If Dan Quinn wins in Washington like he won Monday’s news conference announcing his hire as the franchise’s 31st head coach, the Commanders could have another Joe Gibbs on their hands.
But as we’ve seen in recent years, the introductory press conference means very little when it’s time to produce on the field (may I remind you of Adam Gase’s meme-worthy presser in New York). So allow me to point out the one substantial thing that gives me hope that Quinn is, in fact, the right man for the Commanders’ head coaching job.
He had the humility to not only admit his failure in Atlanta, but also learn from it.
Dan Quinn: “You have to evolve. It does have to change. During that time of reflection … the other thing I did during that time was compare my defenses. … Coming into Dallas, the system we put together will be similar to the system we’ll have here.”
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) February 5, 2024
The Falcons won more games than they lost under Quinn and advanced to a Super Bowl in his second season at the helm. But unlike his predecessor (more on that momentarily), he didn’t assume he had everything figured out and just got a tough break in his first stop. Quinn actually invited outside help to dissect what went wrong and what he needs to do succeed in his next opportunity.
Fellow @Commanders fans,
The Dan Quinn hire doesn’t win the press conference & on the surface this seems like a different version of Ron Rivera. I get it.
Food for thought – Some of the best coaches in NFL history were better their 2nd or even 3rd time around:
Bill…
— Dan Hellie (@DanHellie) February 1, 2024
That’s what renders the comparisons to his predecessor, Ron Rivera, null and void. Sure, there are superficial similarities (both former defensive coordinators who rode an MVP quarterback in the NFC South to a Super Bowl loss) and Quinn’s 43-42 regular-season record in four-plus seasons isn’t far off Rivera’s 102-103-2 mark in 13 seasons as a head coach.
But in the playoffs, Quinn went 3-2 (with no hangover from his Super Bowl loss; Atlanta went 10-6 in 2017 and won a playoff game) while Rivera lost five of eight postseason games and had a massive Super Bowl hangover, going 6-10 in 2016.
More importantly, Quinn won’t run personnel in Washington, allowing him to focus on coaching, instead of being (as Rivera referred to himself) a “CEO coach” wearing multiple hats.
As Albert Breer outlined, this wasn’t a desperation move by the Commanders. The former owner ain’t here anymore. New managing partner Josh Harris and even-newer general manager Adam Peters ran a thorough search and came away with a good man who they know they can work with and think is the best overall candidate.
Text from AFC Coach after Rivera was fired: “Quinn is THE best head coach candidate out there. Will not find a more authentic leader of men with a battle plan for victory. Period…Leader, organized, vision, communicator, ball coach.”
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) February 1, 2024
It’s hard to argue with that assessment after Quinn’s news conference. He spoke of getting the most out of players by focusing on what guys can do, not what they can’t do. He avoided using the dreaded term “rebuilding” in favor of the more palatable “recalibrating,” which means something coming from Quinn, considering he led the Falcons — a team that won only 10 games in the two seasons before his arrival — to a Super Bowl in his second season.
Personally, I wanted to see Raheem Morris land the gig in Washington. He was part of Washington’s now-legendary-for-all-the-wrong-reasons 2013 coaching staff that produced five current head coaches (will that 3-13 team ever live that down?) and, in the right situation, could have a Belichick-ian renaissance in a second head coaching job after flaming out as a too-young/not-ready coach in Tampa Bay.
But Quinn possesses many of the traits that makes Morris desirable: A revered leader, a strong defensive mind and access to the Shanahan coaching tree that has produced some of the NFL’s top offenses.
VIDEO: “I don’t have to be the smartest person in the building.”
Raheem Morris very heavy on the collaborative process he wants to bring to the #Falcons. Heavy on the relationship with coordinators and others.
Morris mentions he’s now been hired by Rich McKay 3 times now. pic.twitter.com/05IcLusBlx
— Miles Garrett (@MilesGarrettTV) February 5, 2024
That brings me to my next point: Kliff Kingsbury, Washington’s new offensive coordinator, is the most important hire Quinn could make — but it comes with as much doubt as hope.
Yes, he has ties to local product Caleb Williams and could be a draw if the Gonzaga College High School grad decides to pull a John Elway and force Chicago to make a different choice with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Yes, Kingsbury crafted prolific NCAA offenses with Patrick Mahomes, Baker Mayfield and Johnny Manziel that earned them first-round draft selections.
But in the NFL, even with a hand-picked franchise quarterback in Kyler Murray, Arizona placed in the top 10 in yardage only twice in four years and never cracked the top 10 in scoring (the best the Cardinals did was 11th in 2021). His success at the pro level, even with Williams or another blue-chip QB prospect, is far from a given. Hell, I would make the case Eric Bieniemy — his lackluster 2023 notwithstanding — would have been a safer choice, given the overall track record.
The next biggest question for Quinn beyond the quarterback is whether he can turn around the NFL’s worst defense. Though first-year defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. will be the playcaller, Quinn’s fingerprints need to be on this unit.
In five years as a coordinator, Quinn had three top-five scoring defenses in five years and four top-10 defenses. But in his six-year stint as a head coach in Atlanta, the Falcons had only one top-10 defense. The Commanders desperately need Whitt to be an extension of Quinn the DC.
So while Quinn certainly comes with questions, the reality is the Commanders don’t need him to be the best coach in the NFL. They need him to be an unquestioned improvement within a collaborative structure that is far less dysfunctional than the last regime’s.
“There is nothing I enjoy more than doing hard sh*t with good people,” Quinn said at his introductory news conference Monday. “And I can’t wait to get it rockin’ here.”
This job will certainly be hard. Time will tell if these people are good enough to finish it.
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