LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — A clear bandage covered the cut on the bridge of Washington Commanders coach Dan Quinn's nose, and blood stained his nostrils and his goatee's white whiskers — remnants of a sideline collision with his quarterback, Marcus Mariota, late in the first half of Sunday's 41-24 win over Las Vegas.
“We all had a good laugh about it, for sure,” said Quinn, who said he was evaluated by doctors and did not need stitches.
What did it feel like to get slammed into by a 6-foot-4, 222-pound NFL
player running with a head of steam?
“Probably like you’d expect,” Quinn said. “Don’t want it to happen.”
The play that left Quinn's face looking more like it belonged to an athlete than a coach came with less than 10 seconds left in the second quarter. Mariota got shoved out of bounds at the end of a short run and slammed into Quinn, who fell backward and slammed the back of his head on the ground.
Several players rushed over to check on Quinn.
“I felt so bad. I was trying to hold him up as much as I could. But he bounced up like champ,” said Mariota, who made his first NFL start since 2022, replacing the injured Jayden Daniels.
“He went into the training room (at halftime) and got bandaged up,” said Mariota, who dusted off his coach with a towel, “and was like, ‘All right. Let’s keep going.’ I think that’s what really kind of got the guys going.”
Quinn wiped blood from his face as he walked to the locker room with a 20-10 lead after Washington's Matt Gay made a 56-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.
“Man, it just represents who he is, to be honest. He talks about it all the time, just his mentality. And it's literally: You get knocked down, get back up and keep going. He literally did that. His nose was bleeding. Everything’s bleeding. Had a cut. He stayed in, locked in,” Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner said about Quinn, who was his defensive coordinator years ago when both were with the Seattle Seahawks.
“Everything that he preaches to us, we feel like we saw that in that moment. He got knocked down. Got hit pretty hard. He ain’t go no pads on. Nothing. He came back up,” Wagner said. “It was kind of like a movie. While he was getting treatment, we weren’t sure he was going to be able to come out. And so, we’re gathering everybody. I’m getting ready to speak, and then he comes out of nowhere, and (says), ‘I got it!’ That was a cool moment. I’ll remember that forever, for sure.”
Asked to relay what Quinn's message was to the players at halftime, Wagner smiled.
“I don’t know if I can repeat those words,” Wagner replied. “Very colorful.”
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