Jaden's rib wasn't right.
01:05Clearly it wasn't right then.
01:06Oh, well.
01:07And it's – but if you start 0-3, oh, my God, this guy is falling.
01:11And psychologically speaking, it stands to reason,
01:13when they hit that rough patch, you've made some deposits.
01:16There was some good already.
01:17So your record is not a disaster.
01:19Whereas at 0-3, it's all you've seen.
01:21You assume maybe this thing is going badly or this team is not good.
01:26But I don't want to completely bury them just based on the 0-2 start
01:29or 0-3 if they lose to Seattle because I think schedule is a big part of it.
01:34I would also point out, though, this is the other side of that token.
01:38It's not like you played the Chiefs and the Seahawks.
01:42You played two teams in your division.
01:44You can't go into these division games, even on the road, which they were,
01:50and feel like it's a David versus Goliath situation.
01:53Like, ah, you're playing the Eagles.
01:55That's a loss.
01:56Now you've got to go to Dallas.
01:57You always lose there.
01:58That's a tough place to play, which is kind of how those games felt.
02:01That's a problem when you're fighting in your own weight class.
02:05When you're a 157-pound boxer and you're fighting against other 157s
02:10and they're the number one and the number two in the weight class,
02:12if you're number 11, you probably know you're going to lose.
02:15That's in and of itself a problem, though.
02:17You're not supposed to be number 11 in the weight class.
02:19You see what I'm saying?
02:19Yes, I do.
02:20And so you're playing the teams that you have to be able to beat
02:23if you're going to win a division.
02:25We are three years into this thing.
02:27But take the two games, separate them for a second.
02:29I also look at this defense since the moment Dan Quinn got here
02:35as a defensive-minded head coach.
02:38As much as I hate hiring defensive, he's a leader of men.
02:42He's a culture builder.
02:44We're told he's going to put together an excellent staff.
02:46He's already blown out the coordinators and brought in two new ones.
02:50Danny, they've given up 27 points per game.
02:5427 points per game.
02:56We're on our third defensive play caller since Dan Quinn took over.
03:00You've got Joe Witt, then Dan Quinn himself, and now Durante Jones.
03:05And I actually love the Jones hire, and I think he's going to be good.
03:08But how much better did things look this weekend?
03:11We're having these press conference clips today about communication
03:14and the secondary.
03:16Dak had five incompletions and four touchdowns.
03:19We had that covered already.
03:20Yeah, we did that.
03:21We've done that around these parts.
03:22And I think you got to the point that I wanted to make here,
03:24is if you lost a nail-biter to the Cowboys without Jaden Daniels,
03:27you lost 23-20 on a last-second field goal,
03:30and the defense provided some resistance, not a punt.
03:35Okay, Dallas did whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted,
03:37however they wanted to do it.
03:38If you had held them, and it was a close game that you lost,
03:42you don't have Jaden Daniels, you'd feel a lot differently.
03:45Or one should, in my view.
03:46It still sucks to lose two division games, to your point.
03:48They count one and a half.
03:49It's an NFC game.
03:50It's a division game, et cetera.
03:52But it's a reasonable loss.
03:54If you lose, like you did to Philadelphia in week one,
03:56it's heartbreaking.
03:57And in the moment, it's a rug pull.
04:00It's a gut punch.
04:01It sucks.
04:01They were non-competitive in that game.
04:03Think about how the show sounded after they lost to the Eagles.
04:07Yeah.
04:07I'll speak just for you and I.
04:09I'm sure everyone else had their own takes.
04:11I was optimistic.
04:11I think both of us came away from that game.
04:14There was no doom or gloom the next day.
04:17There was no, oh, my God, they're going 2-15.
04:19I mean, we actually made the case that you should feel better after how they played Philly.
04:25Now, I happen to believe the Eagles are not that good.
04:28That gave me a little pause.
04:30But still, you're right.
04:32It is critical how they lose, especially three years into this thing.
04:36That's right.
04:36So we saw all the blowout losses last year.
04:38If it's two points in Philly and you're right there for a two-point conversion to tie it at the
04:42end,
04:43that is more admirable, that's more respectable than giving up 37
04:48when the Cowboys called off the dogs halfway through the second half.
04:51That's right.
04:52And I think that's the essential point to me.
04:54So if you're Miami at 0-2, yeah, oh, yeah.
04:57Go ahead and rent the headstone.
04:59The season's pummeled and done.
05:01If you are like Houston, lost a couple, and I know one was a one-score game
05:05when they lost by two scores to Cincinnati, but they're not dead yet,
05:08and there's enough to hang your hat on.
05:09You're coming off a 5-12, 4-12, when everything was in the balance, season
05:15where you had a stretch where you lost nine games in a row.
05:17Four of those were by 100 points.
05:19One other team this century has managed that feat.
05:22And there's a lot of complacency.
05:23There's a lot of, yeah, this will be fine.
05:25We'll turn.
05:25Wait till you see what we got in store.
05:27Look at all the changes.
05:28And everybody that all they do is tune into these games goes, I saw that.
05:33I've seen that.
05:33I saw that last year.
05:34I saw that same offense, that same defense that can't stop anybody.
