- 9 minutes ago
The Washington Commanders will not fire Dan Quinn despite the inexcusable ending to the Giants game. Is it the right call?
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00:00I hadn't been to Atlantis yet.
00:01Have you been there?
00:02So it's like, it's a much smaller version of 930 Club.
00:08And I think they're trying to pay homage to the original 930 Club,
00:11but that was small and downstairs and all that.
00:14Really cool venue.
00:16But as happens to certainly you and me, as you walk around,
00:22there are people that recognize you, and it was very cool,
00:25like very kind people at EB said hello and all these things.
00:30But the question you can't shake right now be,
00:32what the hell happened on Sunday?
00:34That's, I got that question a lot.
00:36And my comment, my answer has been to people,
00:42first of all, the communication was not clear.
00:47Secondly, they should have been spiking the ball with 15 or 20 seconds on the clock.
00:51You shouldn't have run that last play.
00:53That's just what I believe.
00:55That's what I've known when I hear coaches discussing it.
01:00That's what I've known when I was the quarterback and they were telling me about it.
01:03And I also know that to nauseam, the coach is constantly telling me,
01:09what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up?
01:11You know what I'm saying?
01:12Like now we have, the quarterbacks have speakers in their ears.
01:18Back then I didn't have a speaker in my ear.
01:20But I saw David Culley on the sideline letting me know the signal of no more timeouts.
01:28You know, and I, everyone, I've heard everyone try to make the blame.
01:33They want to just blame certain people, this and that and the other.
01:37Some people I don't think should comment on sports if they have never been in this situation,
01:42on this type of deal.
01:43When I watch the last 55 seconds of that game,
01:50whatever is being told to the quarterback is not anything with a lot of them intensity
02:00or quickness or like we don't have, he is too calm and he's listening for a play.
02:09And if he's that calm and you just switched up personnel grouping,
02:14something was not said in the whole thing.
02:16But we knew it was 13 personnel.
02:20It was a miscommunication.
02:22And that's what you leave it at.
02:24Because let's be real, we can go ask old coaches, coordinate, whatever.
02:30Do you want to snap that ball at that time?
02:33Or do you want to spike it and kick the damn ball?
02:36And so for me, it ends at the fact that they decided they wanted to snap a ball and run
02:41a play.
02:43You should have been at that point, boom, spike, let's kick.
02:47And it's over with because the notion of getting more yards or whatever is unnecessary at that point
02:57because it's in the game.
03:00You kick it, you make it, game over, you miss it.
03:03I don't think they're going to do much with about nine or eight seconds left on the clock.
03:09So Dan Quinn spoke to the media yesterday and there was some stuff that was revealing, right?
03:16Dan Quinn made clear that he's heard from Josh Harris, the team's principal owner.
03:22He said we talk all the time.
03:24And nobody's happy about that game.
03:27And it shouldn't be.
03:29Like, I left the stadium Sunday night not thinking Dan Quinn would be fired, but thinking that was fireable.
03:36And by Monday morning, he's not fired.
03:39Like, he's not getting fired.
03:40And I know a lot of people want him to be fired.
03:42And I'm not saying you're wrong, but I don't think it's happening right now.
03:47It's October 13th.
03:49I understand people that have that mindset, but you know what?
03:52That is not that easy all the time in these situations.
03:56You know, you don't just, every time someone thinks somebody's supposed to be, it happens.
04:01There are a lot of times where people have fireable fences in our business and it doesn't happen
04:05because it may not make business sense at that moment.
04:08You know?
04:09And some people just don't work like that.
04:12So, that's why I don't get into the firing, firing, firing.
04:15I don't care.
04:17Because, you know what?
04:18I think the people that got billions of dollars, they know when they need to do it, when they need
04:22to do something.
04:24If they feel right now they're going to wait and let it play out, go with it.
04:30I'm not surprised they're not firing him on October 13th.
04:33I think the long-term ramifications of that game will have a significant impact, barring getting red hot down the
04:40stretch.
04:40You got 12 games here.
