Hughes' View: The Commanders' Season Changed in Dallas — and Dan Quinn Has Questions to Answer

The Washington Commanders went into this season saying they wanted third-year quarterback Jayden Daniels to think more about his long-term health, trust in the system they were building to protect him, and to not take chances otherwise. Daniels bought in, and why wouldn't he? He clearly wants to win and loves playing for Commanders head coach Dan Quinn. The problem with this picture is here we are two weeks into the system, and I'm not seeing him be protected very well. What I'm
seeing is issues time and time again and Jayden saving that offensive line by escaping that pressure.

I just rewatched the first half of yesterday's game and can honestly say Daniels looked near brilliant and was efficient all the way up until the sequence of plays that ended the first half. Clearly, the team didn't want Dak Prescott and the Cowboys to get the ball back, and Quinn wanted a touchdown, but not taking the three points is the only reason Daniels was exposed to that particular play with three seconds left.

What bothers me is that after an entire offseason program built around protecting his quarterback, and then not even a quarter of the way through Daniels' third year, in his second game back, he's out there on the field with no brace on his elbow, doing things the Commanders front office has boasted he was not going to be doing this year: playing hero ball, saving the team from its shortcomings. Although I will say Daniels was sliding in the process and throwing the ball away when needed; for those that care about that, I know some live by it, but then again, some believe sliding is outdated. I believe the best football played is played on the field, and a hurt quarterback can't do that very well. The only thing worse than that is the guy who popped a nine-volt in his back and told him they would protect him, missing his chance to claim his rightful portion of the blame for this situation. The first injury came when the team was down 38-7; yesterday it came on a play that never had to happen. Protection begins with planning, not flying by the seat of your pants in crunch time.

"Yeah, I thought, looking back on it, at the one-yard line, we need touchdowns, John. And so I don't regret the call," Dan Quinn said after the game. "Obviously, anytime someone's injured, you play the what-if game. I don't think this is one of those times for me. I hate that it happened. I didn't see it. You guys may have that. I still haven't seen it yet. But I wasn't hesitant about going into that spot. I thought, man, we're going to be aggressive into this game against their offense. So I don't regret that, John. Obviously the outcome sucks, but it wasn't a what-if, or I wish I had done something differently."

Quinn said after the game that he didn't regret going for the touchdown and didn't believe this was one of those times to play the what-if game. I disagree. This is exactly when you ask what if. Nobody could predict Chris Paul stepping on Daniels' foot or how he would land, but Quinn could control whether that final snap ever happened.

I'm not saying Quinn injured Daniels. I'm saying the coach who spent an offseason preaching protection made a decision that exposed his quarterback to one more unnecessary play, and then didn't want to second-guess it when everything went wrong. Washington's season changed in Dallas. How much remains to be seen, but for a team that built its offseason around keeping Daniels healthy, "I don't regret that" isn't good enough.

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