Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn addressed the media after the team’s loss to Tampa Bay. Here is a full transcript of the press conference.
DAN QUINN: Man, a lot of lessons to take away tonight. I wanted this one badly for the players, and that’s why it stings.
Certainly a story tonight of missed opportunities, and I think third down, if I had to look back on it right now, that was the biggest and certainly the story of the game.
So a lot to work on, and Tampa was the better team today. You need the struggle to see the identity develop. You don’t want it, but you do need it. That part is hard, and that struggle happened tonight. So we’ll take these lessons, and we’ll work on them.
Before I open it up, I just wanted to give a shout-out to on Monte Kiffin’s family. This was a remarkable coach, and heard him honored today, and somebody I had a chance to visit with for a long time. For his family and all the good that was done here, I want to give a shout-out to his family.
Glad to open it up to questions to you guys regarding the game. Let’s get it underway.
DAN QUINN: Yeah, actually you can work on it a lot. Usually, not always, but there are two things that come up. One is called tracking, you know, where you are taking an improper angle. The second one is usually involved in taking the next step in terms of instead of diving or reaching, there’s much more power in a tackle that runs through.
So we’ve got work to do in that. You can absolutely work on it without being padded. In fact, OTAs, training camp all the way through. My experience has been it usually starts a little slower defensively because you do need to be in these fights, but it is absolutely something that you can work on without being padded and the tracking and taking the next step is usually the
DAN QUINN: I thought he got to fully express all the things that he has of using his legs, you know, being aggressive down the field. Like him, like a number of the players tonight, there’s going to be a lot of take-aways and things that we’re going to like, things that we want to improve upon.
But what I can tell you is we got one hell of a competitor in him. We’re just getting started with him and the guys. That’s why when you have a performance like tonight where it doesn’t go your way, you want to question how you prepare, and these guys really put it in and were ready.
So when you don’t deliver when you put the work in, it stings more. We got work to do for sure, but Tampa was the better team tonight.
DAN QUINN: Yeah, we certainly have to talk about from the helmet on that one. But, yeah, it’s a fair question.
