Hogs Haven
The Washington Commanders ended their 2025 playoff hopes in disastrous fashion with an embarrassing primetime loss to the Seahawks on Sunday night. In addition to effectively being eliminated from playoff contention, they are now facing a multi-game absence for Jayden Daniels and injured reserve for Luke McCaffery and Marshon Lattimore. More importantly, the Commanders demonstrated they are completely unprepared and rudderless on both sides of the ball.
There is no question that this is the current low point for Washington football since Adam Peters came on board in January of 2024. However, with 8 games remaining on the schedule, the question becomes how Peters and Dan Quinn approach the remainder of the season. In this article, we will explore a few philosophies they may adopt going forward.
This may seem counterintuitive, considering I just spent the first part of the article detailing how Washington is, for all intents and purposes, out of playoff contention, but the key here is for Dan Quinn and the coaching staff to find a way to get the players engaged and motivate them to put forth effort each week. It should be a given, as the players are professionals and put in significant amounts of work both before and during the season to play at a high level, but it is also reasonable for a player on a team out of contention to have thoughts of giving up when things go wrong early or to make business decisions on the field.
At this point, Quinn’s hold on the team and his new culture seems tenuous at best. However, there should be no mistake that the culture has changed significantly since the former owner’s departure; through substantial investment and buy-in from the ownership, front office, and coaching staff. It is up to Quinn to sustain it.
Frankly, moving Joe Whitt out of the box and onto the sideline is not going to be enough, but while the season-ending loss of Lattimore is unfortunate for the team, it does provide an opportunity to repurpose personnel while allowing Joe Whitt to save face. Mike Sainristil was ultimately drafted to man the slot, but in the interest of the greater good, it is time to move Mikey back to the outside while returning Noah Igbinoghene to the role he excelled in last season. Whitt needs to keep Jordan Magee on the field, while also continuing to utilize Johnny Newton in an Edge role in place of Luvu. Quan Martin may be moved down with the twos like he was briefly last season, and while Tyler Owens might be far from perfect, the big safety certainly adds an element that has been missing from the defense thus far. Overall, Quinn’s goal should be to return the team to the sound, disciplined play he preaches. Unfortunately, Dan has been unable to do so for multiple weeks, so he will need to take a different approach going forward.
Known as a player’s coach...
