Yahoo Sports NFL writer Charles McDonald is joined by Diante Lee of The Athletic to discuss Washington’s outlook under its new head coach and whether the defense is set up to succeed. Hear the full conversation on “The Exempt List with Charles McDonald” – part of the “Zero Blitz” podcast – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
Obviously the hire was interesting because Dan Quinn was out their first choice if he cut out for this because that’s where I start to wonder with Dan Quinn.
When you look at the depth chart, you don’t really see anything that exemplifies the Dan Quinn defense and that’s the first concern for me is all of Washington’s strength is up the spine of that defensive line and he’s not, he’s not a defensive tackle first guy knowing that they’re probably going to give up big plays in a run game because that’s just always been a thing with Dan Quinn.
You know, that they’re going to play with lighter bodies because that’s always been a thing with Dan Quinn and they’re going to play a ton of man.
And then when you look at the fact that they don’t have a good pass rush, at least by depth chart.
And you look at all the youth they have at corner and guys who are kind of unproven, that’s why I really get concerned.
It’s like, I don’t, I, I understand that he wasn’t their first choice.
I know that he’s kind of bring being brought in right now to maybe Power Wash, do some more power washing of Washington’s reputation and be an adult in the room to kind of guide them through this.
I don’t see how this defense is productive in year one and I don’t know if there’s an easy 2 to 3 year track where you can look up the way that he did in Dallas.
But it’ll be interesting to me, I think, to see how the secondary shapes out too.
Uh, Emmanuel Forbes man, the, the picture that went viral, I think it was a, it was a couple of weeks ago where he’s standing next to a high schooler and people thought that he was a high schooler because he’s so small.
Uh I don’t really know how that’s supposed to fit in Dan Quinn’s defense.
Like, if you’re going to be playing like a bunch of press, dude, you’re 100 and 60.
Just, I don’t know if I trust Dan Quinn as like a, a schemer or, you know, a play caller to actually give his team the edge.
A lot of, a lot of teams have figured out how to defend some of this stuff and you’re still getting beat by, you know, some basic concepts.
The point you just made is the one that sticks out most to me with Dan Quinn, which is that he loses the same way all the time and that’s the most concerning thing.
And then you look at the personnel on this defense and it’s like tailor made to continue to lose the same way that Dan Quinn’s defenses have been taken advantage of over the last decade now.
