NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
Dan Quinn’s odds of winning the coach of the year award got a little longer tonight. Or a lot.
Two major coaching flaws stand out from Thursday night. Both from the fourth quarter.
First, facing fourth and two from the Eagles’ 26 with 8:01 to play and down 12-10, Quinn opted to eschew a potential go-ahead field goal from 44 yards and went for it. It failed.
And so instead of potentially giving the Eagles the ball, down one point with less than eight minutes to play, the Commanders set the stage for a touchdown drive that, with the extra point, made it a two-score game.
“Bold call,” Quinn told reporters after the game, unprompted by a question. “But I would also say we were prepared for that moment. Don’t love the execution. But we’ve been an excellent fourth-down team. So going into it we knew we’d have to take our shots against a tough division team on the road. We thought that was an appropriate one. Certainly don’t like the execution and the result.”
Still, the game changes if the Eagles are trailing when they get the ball back. Maybe Quinn didn’t have faith that his defense would make a stop. He should have at least considered the fact that kicker Jake Elliott had missed two field goals and an extra point.
Despite that, it was still a two-score game even after an interception followed by a 39-yard touchdown run from Saquon Barkley. At 26-10, the game was not over.
And yet there was no urgency from the Commanders. They started the next drive with 4:38 to play. Way too many seconds ticked away as they approached the end zone. The closer they got, the worse it seemed.
Asked by reporters whether the Commanders were hoping to conserve more time on that drive, Quinn said, “Yeah, we were trying to. . . . It wasn’t about going slow or that part. So, yeah, we wanted to get the score in quick. Try to get it in before the two-minute [warning], for sure.”
If that was trying, I’d hate to see how it would have looked if they weren’t.
It took the Commanders 2:38 to go from their own…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/questionable-coaching-dan-quinn-fourth-050838437.html
Author : ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-11-15 05:08:38
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
