ASHBURN, Va. — Because the Washington Commanders celebrated their first playoff win in almost 20 years late Sunday night time in Tampa, Florida, Magic Johnson embraced the proprietor, the star receiver and the second.
Johnson, carrying a black Commanders hoodie and a thousand-watt smile, listed the a number of causes the franchise had gotten up to now.
Along with his arm draped round principal proprietor Josh Harris, the five-time NBA champion and present Commanders minority shareholder advised reporters within the crew’s locker room that the franchise had gone from “a shedding tradition to a successful tradition” due to a brand new proprietor, new imaginative and prescient and new technique.
Harris, who spoke up as excited Commanders gamers entered the locker room, added three extra causes for Washington’s shocking success: “expertise, tradition and other people.”
Then Johnson remembered the ultimate ingredient — one the Corridor of Fame level guard of the Nineteen Eighties Showtime Lakers dynasty could be remiss to neglect.
“The correct quarterback,” he stated with fun.
Certainly, rookie Jayden Daniels has been that for a franchise that had been looking for a quarterback for many years. However Washington’s one-year turnaround — not simply from a 4-13 season however from the NFL abyss for many of the previous two-plus a long time — has been about the entire issues talked about. It took Harris shopping for the crew from Dan Snyder in July 2023. Harris employed common supervisor Adam Peters, who led the search that landed coach Dan Quinn. They signed veterans identified for management after which drafted Daniels with the second general decide. Quinn’s energetic fashion, Daniels’ decided play and the veterans’ affect have established requirements for all the crew to comply with.
The crew has received 13 video games for the primary time since 1991, and Sunday was Washington’s first playoff win for the reason that 2005 season. The Commanders have received six in a row — the previous 5 on both the final play of the sport or the ultimate play from scrimmage, together with the 23-20 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers within the wild-card spherical.
“It is night time and day completely different,” stated security Jeremy Reaves, who has been on the crew since 2018. “You’re feeling heard. It was a very long time the place I did not really feel heard. It is like everyone’s on the identical web page and everyone’s working in direction of the identical factor. And that interprets to all the things that you just see on the sector.”
QUINN’S DAILY TEAM conferences are an occasion in Washington.
The uber-positive, ultra-personable first-year Commanders coach who’s as recognizable for his backward cap as his dominating defenses enters the room with music blaring from a speaker in entrance of the room. The 15-20 minutes that comply with are a fast-paced combination of connection, info, inspiration and, oftentimes, laughs for gamers and coaches alike.
The each day gatherings are a first-rate instance of the tradition shift that has swept via the crew’s facility this season. Since Quinn & Co. took over in February, he has emphasised vitality and collaboration because the core tenets of his regime and has used his crew conferences to set the tone.
“I’ve by no means seen something like them,” one staffer stated of the conferences.
Within the spirit of collaboration, Quinn usually would not do the entire speaking. He’ll usually have his assistants current to the crew — which is a rarity within the NFL. One week, quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard introduced cutups of performs, one other week it was particular groups coach Larry Izzo. Quinn is more likely to ask anybody within the room for his or her enter. He’ll even crack jokes to get some extent throughout.
Throughout the crew’s prep final week for the wild-card recreation towards the Buccaneers, a straight-faced Quinn knowledgeable the crew he was going to vary the apply schedule the Commanders had used at each step en path to their unbelievable 12-win season.
The gamers tilted their heads at him, attempting to determine why they’d change.
“No man, I am simply bulls—ting you. We’ll do precisely what we do,” he advised them, emphasizing the need of following the plan that had gotten them to that time.
In a latest assembly, Quinn requested Reaves, a particular groups standout and former Professional Bowler, what he thought the unit wanted to work on. But it surely’s not simply Reaves, gamers say, Quinn will ask people from completely different place teams the identical query.
“He understands the sport is performed by the gamers and what occurs in between the strains between the gamers,” Reaves stated. “So he wants the suggestions from us to know the best way to go about issues. That is distinctive.
“You do not all the time get that since you get … a disconnect between participant [and] coach, proper? Coaches do one factor, gamers really feel one other approach and there is this huge disconnect that does not mesh. … However that is not the case right here.”
Veteran tight finish Zach Ertz known as Quinn the “finest he is been round” on the subject of messaging. Backup quarterback Marcus Mariota stated these conferences get them able to go for the week. He additionally stated it helps that gamers may be themselves.
