Dan Quinn took over defensive play-calling duties from Joe Whitt Jr. before the Washington Commanders’ game against the Miami Dolphins, and it seemed to help. The team lost, but it was the first time in six weeks that they'd held an opponent under 25 points.
Now that Quinn and Whitt have had a week off to analyze what has gone wrong this year, are we likely to see any significant changes, either to personnel or scheme?
Unless some injured players make miraculous recoveries, there are not many personnel gambits left to try. The Commanders are playing without their top three defensive ends and top two perimeter corners. That would not be easy to overcome, even for the best of defenses. Even when healthy, Washington is not among them.
Dan Quinn may need to take more chances to address the Commanders’ defensive woes
Though he has never been as blitz-happy as Minnesota Vikings' defensive coordinator Bryan Flores, Quinn has never been afraid to send extra pass rushers after the quarterback. In 2024, the team’s blitz rate was fifth-highest in the league, at more than 30 percent. Though Whitt was calling those plays, it’s safe to assume he had the head coach’s blessing.
This year, that rate has fallen to 24.1%. It is the lowest for a Quinn-led defense since 2018, when he was in Atlanta.
There is a natural tendency for coaches to cover up holes in a defense, and it appears that Quinn and Whitt decided to mask a weak pass rush by playing more coverage this year. That can work, provided your secondary plays well.
Unfortunately, Washington’s unit has underperformed across the board. They have neither covered nor tackled well. If you can’t cover, press-man coverage is a problem. If you fail to tackle, zones become sieves.
When everyone was healthy, there was a thought that the Commanders' secondary could hold up long enough to let moderately good pass rushers like Dorance Armstrong Jr., Jacob Martin, and Von Miller get to the quarterback. And when they played against moderately good passing attacks, that worked.
Then, the injuries began to pile up. And they began facing more potent passing attacks. Results tanked.
There have been some plays in which the Commanders’ maligned secondary actually executes zone coverage well. But except for a couple of Martin plays, those pass rushers never seem to get home. Despite having average pressure and sack totals, Washington’s hurry rate is among the worst in the league. That means the main problem is not in coverage but in pass rush.
Without pressure, eventually the zones break down. Washington’s subpar tackling in the secondary can lead to big plays.
The solution, though a bit of a gamble, seems obvious. Quinn has to send more men to generate pressure. He needs to attack the quarterback from all angles. Quan Martin and Bobby Wagner are struggling in coverage, but both are good blitzers.
This is a risky strategy, and good signal-callers can exploit it. But they are already taking advantage of the Commanders’ anemic pass rush, so there really isn’t a lot to lose.
Quinn has never been afraid to blitz in the past. It’s past time to crank it up this season.