Commanders Dan Quinn on 'Bothersome' Lack of Finishing

The Washington Commanders head coach wants his defensive line to finish plays.

Kourtney Carroll/Washington Commanders

The Washington Commanders took one on the chin to open up their new era of football; suffering a lopsided 37-20 loss on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and quarterback Baker Mayfield.

There was much to find out entering this past Sunday's game, but following it, Dan Quinn and his staff had an idea of where their attention was needed most. The offense wasn't bad, but it also wasn't great. You would like to see more passing and less rushing from rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and that of course coincides with getting wide receiver Terry McLaurin more involved.

The real concern showed itself in the form of the Commanders' defense. Dan Quinn's baby, as he is a defensive-minded head coach, failed to stop the Buccaneers' offense from scoring on all but two possessions in the game, with one of those being a kneel-down to end the game. Less than ideal for a team whose coach is a defensive guru along with the perceived improvements when it comes to personnel on that side of the ball.

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One glaring aspect where the defense failed to advantage Sunday evening was finishing plays in their opponent's backfield. Multiple times vs. the Bucs the Commanders were able to get pressure in the backfield and Baker Mayfield, but failed to convert sacks with Mayfield being able to escape the pocket and either run or make a pass while on the move.

When speaking with the media during practice this week following the loss, head coach Dan Quinn commented on the missed opportunities when getting pressure on Mayfield and how they plan to attack those issues in preparation for an even more mobile quarterback in Giants' Daniel Jones.

"When you don't handle it, yeah, it's definitely bothersome."

- Commanders' HC Dan Quinn

"Yeah, you know what, there's always teaching with that. And the thing that I said, if you miss tackles or you're missing sack opportunities, why? Why is that? And so sometimes it's as simple as, kind of taking the extra step where you're leaving your feet or lunging to go make it," Quinn commented.

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"Other times it may be a coordinated effort to say, 'Were we in the right space to try to contain him?' Because the mobile quarterbacks who can extend plays, there's basically like two plays, the first one, and then as the person gets outta the pocket, the second one. And we'll do a good job of that this week because that's definitely one of [New York Giants QB] Daniel Jones' strengths as well. But we do prepare for that and going against our offense and the quarterbacks here who are mobile, get outside. We're equipped for that, but when you don't handle it, yeah, it's definitely bothersome."

Head coach Dan Quinn wasn't the only Commanders' coach who was unhappy with how the defense was finishing against the Buccaneers. When speaking with the media on Thursday, defensive coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. acknowledged that his defense's tackling was not up to par with what he had in mind.

“No, it wasn't. It wasn't. We missed more tackles than I was anticipating. We were a step short. And that's one thing that we're talking about, take the extra step. There was a play on the sideline. We had two of our real good players miss a tackle, and it shouldn't happen," said Whitt Jr. about his defense's lack of tackling against the Buccaneers. "I mean, we got to take an extra step and when I say it shouldn't happen, that means we have to do a better job. And practice these days you don't go to the ground. So, we have to make sure we're getting our bodies in position, every practice running to the ball, getting the bodies in position to get people on the ground. So no, it wasn't to the standard.”

Baker Mayfield isn't the most mobile guy in the league, but he does put pressure on defenses to try and contain him in the pocket so that he can't create an explosive field out of it. The Commanders were only able to come away with a single sack last week, thanks to Clelin Ferrell, and will be looking to increase that number by a wide margin when they return home to face Daniel Jones and the Giants who are coming off a disastrous outing in their first game of the 2024 season.

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