Hear From Commanders HC Dan Quinn | Commanders vs. Patriots Postgame (8-25-24)

awesome it's good to see you guys um tonight at the end honestly was a lot of fun and uh two guys that I was thinking about at the end of the game after it I thought um Trace you know for a HomeTown guy to be here um in the DMV and just what a cool moment for him of finishing and then the other player that I really was proud of was Martavis he's had a long and Winding Road and so for him and Trace uh you know I was just looking at those two how excited they were to you know meet about seven or eight days ago complete uh you know touchdown Drive uh to go win a game I was I was super pumped for those guys um that's who I was thinking about you know as the game was winding down for them and their journey and their story like really two guys that went for it so I thought that was cool to end in that way so all that said um glad to open up to you guys and get rocking else stand out what I had told the team at the half I thought we were really tight John I thought uh I might even said it in the presser the other day where overt trying at this time of year is a real thing and I felt some of that they it's so damn important they want it so badly that at times you can be tight and drop a pass or um you know foul up an assignment just because you want it so badly and I felt that at that's what I said at the half I said if we just play like we're capable of in the second half and finish and let it rip and have fun you know good things will happen and so but I did feel that you know how badly they wanted to be part of it and uh I didn't feel that as much in the second half I felt the um the guys really responded I Lov The energy they had but that's something that I saw and I saw shift down I uh like the energy that I saw on special teams um the way we covered um you know those are things that I was looking for to get a real look at it and so those are the things that jumped out to me with Maris what did you see what have you from him tonight time yeah I think um you feel his size obviously and but I just felt his competitive nature in this one John to learn it you know it's not easy to get you know jumped down and put in the middle of an offense or a defense and learning it so for him to come in and spend the time with Bobby Ingram um who if you were somebody to come learn from he's he's the one you'd want to pick and so I was just really proud of him at the end there was a pi that you know went his way a touchdown at the end so I was very excited for him can those plays push a guy onto the roster and make you guys say hey we can't risk losing him I think as we're going through Siri must have heard that one I think as we're going through the hi Siri as we're going through that I think that's an important um consideration but Adam and I we'll go look at the tape and for Martavis and others and finding you know what unique things do they have and then how would we feature them what's your process now to to figure out you know here is here is the the final 53 yeah it's honestly one that's been on going uh you know for a long time and Adam and I spent a lot of time together going through the roster digging in and finding it and in fact he was you know watching a whole bunch today you know a film and that's this time of year what goes on for the initial 53 what does that look like who's there it's uh it's a puzzle you know to put together but we'll spend a bunch more time here over the next couple days and uh just make sure we can find the the right fit for the team I mean Al along those lines how do you factor in um the other options down the road like waiver wire guys that may be dealing with Nicks or injuries and stuff like that I think that's that's a really fair question Nikki and that's why I said the initial 53 and uh as you know there's probably a little bit of fluidness even past the opening game as roster decisions get done with veterans and those types of things so um that's what you have to look at for the big picture um we certainly don't want to be in this position from a claiming order uh again but if you have it and there's opportunities that you need to use then you know that's Adam and his staff will will dig in hard uh Dan you went for it on Fourth and inches fourth and one whatever it was I think second quarter down seven nothing is that just to get that that that on tape and to get your guys in that mode of what they'll have to do yeah I think for a lot of them there was some times where when it was fourth down we were going to kick it you know we wanted to give Cade um chances you know with Tyler and Tres and the guys there's nothing like a game environment to go kick so so that particular one you know I don't think it was in field goal range so we were going into that space to go so um different weeks will call for different things but uh in this one we really wanted to make sure he had some chances to go you know hit his kicks if those moments were there and so that's what we did and also um looked like federan matthysse was pretty spry both halves did you see anything particular I felt the same I really felt his energy um the guys did too so it was really cool to see him we um you know had good conversations with he and some of the other guys about what specifically we were looking for and I thought Phil in the game I really felt his energy um you know certainly go and look at the tape but um you know it was cool to see I thought John had a couple big hits you know some of the big guys that we've been really pushing inside uh it was good to see them do that you kept out obviously a lot of players today is it fair to think that the guys that kept out in barring anybody who might be hurt or safe for this team that they would be hurt or um yeah make me go through the whole list I wouldn't say all everyone was on the 53 there was a couple injured guys too so I don't want to make sure I'm not missing that but if the guys were healthy and there I'd say you're you're probably barking up the right tree and for Jamon Davis obviously it's been a conversation all summer I don't know what you were able to see of him today but now that you're here you got to make some calls what do you kind of view his uh situation yeah I've been super impressed by him I think we had talked about him last week just his willingness to to try something new you know that he hadn't been doing a lot and I really thought thought he would be a good Blitzer you know so early on in the spring we featured him at Summit linebacker there and then when I really felt the speed uh we wanted many fast and long athletes out on the edge as we can and I thought he had that trait and so we've been working hard with him at that space at that position man you need real gas to go and you need a lot of them and so I thought this is a player that's really worth the time to put it in to get there and so when you're doing a new position it takes some time to grow into it but man have I've been impressed by his work ethic he's covering kicks doing everything teams asked to him so I thought he had a really good off season um even with some changing of positions we'll Flex him some at backer as well but um he's really starting to come on as a DM hey DQ the uh I'm right right here thank you hi um with Martavis scoring that touchdown the sideline went crazy and they were really excited for him what is what does what did he and his success mean to the team can you kind of elaborate on that yeah I think um as a ball player and a teammate um you really have appreciation for somebody's Journey maybe even if you might not have been a part of that but you recognize it when things don't always go the way you had hoped it would and so for someone like him to you know stay stay with it that shows a lot of grit where it would have been real easy just to walk away and not be able to do it I had a chance to coach him some last year um and I was impressed I didn't forget and so would he make the most of that opportunity and so I felt that energy from him so I think it's probably a Comon com ation of he's good teammate as a new guy here but there's also some appreciation for a story that shows some real resilience and some fight which U you know these these guys certainly appreciate um coach how did you see how of Drake Driscoll how did you think he performed starting playing the whole first half his decision making can you speak on that for I can and um so one of the things we know with Jeff he's got great legs you know he can really run all these guys can you know that that are part of the system um but you know looking into the game and we'll have to go back and watch some of the film but um you know some of the third Downs that we want to convert and go to we'll have to see if you know from a decision-making process it was right but uh Jeff's one of our very best competitors and uh has certainly um even exceeded my expectations coming in and uh because i' watched him from afar for a long time I actually got to work with him for one season years back um and so I've always had my eye on him you know even from him transferring and going to other teams so uh to see him really take advantage of this opportunity here has been really cool to see