05:38Yeah, you've got different schematic things, and certain guys are lined up
05:41in certain ways, and some different personnel.
05:43We've done that.
05:44We've done that 37-point, no-resistance, quarterback-is-comfortable,
05:48sideline laughter.
05:49I did this, he did that, and I did this.
05:52Touchdown, everyone smacking each other with towels and drinking Gatorade
05:55because they're up by double digits.
05:56Again, I've done that my whole life.
05:58For decades, I've seen that performance down there in Dallas.
06:02So, yeah, it should be a little bit more urgent and dire, I think,
06:07than your regular, yeah, we're on two, but we're right there.
06:10You're giving up 30 points per game again through two games.
06:14That's where we're at.
06:16The team is super injured again.
06:18Now, I think that's unfair to pin on Dan Quinn, but when you have the type
06:25of preseason that they have, I've got to wonder, how much of a factor is that?
06:30Are your guys not as prepared for contact?
06:33When you have the type of training camp that they had, I'm going to say over the
06:37second half of their camp because I give them a gigantic win at ramping up the
06:42intensity and ramping up the ask of players and how hard they practiced in the
06:48first half of camp.
06:49But I have a line in the sand, a delineation, which was basically the joint
06:53practice against the Dolphins.
06:54So that's preseason week one.
06:56Yep.
06:57Up and through the joint practice against the Dolphins the day before their first
07:01preseason game, I thought their training camp looked and felt a ton different
07:06than last year.
07:07And after that, it did not.
07:09And I think that was probably not all their own planning or doing.
07:13I think they had a lot of guys hurt, and so there was only so much they could do
07:16that there might be something to that, but I don't think they do enough in the
07:21preseason.
07:21Dan Quinn talked about changing everything.
07:23Like, if we ate this, we're going to eat that.
07:25If we watched TV at this time, we're going to watch TV at that time.
07:30If we went to bed, this time I'm going to go to bed.
07:32He wanted to change everything to make sure they were healthier.
07:34I thought too many things were similar, especially with how they treated August,
07:37how they treated the preseason.
07:39And we're doing the thing again where their injury report is longer than their
07:42health report.
07:43Instead of telling me who's limited and who's hurt and who's not practicing,
07:47just tell me who is.
07:48And it's week three, and this is already happening.
07:51So you add that.
07:52You add the slow start again.
07:54You add, again, this one I will keep saying, and I will not apologize for.
07:58I hate going defensive.
08:01But when you do, it better be Mike McDonald.
08:03Your defense is a badass.
08:05It better be D'Amico Ryans.
08:07Your defense is a badass.
08:09It better be Mike Tomlin.
08:11Your defense will win you games, no matter who your quarterback is.
08:14You got a chance to be a wild card team.
08:16They don't have that.
08:18They're giving up almost 30 points per game since he showed up.
08:21So this is not really about two games.
08:23This is a much larger conversation.
08:25It's, I guess, about 25 on.
08:28But as we sit here right now, how warm should the seat be?
08:35It's early.
08:36But I've written down here, I've got cold, room temperature, warm, hot, burn you, scalding.
08:46Like, what should the seat be two games in?
08:49It's very, very early.
08:50I'm not calling for jobs.
08:51I'm not saying anyone should be blown out.
08:53But I also think to just pretend, like, there shouldn't be some mounting pressure for this thing to look better
08:58in year three would be ludicrous.
09:01Yeah, you should be able to see our stake on it, as far as I'm concerned.
09:04And I don't think they're there.
09:05And they should be.
09:06So you're going hotter than room temp.
09:08Oh, yeah.
09:08You're going, you're saying not even warm.
09:10You're saying hot.
09:11It should be boiling hot.
09:12And again, I don't think it is.
09:13But it should be.
09:14Again, here is my case.
09:15And I'll make it very quickly.
09:18Last year's, no, we're good.
09:20Keep sending them up approach to losing nine straight games.
09:23Uncompetitively for four of them.
09:25And Joe Witt changed seats.
09:26That, to me, said, all right, I can't trust you.
09:28You now need to dig your way out of this.
09:31Now, there's something to be said for a guy whose hand never shakes.
09:33And that's what he's doing in the building.
09:34That's why guys like him.
09:36I don't care if you're liked, quite frankly.
09:38I'm far less concerned how popular you are among some of the players.
09:42I care about the fact that the performances are noncompetitive and there are no changes.
09:46Nobody got benched.
09:47Again, Joe Witt changed seats.
09:49And then finally, at the end, when it became untenable, they were like, all right, fine.
09:52And we'll just fire him.
09:53And I'll do a couple play calls here or there.
09:55And it got slightly better.
09:56Then the firing of both coordinators.
09:58As soon as you do that, to me, the hourglass is turned over.
10:00A dramatic improvement must happen immediately to warrant that.
10:05You handpicked these two guys.
10:07You did.
10:08And those two handpicked guys were not the right guys?
10:10Guys, that's not on me.
10:12I didn't pick them.
10:13You did.
10:13You sought them out.
10:14And you said, these are the dudes.
10:16Watch this.
10:17And we did watch it.
