Life is full of ups and downs, mountains and valleys.
Commanders head coach Dan Quinn has lived long enough (age 54) and coached long enough in the NFL to know this is true in the NFL as well.
Consequently, after a night’s sleep following Washington’s thrilling 38-33 victory in Cincinnati, Quinn was level-headed and maintained a proper perspective Tuesday when talking with the media.
“Roller coasters are as fun as hell, but you can’t ride the highs and lows because both can be equally dangerous,” began Quinn.
Do your dance, Trent Scott
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He’s absolutely correct. I recall Washington in 1978 started 6-0; it was exciting. But it finished 8-8. On the other side of the coin, I recall the 1981 Joe Gibbs first season began dreadfully at 0-5. However, they rebounded to finish 8-8. Twenty years later, Marty Schottenheimer’s Redskins team also began 0-5 and also finished 8-8.
Quinn spoke of how the team traveled from Cincinnati to Arizona rather than returning home to Ashburn. He knows the win was a big one. He knows the temptations to get distracted, forgetting what you did to win a big game. “To me, it worked out perfectly to stay in this pocket, no outside voices of highs or lows. Our pocket is all about proving it, about competing, about improvement.”
He spoke of the team being connected while staying in Arizona in preparation for the Week 4 contest at the Cardinals. Yet the world is a different place today. Each player has his phone and will see stories about how great they were last night.
Dan Quinn has his work cut out for him this week, and he’s already displaying he is quite aware and wants to work hard to avoid a pitfall against the Cardinals.