“Generally, a minimum of crew conferences that I have been part of, you might be on eggshells. How’s the pinnacle coach going to react to sure issues or is he going to drag up tape and present possibly me in a nasty mild?” Mariota stated. “However for [Quinn], it’s totally a lot similar to we’re all household. … That kind of easiness actually permits guys to simply take pleasure in this.”
Then there are the conferences the night time earlier than video games. Quinn invitations a particular visitor to deal with the crew. They’ve had audio system reminiscent of Johnson; Olympic swimming legend Michael Phelps; ESPN studio host Scott Van Pelt, a Maryland native and famous Commanders fan; and former Golden State common supervisor Bob Myers, who can also be an advisor for the Commanders — in hopes of bringing the crew collectively and motivating them for the sport forward.
“All of them stick out to a sure extent,” Ertz stated. “Phelps was particular. You might inform his obsession about being nice. Magic was simply all concerning the course of, and the method of successful was an awesome message that he had. … They carry in lots of people that are not soccer folks, however they’ve related experiences being round elite folks.”
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Terry McLaurin: It is unbelievable to be part of this Commanders crew
Commanders vast receiver Terry McLaurin praises the positivity of the crew’s tradition after its win over the Buccaneers.
WITH TWO SIGNINGS in March, Washington added three Tremendous Bowls, 11 All-Execs, 11 Professional Bowls and a mixed 23 years of NFL expertise to a franchise that had gone 32 seasons since its final title.
The gamers — linebacker Bobby Wagner and tight finish Ertz — had been the fruits of a technique by the group to herald gamers, together with operating again Austin Ekeler, with deep résumés to supply management for a reimagined roster.
They’ve additionally produced. Ertz, 34, has caught 66 passes, together with seven for touchdowns, whereas Wagner, additionally 34, was named second-team All-Professional after main the crew with 132 tackles within the common season.
“When you have got guys that do it,” Reaves stated, “and have completed it for a really very long time on the highest degree and so they’ve obtained all of the knowledge and so they’ve been in successful cultures and successful conditions and successful groups, Tremendous Bowls, that holds somewhat bit extra worth.”
Their management reveals in numerous kinds however has been equally invaluable.
“I by no means wished the strain on them to be something greater than ballplayer first. Neither of them had been introduced right here to educate,” Quinn stated. “I knew they’d very excessive requirements, actually excessive. And I assumed that alone is an ordinary of what excellence and successful can seem like. And I assumed that alone is essential for those who’re attempting to do one thing collectively in that style, look to these examples first.”
Wagner will tackle the crew at any time when vital — as he did initially of the apply week following three consecutive losses (the Commanders beat the Tennessee Titans 42-19 4 days later). Teammates and coaches say he sits subsequent to Daniels in crew conferences and acts like an older brother — teasing him about his NBA opinions or basketball prowess.
He additionally leads by instance. Defensive coordinator Joe Whitt stated on the gamers’ time without work, Wagner is on the facility so long as the coaches, watching movie.
“That is what makes him particular, and that is why he’ll have that [Hall of Fame] jacket on right here when he will get completed enjoying,” Whitt stated of Wagner, an 11-time All-Professional, earlier this season.
Wagner’s instance on the sector has been simply as essential. Quinn recalled a day he watched in awe as Wagner made certain to carry out a tackling drill — one which he’d in all probability completed 10,000 occasions in his profession — completely every time. Wagner can also be fast to carry up teammates and dispense knowledge at any time when a teammate wants — one thing he realized throughout his 11 seasons in Seattle, the place Quinn was his defensive coordinator for 2 seasons.
“Generally folks do not know the inquiries to ask, so that you attempt to give away the data you have got,” Wagner stated. “I watched guys like [former Seahawks] Kam Chancellor and Marshawn [Lynch], even [Richard] Sherman, Russ [Wilson]. You noticed what they meant to sure folks, so that you simply wished to aspire to be like these guys.”
Ertz is the much less vocal of the 2, however his habits are much like Wagner’s. Every day in apply, whereas Washington’s particular teamers work, Ertz works on his footwork between fields with tight ends coach David Raih. After a Week 5 win over the Cleveland Browns, Ertz, unhappy together with his efficiency that Sunday, made certain to get in some further reps with fellow tight finish Cole Turner.
“Completely going at one another like bulls within the ring,” Raih stated of the blocking battle between the 2. “So for those who’re a younger participant watching that, he is very impactful.
“Take into consideration how a lot success he is had, one of the crucial embellished guys within the constructing and he involves work on daily basis. He loves being one of many guys.”
