Dan Quinn’s grip on the Commanders is getting harder to defend, and Steve Smith isn’t mincing words about why.
Washington’s slide in 2026 has put the head coach back under a bright spotlight after the high of 2024, when he guided the franchise to its first NFC Championship in more than 30 years. The bar jumped after that run. Then 2025 hit, injuries piled up, and the Commanders stumbled to five wins after a 12-win season the year before.
This year hasn’t brought the reset Washington needed. Injuries are still part of the story, but they’re not the whole story.
The bigger issue, as Smith sees it, is the way the team keeps losing control of games it should be able to close out. Clock management has become a recurring problem, and that’s what pushed the former All-Pro receiver to speak up on ESPN’s "Get Up."
“For me, this isn’t a coach; this isn’t a coach’s thing,” Smith said. “This isn’t a player’s thing, right?
This isn’t a play-caller thing. This, here, is a fundamental thing on the management.
What is going on? We could sit here - I love Dan Quinn.
I think he’s a hell of a coach. But I think there’s been a pattern going on, and for me, I gotta say, I think this might be the time where Dan Quinn really has to ask himself: is he fit to be a head coach, or a permanent coordinator?
“Because a lot of teams that he’s been on, these small little things keep happening. The mismanagement at the wrong time has cost him a Super Bowl; it’s cost him an international playoff game; it’s cost him a regular game. This is starting to become now a pattern that you gotta say: who is really the problem here?”
Smith’s perspective carries some weight. He spent 16 seasons in the NFL, including 13 with the Carolina Panthers and three with the Baltimore Ravens, and played for four different head coaches, among them Ron Rivera and John Harbaugh. That kind of background gives him a clear view of what strong coaching looks like - and what doesn’t.
For now, there’s been no formal word about Quinn’s status in Washington. But if the Commanders keep spinning their wheels, the pressure around him is only going to keep building, and 2027 could become a very different conversation.
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Dan Quinn Finally Addressed A Costly Commanders Problem
Late-game trouble has become a familiar and frustrating theme around the Commanders, and Dan Quinn finally acknowledged it after the recent loss to the Rams. With two first-year coordinators in David Blough on offense and Daronte Jones on defense, Quinn suggested there are bound to be some growing pains as the staff and roster continue to sort out how to finish games cleanly.
The ending against Los Angeles only sharpened the issue, with Jayden Daniels involved in a controversial play call that ended in a fumble and a loss. Daniels and Quinn both declined to go into much detail afterward, leaving the Commanders with the same lingering question they have been trying to answer all season: how to avoid letting games slip away in the final moments. [Read more 🡒]
Jayden Daniels Faces A Week 10 Test The Giants Just Complicated
Jayden Daniels is heading into another one of those early-season checkpoints that can say a lot about where a young quarterback and his team really stand. The Commanders have already seen what Daniels can do at the helm after his electric rookie year, when he pushed Washington all the way to the NFC championship game and earned Offensive Rookie of the Year honors. Now he is working through a new offensive coordinator and a different system, which makes every week feel a little more revealing than the last.
Week 10 adds another layer because it brings Daniels back across from J.J. McCarthy, another member of the 2024 rookie quarterback class who has taken a far different path. McCarthy missed his rookie season because of injury, then wound up with the Giants after losing the starting job in Minnesota, and he is now settling in as New York's starter following a midseason trade. Their second meeting as starters has the feel of a familiar matchup with a very different backdrop, and for Washington, the Giants have just made the test a little more complicated. [Read more 🡒]
Commanders Face One Week 10 Decision That Could Swing Fantasy Lineups
The Week 10 matchup with the Giants has turned into a tricky fantasy puzzle for anyone building a DraftKings showdown lineup around Washington. Jayden Daniels remains the obvious centerpiece after his recent production and dual-threat upside, while the rest of the Commanders offense has to be sorted through a matchup that also puts New York playmakers like Malik Nabers on the radar. Tight ends Isaiah Likely and Chig Okonkwo, along with kickers Dominic Zvada and Drew Stevens, round out the pool of names that could matter in a one-game format where every touch and every field goal attempt can swing the slate.
Washingtons backfield adds another layer of uncertainty for fantasy managers trying to read the game script. The Commanders have settled into a two-man running back committee, which makes it harder to project volume and forces a closer look at how touches will be divided in a matchup that could stay tight. For a team still trying to balance efficiency with opportunity, that split could be the difference between a useful lineup play and a frustrating fade. [Read more 🡒]