The HC Dan Quinn Discussion Thread

[McD5]

We need an under 50, OC from a top team.

No to Mike Tomlin or Todd Bowles, or we're screwed for another 4 years.

 

[DieselPwr44]

The deficiencies on this offense are not due to the coordinator, except to the degree he has not been able to convince Daniels to take better care of himself and stay on the field instead of trying to buy an extra yard with his body against a 290 pound defensive end.

I doubt there is ANY coordinator that is going to consistently get production out of this set of skill players.

Again, there is no franchise back, no one that has the ability to consistently take on the attention of the defense.

There is no down the field threat from the tight end position.

At wide receiver we basically have ONE outside proven starter in McLaurin and then a #2 in Deebo that is miscast in that role as he is more of a short and intermediate gadget guy in that 5-15 yard range and not a player that challenges down the field. His per catch average is 9.9 or something ridiculous for a wide receiver and exceeded by the better tight ends in the league.

Noah Brown is always hurt. McCaffrey and Lane are raw players that once in a blue moon can get open for a 30 yard gainer but that invariably ends up being their only catch of the game

How is Washington and Daniels supposed to consistently produce drives for scores with these players?

You could make the observation this team could keep McLaurin and get rid of all the other skill players on this offense and start over.

And that's acknowledging that McLaurin is 30 years old and started to show the first cracks in durability in 2025, perhaps in part due to his less than regular preparation for the season.

Point remains that when your starting back is averaging 7yds/carry and basically gets you to the goaline,you don't just give him 1 carry and never go back to him the rest of the first half while your QB is getting killed.
Kliff could have Barry Sanders back there and he'd still prefer to pass and craft his run game around #5's legs.

This is a big problem for Kliff along with trying to protect a fragile QB. There was obviously no plan to account for Minny's pressure and Kliff never adjusted to it. Spurrier-esque IMO.

 

[SkinsLife]

I just don't see DQ going anywhere this off season.

This is not the English Premier League where you change coaches almost as fast you change underwear when you talent under performs. And we don't have as much talent as most think, anyway.

I would argue that the main reason teams change coaches is because in the salary cap era it is damn hard to change the core of the roster. We don't have a huge issue with that because so few guys are signed long term for big money.

It took a record setting rookie year from Daniels working on a last place schedule to create last year's magic. It fooled a lot of people, including me, into thinking this team was further down the road.

You can't fix 30 years of mismanagement in 18 months and changing coaching staffs every 2 years won't shorten the distance the club has to travel to be truly competitive.

I can see us changing a couple of position coaches in the off season. Maybe a coordinator.

Head coach though? No.

I disagree wholeheartedly.. is doesnt take a 5 year plan to fix a bad team these days.. this is not the 60s. Teams are rebuilt in 1-2 seasons.
Good FO can admit a coaching mistake and rip the bandaid off early .. so as not to waste 3-4 years on a incompetent coach.
Quinn has had two years to build a team... and this team has regressed in year 2, this defense somehow actually got worse and D is his specialty.
They are basically starting at zero again next year... Ron 2.0 But yeah, sure lets give him 2 more years to verify that he is Really, Truly, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious incompetent.. and then we can start from zero again in 2028

 

[Bulldog]

It doesn't take 5 years IF you have a sound plan that is based on what works in today's game.

The league has been getting younger for years and with the extended schedule to 17 games and hard cap, having the oldest team in the NFL is not a great look in re durability and the ability to build the core for a consistent winner.

Peters didn't in my opinion do a good enough job after Daniels in the 2024 draft to land gems for the organization to progress and improve quickly.

We had 9 or 10 picks and only came away with 2 starters almost 2 years later despite having one of the top picks in each round.

So, I agree an owner and organization doesn't have to be THAT patient but it needs to be patient enough not to try and cheat the game with the quick fix that costs the team a part of its future.

Other teams like the Patriots and Texans (with Stroud) concentrated largely on the draft and accumulating picks to surround their QB and move forward towards being competitive for the playoffs.

There was no way with the talent on this team after 2024 that we should have been drafting #29 in Round 1 in 2025.

