Dan Quinn must have thought his radiator was up.
Washington’s commanders have gotten into the habit of going fourth all season. They were incredibly good at it too, converting 20 of 23 attempts during the regular season for a rate of 87%. They’ve been one of the most aggressive teams in the NFL going for fourth down, and one of the best at doing it too.
In the NFC Championship Game, it was the same approach, until he suddenly wasn’t on the game’s opening drive.
The Commanders converted two fourth downs on their first drive against the Philadelphia Eagles, once passing about a 46-yard attempt down the field, and it looked like they would go for a third time on fourth-and-3 at the Eagles 16 of the Eagles 16 -GINE-YARD. Then Quinn decided to kick.
The Commanders got the field goal for a 3-0 lead. It seemed strange. Why change then?
There’s nothing wrong with taking 3 points to start a game, but it went against what the Commanders had done in the first practice to that point, and for the entire regular season and first two playoff games .
It didn’t look great when, on the Eagles’ first drive, Saquon Barkley took his first carry 60 yards for another long touchdown.
At that point, maybe Quinn wished he hadn’t suddenly gone conservative to start Sunday’s game.
THE Eagles finally advanced to the NFC Championship with a 55-23 victory.