04:42If you can go 9-3, you get to 10 wins.
04:45And I think you're at a point where you got to get to double digits to save you.
04:49I'm not sure I expect that.
04:51Frankly, I don't expect that.
04:52But you never know.
04:53That's why they play the games.
04:55I thought 10-7 was the best they could possibly be this year.
04:58It'd be 10-6-1, Brian.
05:00Because remember I said 9-8.
05:028-9, 9-8 was what I was thinking.
05:04Yep.
05:05If they get to 8-9, 9-8, I think that's what a lot of people thought at the beginning
05:09of the season.
05:10If it's 10-6-1, hell, that's a hell of a win.
05:14You're probably in the playoffs.
05:15You know?
05:15So I'm just saying, like, at this point, I'm waiting for Thursday.
05:23I know, like, Barry was saying, well, we can't ask the question.
05:27Well, do you want to ask the question from four days ago?
05:30Or do you want to ask the question?
05:32You could go back to four days ago.
05:33But this is one thing I want people to—
05:35You're saying when Jaden talks?
05:36Yeah.
05:36Yeah.
05:36You probably—you won't get nothing.
05:38And if you already know that, don't expect anything.
05:41Because I would say this.
05:43As a player, and now in the media, I could tell you probably when people answer questions,
05:48what they're not going to give you, what they're going to give you.
05:50Yeah.
05:51You're good.
05:51As a player, if you came to me on a Thursday, and I'm thinking about Monday, I'm giving you nothing.
05:59And if you keep asking me, you know what?
06:01I don't have to talk to you.
06:03I can answer all your questions without answering any one of your questions.
06:07So I think people have to understand, yes, you want an answer, but you're never going to get the full
06:13answer.
06:14You better take what you're getting and piece it together and write your story with how you've always been doing.
06:17Because if you keep asking, you're going to get to somebody's point where they'll be like I was.
06:22Where I didn't talk to you, and I, as a leader, I had other people not talking to you, too.
06:27Because I understand the whole ramifications of this media thing.
06:32You got to get stories.
06:33But if ain't nobody giving you no real story, you're going to be having problems.
06:37So my thing is, don't try to put me in a pickle, because I'll put you in one.
06:41And I think players have to understand that.
06:43Too many times players are seen as, you are a piece of whatever I want to do.
06:48You have to answer my questions.
06:50You know what?
06:51The player controls a lot of that stuff.
06:53He can shut your whole stuff down.
06:54And they just need to understand their power at points.
06:57That's why in the media now, I understand.
07:00I look at some people, and I get a little pissed off at it, because people want you to just
07:05play the role to help them.
07:07We're working this thing together.
07:09I learned that as a player, and as a media person, I understand it, too.
07:13Because I've talked to guys, and they give me information.
07:15And you know what they say?
07:17Off record.
07:17And guess what I do?
07:18I keep it off record.
07:19You know I hold stuff.
07:20I hold it to my vest all the way, because it's not for me to get something to leak it
07:25to somebody else so it could be out there.
07:27That's not how you stay around a long time.
07:30I wish you would leak me more information.
07:32You don't.
07:33I can't.
07:35Because my whole thing is, when you have, damn, he got punched right there.
07:39In the face.
07:39I read the story.
07:41I didn't see it.
07:42You got rocked, dog.
07:44You got rocked.
07:46Listen.
07:47For me, the people going for a pound of flesh with Jaden seemed to kind of be agenda-driven.
07:53The kid had a fantastic game.
07:55Could he have thrown the ball away with 10 seconds?
07:57We did a breakdown.
07:59Kirtwin did a great job last night on NBC4, where we showed where the receivers were, then we showed the
08:04time ticking down.
08:05There were a number of things that could have happened there, right?
08:07And Jaden could have thrown the ball away.
08:09Yeah.
08:09But if you leave that game thinking Daniels is solely to blame, I think you're insane.
08:15Yeah, totally.
08:16I just, Jay, where I'm at with it is, yes, he could have thrown the ball away.
