The HC Dan Quinn Discussion Thread

[Riggo44]

The whole field was our biggest liability last year 🤣

Styles wore the green dot last year for OSU, and wore the Block 0, team captain with the highest votes on the team. Not Reese, not Downs. That's not nothing--he's been widely praised for his Football IQ, similar to Downs. I was pissed when Tennessee took Tate; but I am very happy with Styles. I think Reese is a much bigger project--and really redundant to the Giants defense. While he does have a lot to learn, I have no worries about him learning it.

 

[Bulldog]

The whole field was our biggest liability last year 🤣

Styles wore the green dot last year for OSU, and wore the Block 0, team captain with the highest votes on the team. Not Reese, not Downs. That's not nothing--he's been widely praised for his Football IQ, similar to Downs. I was pissed when Tennessee took Tate; but I am very happy with Styles. I think Reese is a much bigger project--and really redundant to the Giants defense. While he does have a lot to learn, I have no worries about him learning it.

I think Harbaugh is going to trade Thibodeaux tonight for a #2 pick.

So, Reese will take his role IMO. I know they said he is an OLB but in that alignment he makes more sense as a true EDGE.

 

[Conn]

I don't see too many people pining for Vrabel any more...

Oh my god can you imagine if this was all happening here and it was Russini AGAIN? McCloughan’s wife would be making the rounds on all the local podcasts

Maybe we aren’t living in the worst timeline after all

 

[Conn]

The whole field was our biggest liability last year 🤣

Styles wore the green dot last year for OSU, and wore the Block 0, team captain with the highest votes on the team. Not Reese, not Downs. That's not nothing--he's been widely praised for his Football IQ, similar to Downs. I was pissed when Tennessee took Tate; but I am very happy with Styles. I think Reese is a much bigger project--and really redundant to the Giants defense. While he does have a lot to learn, I have no worries about him learning it.

Feels so good to homer out with you. Agreed across the board!

 

[Bulldog]

When I heard about the Russini/Vrabel scandal the first thing I thought of was McGloughan's wife saying that Russini was her husband's side piece

 

[Riggo44]

Feels so good to homer out with you. Agreed across the board!

 

[DWinzit]

All rookies have a lot to learn, though.

No, he would more of an undertaking than others. He is still learning the nuances of the position then stepping up to the NFL. Then he will be working with a whole new to the team DC and staff. Then he is being asked to run the defense...that's a giant nut to crack alone

 

[Riggo44]

Then he is being asked to run the defense...that's a giant nut to crack alone

He ran the defense at OSU.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Agree, the soft camp, and Quinn implying last year September football is sort of like their camp, won't cut it this season.

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

Reviving this bad boy.

I’ve been tough on DQ. In my gut, I feel like even being capable of following 2024 with the disappointment level of 2025 is an indictment as a head coach.

But I’m listening to Evan Washburn right now now on the Junks who spent time with Dan for his new series on CBS Sports and actually love everything he’s had to say. I haven’t watched it yet, it’s called ‘Process’.

I get it’s fluff piece season but this wasn’t described in that way. They describe a man obsessed with self assessment and getting to the truth. He talks about how the OTA tape from 2024 to 2025 was so obvious, the difference being the lack of desperation…and that’s on him. Leaves no stone unturned in trying to get honest feedback about everything. Will check it out and see for myself. Anyone checked it out?

 

[Conn]

Not inspiring that it’s the exact same narrative that was around him after his Falcon’s tenure, about being obsessed with feedback and self-assessment, etc. It sounds good but if you have to keep falling back on that after failures it means you’re…still failing badly enough to need to do performance autopsies again and again. And if you’re trying new things, hey, you’re gonna have some failures, good to self-scout those things. But only being able to course-correct after the disaster is long over doesn’t seem extremely helpful in a league with 17-game regular seasons. Not seeing the gaps in the team’s armor and in the coaching staff he’s intimately involved with day-to-day until we’ve lost an entire season to foreseeable issues…again, it’s not inspiring. I’m glad he’s on a constant journey of self awareness and self-improvement. He can have someone ghostwrite a killer self-help grift book someday if he ever wins anything of note. I do wish he’d hurry it up a bit and show some ability to be proactive instead of reactive while he’s still coaching THIS team that I have to watch. Sometime I’d like to read about how he got his successes instead of constantly reading about how he’s learned so much from his failures.

 

[Ashburn Dave]

Reviving this bad boy.

I’ve been tough on DQ. In my gut, I feel like even being capable of following 2024 with the disappointment level of 2025 is an indictment as a head coach.

But I’m listening to Evan Washburn right now now on the Junks who spent time with Dan for his new series on CBS Sports and actually love everything he’s had to say. I haven’t watched it yet, it’s called ‘Process’.

I get it’s fluff piece season but this wasn’t described in that way. They describe a man obsessed with self assessment and getting to the truth. He talks about how the OTA tape from 2024 to 2025 was so obvious, the difference being the lack of desperation…and that’s on him. Leaves no stone unturned in trying to get honest feedback about everything. Will check it out and see for myself. Anyone checked it out?

