ASHBURN, Va. — The Washington Commanders are going through their first real adversity as this version of the team.
After starting 7-2 the Commanders had the NFL-watching world in the palm of their hands and could seemingly do no wrong. But after a three-game losing streak cost them their hold on the NFC East Division lead and now has them sitting seventh in the conference’s playoff picture, there’s a major need to regroup and recapture the magic that was the first nine weeks of the season.
“Going into the game, I liked the week of practice that we had. [We had] more time together, throwing the movements, all the stuff that goes with that, that didn’t all the way express itself into the game,” head coach Dan Quinn told WUSA9’s Chick Hernandez following the third straight loss for Washington, this time at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys.
He mentioned that sometimes players can want to execute something so well that they get tight, trying to do it so perfectly that something inevitably comes unraveled. That’s something that didn’t plague the Commanders during the 7-2 run to start the season, and it is something Quinn wants to eradicate heading into the final five games of the year.
“I want to make sure for you, for our fans, for everybody to see us playing that they see this relentless finish, the energy, the toughness, that’s when we’re at our best,” Quinn said. “Over the last couple weeks, trying to be so just right as opposed to, ‘Man, let it rip' and we’ll make up for a missed fit or missed hit with work ethic, you know, the effort, the toughness to go. That’s our identity and that’s what I want to make sure comes across with all the time together.”
Quinn also said he knows his guys are tough enough to get the job done. And on ‘Tell the Truth Monday’ he told them this story is far from over. It is a sentiment that linebacker Bobby Wagner also shared with us following this most recent loss.
Some may be writing the 2024 Commanders off as a lost cause after dropping three games in a row, but it won’t be done by themselves. And in the end, Quinn says, “That toughness, the speed, the physicality, let’s put that on display and the winning will take care of [itself].”