08:22But I look at all the stuff going up to it, and I watch all the dudes, Chris Paul say
08:30it was discussed.
08:32I didn't see him acting like they didn't have a timeout until two seconds later, just like everybody else did.
08:38So something happened in that damn, something was not discussed, or something wasn't told all the truth of how it
08:45was supposed to be.
08:46The lack of urgency, a minute and two seconds, 62 seconds in an NFL game, is when Traylon Burks goes
08:54out of bounds at the 39-yard line.
08:57I'm sorry, he goes out of bounds at the 26-yard line.
09:0013-yard gain from the 39.
09:02You have a minute and two seconds.
09:03Yeah.
09:04And no timeouts.
09:06The entire game plan needs to be crystal clear at that point from the coaches that are on the sideline.
09:12And that's Dan Quinn and David Blau.
09:14Dan Quinn spoke to us yesterday.
09:16I made a point of asking, Coach, how did you want that to go?
09:20Like, if it went the way you wanted it to, what would the plan be?
09:24And he said, certainly we would have snapped that ball much sooner.
09:27We had a play call that required a substitution.
09:31And the substitution did not happen with the urgency required.
09:34And when you watch it unfold, you see it is moving in slow motion.
09:39And then I asked, I said, who called the play?
09:42He said, well, David Blau called the play with the substitution required, but ultimately it's on me.
09:47Credit to Quinn for trying to own all of the blame here.
09:50But, dude, we talked about this going back to February when they made the move.
09:54You have an inexperienced play caller who's never been in these situations.
09:58And I think calling a play that had a substitution requirement was a big factor.
10:04And then the lack of urgency from everyone on that sideline was apparent.
10:08At that moment right there, we have a substitution requirement.
10:14It's running down.
10:16Spike the ball.
10:17It was third down, wasn't it?
10:19It was second.
10:19Second.
10:20Spike the ball.
10:21Because at that point, you can get the substitution in.
10:25You can have a discussion because now it's third down.
10:29Right.
10:29You can have a discussion about everything you need to,
10:32and you can throw it over the head at that moment.
10:35And you kick the damn ball on fourth down.
10:38But you did none of that.
10:40You tried to get the substitution.
10:42Something was left out.
10:44I can hear everybody saying everything.
10:46And you know what?
10:46Coach Quinn is doing what Coach Quinn is supposed to do.
10:50As the man that's running it, that's what a strong man do.
10:54You know what the weak-ass head coach would have done?
10:57Oh, well.
10:57Start blaming guys.
10:58They didn't get the job.
11:00What to do is on me.
11:01And that's how it should be.
11:03None of this is the player's blame.
11:06Yes, everybody should know the moment at the situation.
11:09But in that moment going down there, all you worried about is what they just told you to do.
11:14And if it wasn't over, because I tell you, I guarantee you,
11:19that I'm talking about in high school, yesterday I get a text from my coach.
11:26Coach talking about.
11:27So I tell you, what you talking about, man?
11:29Oh, man, I was probably saying it to my nephew.
11:33I'm like, you in Louisiana.
11:35But that coach, if I had, in that situation,
11:39you know what I would have heard from him more than anything?
11:42We don't have a timeout getting rid of the ball.
11:45I probably would have forgot the damn play, because I know he would have been promoted.
11:56And I think everyone that wanted to skip all of that,
11:59most people talk about the chain of command in a football game,
12:02don't have a damn clue.
12:04Yes, the quarterback can check plays.
12:06But you know when he check plays?
12:08When the coach is giving him a play, that's checkable.
12:11Sometimes when they give you a play, there is no audible off of it.
12:14You've got to run the damn play, that's called,
12:16even if they're in the defense that you don't want to run it against.
12:19So don't tell me that someone could just check off,
12:22because that's not true all the time.
12:25Unless you're Peyton Manning.
12:27Complicated situation for the commanders now sitting at 1-3-1.
12:30You're listening to B. Mitchell Finley.
12:32Yes.
12:32Go ahead.
12:32versiy Therapy.
12:32Go ahead.