Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn addressed the media before practice on Jan. 14. Here is a full transcript of the press conference.
Opening Statement:
"Alright, man. Good to see you guys. From a team standpoint, we'll function like today's Wednesday and going right through kind of our process of leading up into the game. So, that's what we're dialed in and focused on this week. And much like last game, I told you we'll play our best complimentary game all year, offensively, defensively, and special teams. And Detroit in this game calls for that again. And so, we're working hard on all those things from our field position stuff, our winning time moments, just all of it. So, ready to get rocking. We have a couple guys that will be on normal rest day. You'll see the injury report today, it'll be JC [WR Jamison Crowder], [TE] Zach [Ertz], Cle [DE Clelin Ferrell] and [LB] Dante [Fowler Jr.]. So, all that said, get rocking with you guys."
On Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell and on taking anything he's done in Detroit to implement in Washington:
"Well, one, I think he's done a fantastic job. And so, just, you see the play style and the identity and those are the things as a coach, that you're really want to make sure that it's rock solid and crystal clear. And so, yeah, we've certainly followed him and also having [Assistant General Manager] Lance [Newmark] here who came from Detroit, give insights onto how things turned and why. And so, it was all really beneficial."
On Ertz and LB Bobby Wagner's impact on the team and on if it's possibly been more than expected:
"It is possible, because I never wanted the pressure on them to be anything more than ball player first. Neither of them were brought here to coach. I knew they had very high standards, really high. And I thought that alone is a standard of what excellence and winning can look like. And I thought that alone is important if you're trying to do something together in that fashion, look to those examples first."
On teams being more aggressive on fourth down now compared to when he first started coaching in the NFL:
"Yeah, it's definitely different and it has to do a lot with your team too, in terms of how you play. But yeah, we had known that, from an efficiency standpoint, they're excellent at it, we're excellent at it. So, obviously, big parts of the game to go through it. So, it has changed a lot, you're right to know that maybe a model at one time has changed and that's kind of one of the cool parts about football, man. Where things evolve and change and going. And so, you want to be bold without being reckless and finding the right spaces. What the opponent does, what you guys do. So, it's not one size fits all, but where you're at in the game, what do you need? So, it's definitely moved from middle of it to near the top of the game decisions."
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On how he feels towards the end of close games:*
"No, it's awesome. It's like the best part of coaching, because it's right with everything on the line. And it's my most favorite part of it all. Being 10 toes down with guys that you really love and care about, it's the best. And so, doing that kind of hard shit with really good people, that's honestly as fun as it gets. And so, they don't always work out in your favor, but just being in that arena, in that type of competitive band, you cannot feel more alive than in that spot when the anticipation and the competitiveness is that high. It's really cool."
On when he knew Assistant Quarterbacks Coach David Blough was ready to go into coaching:
"I didn't know that he was, so some of the guys that had connections to him previously, Lance [Newmark] had, [Offensive Coordinator] Kliff [Kingsbury] had. And so, when I got a chance to visit with him, he came on a recruiting trip here. And I can remember walking around the field with him and saying, 'Hey, I really want to be the one that can help start this for you. And we're not going to miss one step of your trajectory as a coach and what that would look like.' How he'd have his impact here, how that would be felt. And he's going to be a fantastic coach, but I just wanted to clearly lay out to him what it would look like from a coaching side. And I wanted to be a real part of that."
On what stands out from Detroit's defense:
"Lots of man-to-man, aggressive, and I think the third downs with [Detroit Lions Defensive Coordinator] Aaron [Glenn] and their crew has been really rock solid and strong. But those would be some things that stand out to me of things that they're excellent at."
On how much Senior Vice President of Football Initiatives Dave Gardi has helped prepare the team for winning time moments:
"A lot. And so, Dave presents to the team every Friday and then we get together on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, he and I. And then we get together with a group of coaches on Saturdays and we go from around the league, trends, officiating. And so, to have somebody that's that up to speed from officiating, to rules, to things that happen in every game, you can imagine how hard that would be to look, 'Okay, let me see this game and then this game.' So, he gets to go through every game, give me the cliff notes version of all the situations that come up. And so, it's a lot, but it's a really cool process to go through together. He's been, yeah, really influential here. And to have somebody with his poise and demeanor in the moments is important too."
On how much they analyze officiating crews and on following officiating trends:
"A little bit of both. What do I mean by that? If a deep wing has a certain amount of holding and they were first in the league, that would be something that we would talk about. Is the referee, what's the communication like? Because I don't know if they would influence as much of the crew, but how do they manage the game? What does that go through? And so, we do look at the individual referee, not referees, the individual officials, and is there anything that's a marker higher or lower for their position? And then we start from there."