10:18Now you turn that hourglass over.
10:20The results seem to be so much better so quickly.
10:23And they're not.
10:24They're 2-12 in their last 14 games.
10:27That's right.
10:28They are 2-12.
10:29We're closing in on the duration of a full season.
10:332-12.
10:35And they're two wins.
10:36It's really important to look at what those were.
10:39One was against a rudderless ship of a Giants team that won two games at that point through
10:4614 weeks.
10:48The other was an Eagles team that was trying not to win or didn't care because they had
10:52sat all of their starters.
10:54So it was basically preseason where it's ones against twos.
10:58And you beat Philadelphia to end the season.
11:01The Seahawks, who were coming in here on Sunday, just as an example, hired Mike McDonald the
11:06same time that the Commanders hired Dan Quinn, coming off of a Super Bowl now.
11:10They are 13-1 in their last 14 games.
11:14Now, I'm not asking you to be 13-1 over 14, but I am asking you to have buttoned it
11:19up on
11:20defense by now.
11:21If you can't do that, what do you do?
11:25I don't know the answer to that at this point.
11:26I know you can't get clock management, right?
11:28I know they still burn timeouts unnecessarily.
11:32It's not as if the operation's clean.
11:34It's not as if they've got this unbelievable plan that'll get off to fast starts.
11:37Any metric you use where you feel like, are we out-geniusing them?
11:42Like, our script, is it better than their script?
11:44No.
11:45And this is hard to prove anecdotally, but you can watch the games and go, yeah, we're
11:49down 7-0.
11:50Let's go to break.
11:51You know how I've started it.
11:52I mentioned this yesterday, how I've started to think about coaching.
11:55Because I think mostly a lot of the coaches are similar in the league.
11:59Like, you're satisfactory.
12:00I think Dan Quinn is above the threshold of guys like him.
12:04He'll motivate him.
12:05You know, he's good at the podium.
12:07Really good dude.
12:07All those things.
12:08I care about, are you special or are you not special?
12:11And my philosophy has always been, I remember for years yelling about Dan Snyder moving
12:16on from coaches too quickly.
12:18I actually think if I ran a team now, I would be more likely to make moves fast than just
12:26give guys time.
12:27I'm looking for special.
12:29I think you can see that semi-quickly.
12:31Doesn't even mean wins and losses, by the way.
12:33But Ben Johnson on offense.
12:36Mike McDonald on defense.
12:37Brian Flores on defense.
12:40Kyle Shanahan on offense.
12:42Sean McVay.
12:42Like, there's nothing special here.
12:45Right?
12:45That would worry me a little bit.
12:48But when you're talking about 2-12-14, here are the teams you're with.
12:52The Tennessee Titans just fired their coach.
12:55Yeah.
12:56The Arizona Cardinals just fired their coach.
12:59You know, the Bucs, they're going to be firing their coach.
13:042-12.
13:07I am empathetic to the injury situation.
13:09I think it's a reality.
13:11But it also can't be the excuse used.
13:14A second straight year.
13:15I don't think you get two of those.
13:16I would ask people that.
13:18Can you use the excuse if they have all these injuries and Jaden's out for an extended period
13:22of time for a second straight year?
13:24Hey, it's not fair to Quinn.
13:25Which might be true, by the way.
13:26It's not fair.
13:27He doesn't get his quarterback.
13:28He doesn't get nine of his starters in games against good teams.
13:31But that was last year's.
13:33We're just going to do that in perpetuity?
13:35If Jaden Daniels has to be healthy for a full season, for Dan Quinn to be fired, he may
13:40never be fired.
13:41I mean, every time he gets hurt, he just gets to keep his job.
13:43Yeah, exactly.
13:43How long does he get to do it?
13:45800-636-1067.
13:47So, nobody is saying it's time to make a move.
13:51But what I am asking is how warm should the seat be?
13:54You're saying hot or scalding?
13:57Scalding.
13:57Okay, so you're there.
13:59I am ready.
13:59I am saying the seat should be between warm and hot.
14:05Like, you're about to have to stand up.
14:06It's getting hot.
14:07Like, I'm going, and when I hear, I plan on firing both my coordinators.
14:11I go, okay, I need to hear why you get to keep your job.
14:15Like, that's where I was then.
14:16I was too.
14:17Right?
14:17Yeah, I was too.
14:18I think I'm there.
14:19No doubt.
14:20I just, it's so early in the year.
14:22You're a couple wins away from being in a good place.
14:24But I'm past cold, clearly.
14:26Cold is Mike McDonald.
14:27Your seat is cold, right?
14:29Room temperature is, things are going pretty good.
14:33You're fine.
14:34It's fine.
14:34You know, you're a room temperature coach right now.
14:38You're one and one.
14:38It's not great.
14:40Let's say Nick Sirianni is like room temperature.
14:43Okay?
14:44Warm is Zach Taylor.
14:47The Bengals are 2-0, but you better figure this thing out this year, buddy.
14:52Then you've got hot and you've got scolding.
14:55I mean, he's the, I think, got the highest odds to be the first coach can this year.
14:59He does.
15:01800-636-1067.
15:03Grant and Danny on the fence.