We were the one team in those last 7-8 picks that decidedly didn't belong in that group of clubs that were consistent winners and had established star players at a number of positions.

So, while going further than anyone expected in 2024 was fun it came at a cost. And the cost was that the 31 and 32 year old players the team went with and brought back and then added to, a lot of these guys are now on IR with career defining injuries and not likely to return to the field in a Washington uniform.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

I disagree wholeheartedly.. is doesnt take a 5 year plan to fix a bad team these days.. this is not the 60s. Teams are rebuilt in 1-2 seasons.
Good FO can admit a coaching mistake and rip the bandaid off early .. so as not to waste 3-4 years on a incompetent coach.
Quinn has had two years to build a team... and this team has regressed in year 2, this defense somehow actually got worse and D is his specialty.
They are basically starting at zero again next year... Ron 2.0 But yeah, sure lets give him 2 more years to verify that he is Really, Truly, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious incompetent.. and then we can start from zero again in 2028

That's the thing about this conversation. We aren't inside the room, so we only can see what we can see.

Do we know the process is broken? The observables from our side would indicate, yes, the process is broken.

I can see:
- OC and HC disagreeing in pressers on offense; this is not a good thing. We saw it with RR and both of his coordinators as well.
- HC saying a ton of empty platitudes with little substance. Granted this is "outside the room" talk, but there are HCs who when outside the room, speak with a lot more intelligence and critical thinking than what I've heard from DQ after many of these losses. Again, it's what I can see from my vantage point
- DC struggling, defense really bad, and HC takes a long time to make a change. The problems were prevalent and consistent, and it didn't seem like anything was changing. So... what? Were we just going to lose a whole season? Could something have been done differently, earlier? Again, from my vantage point, it's not good. There may be more to this story, but it just looks really bad from here.
- OC playcalling is repeatedly called out by analysts as too predictable, as having too many tendencies. I've heard it multiple times, and independently it has seemed that way to me too. Some of the defenses show 0 hesitation on their pass rush, which is a strong indicator; they have no hesitation, even if we're running at 5 ypc - which means either they are totally fine giving up 5 ypc (because they feel we get away from the run enough in the end) or they can tell when we are passing more often than not. I think it's a mix of both, and neither bodes well.

There's more, but this is bad enough.

I think there are some pretty bad coaching problems. Interestingly, a lot of these were present in year-1 as well. I don't know that it means the HC has to be fired - but there has to be some idea from the GM that things are going to get better, right? This has to be below the bar where the GM has some concerns, I would think. I mean, again - even with injuries, getting blown out this many times is concerning and the icing on the cake is certainly against Minnesota that has lost its last 2 games by a combined score of 49-6. Sure, that can be a bit misleading on the offensive side (QB injury) but I don't think it's too misleading on their defense. Their defense stymied our O pretty effectively.

 

[Hogwallop]

so if a hc doesnt actually call plays or pick players, then he just manages managers and calls timeouts...challenges when hes told to and says go for it on 4th? Have the best HC been picking in the draft or calling plays on one side of the ball? what does DQ actually bring to the table that any mcdonalds friday night manager couldnt?

I like him as a guy, but I think hes a head coach that needs all of his subs to be better than him....theres never going to be a quinn tree of coaches

 

[method man]

so if a hc doesnt actually call plays or pick players, then he just manages managers and calls timeouts...challenges when hes told to and says go for it on 4th? Have the best HC been picking in the draft or calling plays on one side of the ball? what does DQ actually bring to the table that any mcdonalds friday night manager couldnt?

I like him as a guy, but I think hes a head coach that needs all of his subs to be better than him....theres never going to be a quinn tree of coaches

You know that Kyle comes from his tree, right?

 

[Hogwallop]

kyle comes from his daddys tree

 

[Riggo44]

You know that Kyle comes from his tree, right?

Pfft. Don't let facts get in the way of a good, wholly incorrect rant.

There's been so much utter bullshit posted lately, it's getting tiresome sifting through the Willingham/Russell spazzes to the legitimate, thoughtful posts.