On findings on certain officials and on how much that plays into the messaging to the team:
"I think it's probably just the second part that you said, we want to be clean anyway and here's an extra emphasis. And so, you don't make it in every single category, but if somebody had something that was significant in one area, then that's the one that we would, 'Hey, this is an emphasis.' Referees may be, 'Hey, they don't take any shit, any unsportsmanlike, they're not going to mess around.' You also say that too. So, you just dig in and find out what are some of the trends that people call and make sure that's emphasized in our meetings too. We just want to make sure we're finding every margin that we can and just absolutely going for it. And so, whether that's on a officiating, offense, defense, special teams, our winning time, the complimentary stuff, the best part of our team is the whole team and all the moments that we spend together doing things that's who we are."
On if his approach to the playoffs has changed throughout his coaching career:
"Yeah, for sure. And we were talking about Dave's [Gardi] role, being a significant part of that. And going back to Ben's point, in 10 years a lot has changed in terms of how we go about things to do that. But yeah, I certainly learned a lot going through that process, learning it and saying, 'Okay, this would be some things that I would do different.' Those changes, they began in the offseason. The amount of times I've spent in certain spots, but as far as playoffs go, every game's a championship game and that's what makes it so much fun because you can't place one versus the other, man. For us all there is, is Saturday night, it's just that. And so, it's not down the line or down the road. And so, being in that fight Saturday night, we've earned it, but that's the only fight we're in. So, we're going after it as hard as we can."
On what he's building in Washington and on his thoughts when hearing G Sam Cosmi talk highly of the culture in Washington:
"Yeah, that's awesome to hear because it is about the connection and if the connection is stronger, the commitment is also stronger. And so, when he and his teammates are that connected to one another, man, I'm not going to let you down. I'm absolutely going to take the extra step, go the extra mile. All of the things that you do that, and if you're kind of on the fringe and, neighborhood to brotherhood. There's a big difference and neighborhood, 'How you doing? Okay, good. Nice see you,' and you keep on walking. Brotherhood, you don't do that, and so the fact that he recognizes that connection that's a big deal."
*On how he implements the clutch gene in this team: *"Yeah, those are in that poise, I think is probably what you're referring to. And poise is, you have to go through the difficult ones, you go to go through the good ones, but you do have to put yourself and assert yourself into those spots. We do practice it, you're exactly right about that. But you also have to be in real fights and really close games and get your heart broken a little bit on some ones that don't quite go all right. But knowing that you're down for that again and again, you do get stronger, you do get more poise. But you do have to live through them and that's why when they talk about experience or playoff experience, those things matter because you've been through enough fights."
On how Detroit has backfilled their injuries throughout the season:
"It's really a remarkable job I thought by Aaron [Glenn] and their defensive staff. It's not an easy thing to do, but one thing that I've respected is so many times when you see a team have injuries, they change to play differently or, 'Let's play more of this,' which they never did. This is how we get down. And I thought, what a great message by Aaron to say, this is who we play and they weren't going to let one set of circumstances take them out of that. And so, I thought there's some boldness and confidence that goes with that. And so, I think it's a great lesson."
On playing a team coming off of extra rest and on preparing for Detroit to bring out looks Washington hasn't seen before:
"No different from our end and just in terms of the what if's, you don't go there. They've got a huge playbook, so for us to draw some stuff up in the dirt and say, 'This might happen.' Like, no way [laughs], no can do. And so, there's plenty of stuff that they have that we've got to really be rock solid and ready. Run game's excellent, the play-pass that goes off of that is excellent. So, the matchups that we have to dig into. So, more than anything our consistency does come down to us. It's that communication to go and communication is big. All the shifts and motions they have, the crowd noise, it's an absolutely fantastic place, it'll be lit. And so, those are the things that we have to put our time and attention on, the things that we can control."
On when he realized QB Jayden Daniels' level of poise and on how its progressed throughout the season:
"Best first, I would say, closing time moment for him it was in our second game against the Giants. And we were really loving to kick field goals back then. I mean, we were on it [laughs]. And I believe we were tied, you'd have to check and see if that's true, but going into that space just an absolute locked in person, not any differential, 'Hey, whatever you think's best.' There wasn't any nervous throwing the ball around. It was just, and so that's probably the opening page of the journey of that here. And there's been a lot of chapters in between that have earned that. But that would've been the first chapter, that in that moment of his first drive to go win a game, man, he had played that thing hundreds of times. So, it wasn't a hope or 'This should be fun.' It was, this is going to go down. So, that was probably chapter one."
