It’s easy to dismiss the Washington Commanders. While their bounce-back season under new head coach Dan Quinn and No. 2 overall pick Jayden Daniels has been nothing short of special, they are still running away from the shadow of the previous regime under Daniel Snyder.
Maybe that’s why Joe Buck overlooked Quinn in his take on this year’s NFL Coach of the Year during Monday Night Football in Week 13.
As Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos wrapped up a big win over Cleveland at home on Monday night, Buck made his pitch for Payton as NFL Coach of the Year. The case, he explained, was that not only did Denver defy expectations on the way to an 8-5 record and a likely AFC Wild Card spot, but Payton did it with a rookie quarterback.
In the course of hyping up Payton, Buck even went so far as to list Quinn (as well as Mike Tomlin, Dan Campbell, Jim Harbaugh, and Kevin O’Connell) on the shortlist for the award.
“The one guy doing it with a rookie quarterback is Sean Payton,” said Buck.
Joe Buck forgets Jayden is a rookie pic.twitter.com/r09orJQbv2
— obvlon (@obvlon) December 3, 2024
The only problem with that is that Daniels, of course, is a rookie. After losing the battle to go first overall to Caleb Williams, the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner is perhaps the single biggest key to Washington’s turnaround.
Given that Daniels was a five-year college player after transferring from Arizona State to LSU, Joe Buck deserves some slack. Daniels may be a rookie, but he just turned 25.
“The one guy doing it with a rookie QB…”
Does Joe Buck forget Dan Quinn’s QB is a rookie too?#CoachOfTheYearTalk
— JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson) December 3, 2024
Still, Commanders fans probably wouldn’t agree that that takes away from Quinn’s job as a coach or from the team’s surprise season.
