Dan Quinn insisted that the Commanders’ decision to hold an unscheduled practice Monday was not a knee-jerk reaction to Washington’s 17-13 preseason loss to the Lions on Saturday, but the coach made clear that he was disappointed in his team’s performance.
“I went through a lot of plays, and I didn’t feel like we played complementary football,” Quinn said in Ashburn after a full practice that had originally been scheduled as a walkthrough. “That felt in disarray.”
Saturday’s game felt less like a bad matchup and more like a performance that lacked fundamentals and discipline. There were miscommunications on the offensive line, mishaps on the defensive line, and more than twice as many penalty yards (84) as rushing yards (35).
At the postgame press conference, Quinn was short with answers and visibly upset. The team’s walk from the field back to the locker room after the game was solemn and quiet.
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At practice on Monday, there were subtle nods to Quinn’s discontent. Coaches yelled for players to run from station to station. Receivers practiced bursting off the line of scrimmage. During two-minute drills, all 11 players on offense would sprint up the field before resetting.
With less than three weeks remaining until the season opener, Washington has plenty of reasons to feel antsy. Pass and run protection, whether from the offensive line, tight ends or running backs, was nearly nonexistent against the Lions. Quinn chalked that up to missed calls, not getting off the ball on time and not holding blocks away from the ball.
The first-team offense ran three total plays and one ended in a sack. The run game mustered 35 yards on 17 carries after totaling 174 yards a week earlier against the Dolphins.
“There were plenty of times I thought, all right, nine [players] are right, these two are wrong, 10 are right, this one’s wrong. So it just didn’t feel as connected that I hoped I’d see in the run game,” Quinn said.
But it was in the fundamentals where Washington seemed to struggle the most.
In the first quarter, Lions quarterback Josh Dobbs faked a handoff to running back Jacob Saylors. Rookie linebacker Joshua Josephs went after Saylors, but Dobbs held onto the ball for a 50-yard touchdown run. Quinn said Josephs was supposed to wait out the quarterback’s decision to keep or hand off.
There were two additional plays on third downs where the defender at the end of the line — safety Tyler Owens on one play, linebacker Javontae Jean-Baptiste on another — didn’t contain his area.
“A lot of what I saw, that wasn’t us — and that bothered me. And so today is our time to get to the truth,” Quinn said.
Special teams committed four penalties on kickoffs and punts, and on Washington’s final kick return of the day, returner Robert Henry Jr. fumbled the ball back to Detroit.
Most players seemed to understand Quinn’s tone and supported the change to Monday’s practice schedule.
“It’s good,” linebacker Frankie Luvu said. “Just still in camp mode. It’s just work.”
“I don’t think we really played to the standard of what we want to do,” rookie center Matt Gulbin said. “So I thought it was good to kind of get moving and have helmets on and have some live action.”
The fiercest response came from safety Jeremy Reaves.
“It’s on the schedule, it’s time to practice,” Reaves said. “If you got a problem with getting better, this is the wrong job for you. None of us are a complete project. This is the time to do it because Week 1 is too late. So the things that you need to fix, you fix now.”
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