The worth of getting such veterans who can each set an instance and mentor cannot be overstated, in keeping with Reaves.
“When you have got guys that do it, have completed it for a really very long time on the highest degree and so they’ve obtained all of the knowledge and so they’ve been in successful cultures and successful conditions and successful groups, Tremendous Bowls, that holds somewhat bit extra worth even to me,” Reaves stated.
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR KLIFF Kingsbury not too long ago talked about a video that acquired greater than 378,000 likes on Instagram. It was of a person pacing in his lounge moments after Daniels had accomplished an unbelievable 52-yard Hail Mary cross to beat the Chicago Bears in Week 8.
“We obtained us one!” the person shouted.
That “one,” the crew believes, is a franchise quarterback. Daniels, who received the Heisman Trophy at LSU, has taken the NFL by storm this season.
“I felt like that man [in the video] after the primary seven-on-seven session [in the spring],” Kingsbury stated. “It was simply next-level type of operation, discovering the checkdowns and never forcing issues. You might inform he studied it like loopy over the little break we had. All of us type of checked out one another like, ‘Wow, that was actually good.’
“We knew then that we had an opportunity to have a particular participant and simply attending to see the humility, the arduous work, all of the issues he is put into it, it simply has developed since then.”
Daniels’ emergence has the Commanders hoping they’ve lastly ended their decades-long seek for an elite QB, and he has been basic to their success.
Since successful the Tremendous Bowl following the 1991 season, the group had began 35 completely different quarterbacks, together with eight within the earlier 4 seasons. Throughout that span, Washington had drafted 4 quarterbacks within the first spherical: Patrick Ramsey (2002), Jason Campbell (2005), Robert Griffin III (2012) and Dwayne Haskins (2019). None grew to become the long-term reply, although Griffin had an electrical rookie season. Washington traded for veterans reminiscent of Mark Brunell, Donovan McNabb and Alex Smith. It developed Kirk Cousins, solely to look at him go away in free company.
The futile search left Washington in quarterback purgatory. And never coincidentally, the franchise struggled, posting a mixed successful proportion of .417 — fourth worst within the NFL — throughout that span.
These fortunes modified in April when the Commanders drafted Daniels.
Daniels has expertise — he can throw and run. He has additionally performed his finest within the season’s largest moments, main 5 successful drives — three had been landing passes on Washington’s closing play from scrimmage, whereas the 2 others had been last-second discipline targets. Daniels ranked second within the NFL in whole QBR within the closing two minutes of regulation through the common season, and he was first with 4 landing passes in these moments.
“It is what you reside for. That is what you type of play the game for, to when it is time, to go on the market and make performs,” Daniels stated. “I am simply aggressive, man, I simply need to win. I will do no matter it takes to win.”
That angle spreads to others.
“Jayden has such poise in these winning-time moments, and that is contagious as nicely,” Quinn stated.
That poise carries over after his heroics. After Washington kicked a successful discipline objective to beat Tampa Bay on Sunday night time, Daniels calmly obtained off the bench with out a lot expression, which isn’t all that shocking to these inside the crew. Quinn stated essentially the most emotion he has ever seen from Daniels wasn’t after any of his successful drives however quite when his backup, Mariota, threw the successful cross to beat Dallas in Week 18.
“In different moments the place he is the one in cost, he is iced over,” Quinn stated.
Commanders coaches stated Daniels’ focus underneath strain was evident within the 36-33 house victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 16. Daniels threw his second interception of the sport with three minutes, eight seconds remaining and Washington trailing by two. The Eagles capitalized with a brief discipline objective earlier than Daniels went to work, main the Commanders on a nine-play, 57-yard drive that he capped with a 9-yard landing cross to vast receiver Jamison Crowder with six seconds remaining.
“You might simply inform from the look in his eye, if we get the ball again, we will go win it. And that was like his really feel,” Kingsbury stated. “That is one of the crucial brazen throws he is in all probability made. He was simply attempting to make a play. There was no like, ‘Oh, we misplaced the sport,’ or, ‘That is on me.’ He was like, ‘All proper, if we get the ball again, I will go win it.'”
It was a efficiency within the clutch even Johnson would possible admire, and one in all many examples of Daniels’ significance to Washington’s exceptional one-year turnaround.
“Every part, bro,” defensive finish Dorance Armstrong stated when requested what Daniels has meant to the crew this season. “That is our quarterback. It runs via him. He ain’t doing nothing however placing in work, retaining his head down and persevering with to get higher.”