 

[Hogwallop]

Pfft. Don't let facts get in the way of a good, wholly incorrect rant.

There's been so much utter bullshit posted lately, it's getting tiresome sifting through the Willingham/Russell spazzes to the legitimate, thoughtful posts.

kyle had a dad he coached under first for the longest time.

hint...he was once our head coach and his son was our oc

rant over.

quinn needed everyone in atlanta to be better than him. thats why they had one shot and lost, because the talent left

and thats why he is floating around the league, circling the drain. hes a fast food manager

 

[Faithful Fan]

kyle had a dad he coached under first for the longest time.

hint...he was once our head coach and his son was our oc

rant over

Oh I can rant about this one. How many of that staff are good head coaches?

Kyle - 87-70 record, including 8-5 postseason, NFC Championship, coach of the year

McVay - 98-60 record, Super Bowl Championship, coach of the year

LaFleur - 79-41 record as a head coach

McDaniel - 34-32 record, got the Dolphins to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons (don’t laugh, that is something we haven’t accomplished since 1991-1992).

The way the Shanahan era ended was one of the worst moments of the Snyder era, and that’s saying something. Mike was old, but he had the whole line of succession set up for us. Dan blew it by meddling in coach’s business. How different would history look if this team had rolled with Kyle at head coach and Kirk Cousins at QB for a decade?

 

[Hogwallop]

kyle was still a product of his father though.

lets map DQ's coaching tree. I have no idea but i dont think quinn has a "tree". theres really no reason to hold onto this guy. rah rah?

 

[Faithful Fan]

Shanny is relevant to the topic, his circumstances when he got fired are similar to DQ’s now.

Shanny won the division RG3’s rookie season (the first in 13 years), followed it up with a 3-13 season in part because RG3 fell apart, got fired.

DQ took this team further than they’ve been in decades JD’s rookie season, follows it up with a 3-win stinker in part because JD fell apart, (should he get fired?).

Of course DQ doesn’t have Shanny’s resume, but it is an interesting comparison.

 

[Hogwallop]

if harris was the owner in the shanny years. we may have never even drafted rg3. trade back and get our guy kurt.

We need a marvel multiverse nfl universe

 

[36ST21]

We need a marvel multiverse nfl universe

Be careful what you wish for. The Canton Bulldogs and mastermind head coach Lawrence Taylor are nearly impossible to score on. Meanwhile, the Toronto Argonauts are so clutch, especially in the playoffs. That's why they are 8-time Super Grey Cup champions...

 

[lovemaskins]

so if a hc doesnt actually call plays or pick players, then he just manages managers and calls timeouts...challenges when hes told to and says go for it on 4th? Have the best HC been picking in the draft or calling plays on one side of the ball? what does DQ actually bring to the table that any mcdonalds friday night manager couldnt?

I like him as a guy, but I think hes a head coach that needs all of his subs to be better than him....theres never going to be a quinn tree of coaches

Hes supposed to define the team philosophy and overall strategy and ensure it gets done. Period. He manages that philosophy during the off-season and in season, especially during games.

Consider him the highway rumble strips, or a control chart. When the process strays he course corrects. While the coordinators call plays, it’s his philosophy they’re dictating. He could ask the offense to concentrate on run or pass, tell defense to blitz, go after the rookie tackle or backup corner, etc… and of course clock management and challenges etc…

He should be assessing tendencies from the other team. Making halftime adjustments and keeping his players motivated and accountable.

Right now, I don’t see Quinn doing much of this. He seems to be in full Rivera mode; he gave his staff full autonomy and when the rumble strips started buzzing, he froze. Now we’ve hit and plowed thru the guardrails and have run off the road. Crash!

Now we’re at triple A and insurance claim. Hopefully we can get it fixed and be ready next year. But he too feels to loyal to his guys to make the harsh decisions, which is really what he’s paid to do!

 

[skinzplay]

On his latest podcast from last night, Keim said there will be change. He obviously doesn't expect DQ to be fired, but he said it's a very, very bad look to play that poorly and uncompetitively SO MANY TIMES. He also said that Harris will expect a plan for improvement, and it had better be detailed and good.