"a man obsessed with self assessment"

Give me a Joe Gibbs who obsessed with beating his opponents any day over what DQ is obsessing about. DQ seems like a good guy that the players love but I'm not sure that will win you a SB.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

Not inspiring that it’s the exact same narrative that was around him after his Falcon’s tenure, about being obsessed with feedback and self-assessment, etc. It sounds good but if you have to keep falling back on that after failures it means you’re…still failing badly enough to need to do performance autopsies again and again. And if you’re trying new things, hey, you’re gonna have some failures, good to self-scout those things. But only being able to course-correct after the disaster is long over doesn’t seem extremely helpful in a league with 17-game regular seasons. Not seeing the gaps in the team’s armor and in the coaching staff he’s intimately involved with day-to-day until we’ve lost an entire season to foreseeable issues…again, it’s not inspiring. I’m glad he’s on a constant journey of self awareness and self-improvement. He can have someone ghostwrite a killer self-help grift book someday if he ever wins anything of note. I do wish he’d hurry it up a bit and show some ability to be proactive instead of reactive while he’s still coaching THIS team that I have to watch. Sometime I’d like to read about how he got his successes instead of constantly reading about how he’s learned so much from his failures.

At a season scope, if you make a disastrous decision that affects you, you can’t fix it till next season.

But if you jumped the gun and to the wrong conclusion, then you have wasted two seasons.

So in his mind one major failing was offseason prep. The main one? The only one? As you said, is he looking at game to game issues the right way? He altered dc/defensive strategy midseason so yes he makes changes.

Color me unimpressed overall. Yes I think this offseason strategy is better. I also think the main thing that saves or hurts them is the coordinator changes.

 

[CuredFromBatteredFanSyndrome]

Damn.

I didn’t even get an opportunity to watch it yet, and every negative feeling that I have for Dan - has already been posted in response to the smidge of optimism I felt in the moment.

You guys are sobering af.

I don’t even need to watch it now. 😂

 

[heisenberg]

I'm not sure that will win you a SB

To be fair he did come about as close as a human being can come without getting one but I see what you're saying.

I love dan quinn the man, the mentor, the chemistry builder and thats a huge part of being a good coach but I fear he lacks in the other areas too much to ever be a consistent winner.

Here's hoping one of his soul searches reveals whats missing because if he ever gets the rest of it figured out he could finish his career as one of the best.

 

[Chris]

Wow. Tough crowd.

 

[formerly4skins]

Quinn might be the guy to help drag us out of the gutter, but I don't know if he's the guy to get us over the championship hump.

Don't get me wrong, he was great for providing a steady hand during a rough transition period. He stabilized the culture, got us through the post-Snyder fallout, and helped build a baseline of structural competency. But he’s also a symptom of a deeper flaw in how this team is built.

A defensive HC pretty much resigns us to a perpetual lack of continuity on offense. If we have a good year, the OC gets hired away for success. If we have a bad year, he gets canned for a lack of it.

Either way, we're forcing ourselves into a position where the team's most important asset isn't being given the ideal conditions to thrive.

 

[burgold]

I'll give Dan this credit. It's hard to fire your best friend and left hand man. Joe Whitt has been with Quinn forever. He really couldn't be fired after 2024 for a couple of reasons. First, they reached the Championship game and the D while bad made timely contributions in the playoffs, especially against Detroit. Secondly, the empty cabinet thing was real. Joe was making meals out of stale and or low quality ingredients. In 2025, the D looked like it gave up on Joe. The injuries and roster played a big part, too, but we saw that the D did marketedly improve once Quinn took it over. It went from horrible to below average. An F to a C- is something Quinn had to act on and he did.

He could have made excuses. We were absolutely decimated at edge, corner, and safety. I don't think many coaches could have turned the 2025 Commanders D into drinkable lemonade, but the Quinn struck to the truth. His best football pal wasn't good enough and fired him.

I think in hindsight, Quinn may deserve some credit for Kliff's departure, too. I thought the offense was comparitively okay (again, grading on the curve because of injuries) but Quinn saw things that he decided couldn't stay the same and when he and Kliff couldn't get on the same page, Kliff walked. It sounded at the time like a "mutual" decision or even Kliff's decision, but we've heard since enough whispers about Daniels being under center, play design, run usage, etc. that it was clear that Kliff's offensive philosophy frustrated Dan.

We don't know if the replacements will work out, but I give him some credit for being decisive when he probably could have leveraged his excuses.

 

[NickyJ]

Damn.

I didn’t even get an opportunity to watch it yet, and every negative feeling that I have for Dan - has already been posted in response to the smidge of optimism I felt in the moment.

You guys are sobering af.

I don’t even need to watch it now. 😂

We're working on getting that "CuredFrom" out of your name again.

 

[bifflog]

Wow. Tough crowd.

There's not actually an answer anyone wants to hear when reflecting on a bad season, they just wanna see em squirm and talk shit until they can change the narrative, and the narrative can't be changed until games start. If we're 6-3 and humming again, no one cares about 2025 suddenly. Until then, it's the gospel, who we were, are, and will be.