Commanders
Commanders HC Dan Quinn said that QB Jayden Daniels‘ persona has a calming effect on the team and leads them to believe that they will deliver in big situations.
“Jayden has such poise in these winning time moments and that is contagious as well,” Quinn said Monday, via NFL.com. “…We were talking earlier with one of the coaches, he has such poise and one of my friends that I coached with in the nineties at Hofstra was [Former NCAA Basketball National Champion Head Coach] Jay Wright. It made me think of the championship game between Villanova and UNC. And if you watch, there’s a clip of Jay right before the three-point shot goes off, he says ‘bang,’ turns and walks to shake one of the guy’s hands. And Jayden has poise in these moments where he doesn’t go wild after or lose his cool. He just has real poise in [those] spots and it’s the same whether it went well or didn’t and that’s really hard to do. And so having poise in those moments, that’s a really big thing because the other players see it and feel it and they have it in those moments as well. We practice it a lot, but it looks like we practice these moments a lot and Jayden in those spaces, he is just very much, bang, onto the next one and going and that’s a really cool quality to have.”
Quinn noted that the most emotion Daniels shows is when a teammate makes a big play, and he showed a lot of it when his backup Marcus Mariota threw the game-winning touchdown in Week 18 against the Cowboys. Other than that, he remains calm when in control of the game.
“Where he’s the one in charge, he’s iced up man, he ain’t letting you into that,” Quinn laughed. “Inside the lens of that helmet, he’s a killer. So, the most emotional I’ve seen him is his joy for Marcus into that spot to let that emotion and happiness out for a guy that means a lot to him.”
Cowboys
Cowboys QB Dak Prescott wanted the team to retain HC Mike McCarthy, yet they announced they were moving on. Prescott will now play under his third head coach, calling McCarthy “a great coach and a hell of a man.”
“Bummed, because we built some things,” Prescott told Clarence Hill. “But I guess they couldn’t reach an agreement. SMH. I take responsibility for our team being in this position. It’s the business. I look forward to the future plan.”
Cowboys DE Micah Parsons said on his podcast that it’s “devastating” to hear McCarthy is no longer the head coach.
“He’s always been good to us,” Parsons said, via Jon Machota. “Losing a great coach like Mike hurts. It’s gonna be a very interesting offseason. It’s gonna be a complete reset. I trust that we’re gonna make the right decisions. “… As one of the leaders of this team, I’m gonna be looking forward to accepting all challenges and embrace whatever comes to help lead my team to a championship. We gotta move on. We can’t think about the past. “… There are no setbacks. Some of the greatest players learn to adjust. … At the end of the day, coaches can only do so much. Us as players, we got to build a winning culture. I said we’re gonna hold the (Super Bowl) trophy because I believe in our guys.”
Eagles
- Eagles DC Vic Fangio said the time could be now for rookie LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr. now that the team has lost LB Nakobe Dean for the remainder of the playoffs: “Trot has a good future and that future may be now.” (Tim McManus)
- Fangio on LB Zack Baun being named first-team All-Pro: “Well, obviously he’s had a great year. I think exceeded most everyone’s expectations, probably even himself. But now there is no limitations. He’s set a standard for himself. He’s got to show up and do it every week.” (Brooks Kubena)
Looking for the latest NFL Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow NFL Trade Rumors on X.com and FACEBOOK for breaking NFL News and Rumors for all 32 teams!