On another note, he said the Vikings D seemed "to have the answers to the test". We've been saying this all season. DCs are ready for Kliff and easily shut off what he intends to do because it's so predictable, leaving JD5 or Mariota scrambling, literally.

 

[Bulldog]

The situation now is not the same as under Snyder.

Shanahan was hired with Bruce Allen but the coach hired the GM and Snyder committed to remain out of personnel but then made trades for Donovan McNabb and others largely on his own.

Harris has had almost no time here to make his mark.

All he has done is set up a traditional organization: he hired a GM and then a search committee, with that GM playing a major role, then hired the head coach.

The Head Coach then hired most of his staff on his own, including bringing guys from Dallas and previous stop in Atlanta, etc.

The only thing that is similar is the record here in Year 2.

Again, Adam Peters has not approached his offseason strategies in the same way that he and Lynch did in San Francisco.

So, in that regard it has probably taken most folks by surprise that a rebuilding team coming off a 3-14 season in 2023 and drafting a quarterback at #2 in 2024 ends up being the oldest team in the league and watching 31 and 32 year old players go down each week with ACLs, torn achilles, and other injuries.

Personally, I thought Peters was going to go with younger more aggressive players and do as many successful front offices have in seeking INCREMENTAL progress built on a solid foundation.

Jimmy Johnson suffered through a 1-15 season but then improved the Cowboys to 7-9 the next year and then in Year 3 the team won 11 games and made the playoffs.

That is more or less what I expected to happen here. A 3-14 year was already under our belts coming out of 2023 so Peters had high draft picks and extras from the Chase Young and Montez Sweat trades to really get a fast start on the rebuild.

One also thought with the amount of cap space this team would look to add a younger star or two to help push things forward.

Instead, we left MILLIONS be unspent in free agency while the team had no depth and starters in some spots that were 32 year old retreads that hadn't started a full slate of games in a year or two.

It was shocking to me this team was able to make the playoffs in Year 1, but you could see that it was Daniels and some remarkable fourth quarter performances that were propelling this team forward.

This was not a 'complete' team. The defense was among the worst in the league in several categories. At the time the offensive line was OK at best.

We had no real threats at WR after McLaurin and the tight ends were 35 possession receiver Zack Ertz and then guys like Bates that were blockers and Sinnott, who didn't get on the field as a rookie at all.

So, in my mind Adam Peters and Dan Quinn HAVE had the independence to make moves and set up the team we see on the field.

It's simply that the decisions they made were based on a flawed concept, namely that Daniels 2024 performance was not only going to be duplicated but EXCEEDED in subsequent seasons and we could very well end up back in the NFC Title game or Super Bowl by acquiring a LT and filling in some holes with additional 31/32 year old players.

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

On his latest podcast from last night, Keim said there will be change. He obviously doesn't expect DQ to be fired, but he said it's a very, very bad look to play that poorly and uncompetitively SO MANY TIMES. He also said that Harris will expect a plan for improvement, and it had better be detailed and good.

On another note, he said the Vikings D seemed "to have the answers to the test". We've been saying this all season. DCs are ready for Kliff and easily shut off what he intends to do because it's so predictable, leaving JD5 or Mariota scrambling, literally.

If true, it means that the "injury excuse" some have been touting here just doesn't pass muster with the absolute horrific level of BAD that you can see.

Your eyes weren't lying.

The Vikings game seems to have proven it to some latecomers, but that is the thing about solid analysis. You need to be able to tell even before now. You can't let bad coaching skate on excuses - that is what builds 3-5 year lulls. Not saying there would be certainty because of execution issues, but inside the room, you should be able to tell how well a process is being instantiated and followed. THEN the injury excuse can work.

The Vikings game was the last straw but plenty preceded it. This isn't comparable to other 3-win situations; many analysts rightly say we are the worst team in the NFL right now, based on play, losing streak, lots of factors. That is by definition unique - we stand alone.

I don't know the appetite Harris has for dead coaching contract money.

 

[Riggo44]