Commanders Coach Dan Quinn’s Job: Packers Star Micah Parsons Says Jayden Daniels ‘Probably Cost’ Him

Micah Parsons has spent enough of his career chasing quarterbacks to know what panic looks like from the other side of the line. What bothered him about Jayden Daniels was not the sack. It was the getting up, slow and casual, while overtime died around him. On his podcast, The Edge with Micah Parsons, the Packers star said it in one breath: “Jayden Daniels probably cost my man Dan Quinn his job, to be honest with you.”

The line traveled because it reads like a star defender torching a star quarterback. Listen to the middle of it, though. “My man” is the tell. Parsons played for Quinn in Dallas, and his verdict is an act of loyalty, a way of putting the ending on the player so the coach walks free. The trouble is that the word Parsons reached for, preparation, belongs to the coaching staff as much as to anyone in a helmet. Quinn has already taken it on himself.

What happened at the end of Commanders vs. Giants

Washington got its chance late in overtime when Daron Payne stripped Giants running back Cam Skattebo with about two minutes left, according to Pro Football Network. Daniels drove the Commanders to the New York 24, inside field-goal range. With roughly 50 seconds on the clock and no timeouts, Washington did not snap the ball again until only seconds remained. Daniels held it on a called pass, went down, and time expired before anyone could line up a kick. The game ended 27-27.

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It was Daniels’ first game back after dislocating his left elbow again in Week 2 against Dallas, and he had played well: 17 of 25 for 199 yards, 103 more on nine carries, two touchdowns. None of that survived the final snap. On ESPN’s Get Up, Adam Schefter compared the finish to the Giants’ 1978 Miracle at the Meadowlands, the fumble that cost offensive coordinator Bob Gibson his job the next morning and head coach John McVay his at the end of the season.

Micah Parsons on Jayden Daniels: “That’s inexcusable, bro”

Parsons did not stop at the headline. “There’s no way I’m taking a sack with 14 seconds left and no timeouts,” he said. “This is your job, bro.” He called himself a big fan of Daniels and still called the moment “inexcusable,” and his diagnosis was a list: “This is a lack of preparation, a lack of mentality, and a lack of urgency.” His point, per ProFootballTalk, was that a third-year quarterback who has already played in an NFC Championship Game should not make that mistake.

He speaks from inside Quinn’s world. Quinn was his defensive coordinator with the Cowboys from 2021 to 2023 before taking the Washington job. Parsons, now with Green Bay, is on the physically unable to perform list after tearing his ACL last December, so he watched this one the way the rest of us did, and judged it like a man who has been coached by Quinn.

Why the blame keeps landing on Dan Quinn

Here is where the defense turns on itself. Quinn refused the exit Parsons built for him. He said the blame “does not fall on” Daniels, OutKick reported, and told reporters that the clock decision was his and that, while offensive coordinator David Blough called the final play, responsibility starts with the head coach. Daniels took his share too: “Ultimately, it’s on me.”

Left guard Chris Paul told 7News DC that the lack of timeouts was discussed in the huddle before the snap. So the players knew the situation. They knew it and still let the clock run. That is not a quarterback missing information. It is a team that had the information and no plan rehearsed for it, which is the definition of preparation Parsons was using, and preparation is the head coach’s department. ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio drew the same line to preparation and culture.

Is Dan Quinn getting fired?

Not yet. Insider Josina Anderson reported that Washington does not appear likely to make a coaching change for now. Schefter’s read was slower and colder: “I would imagine in time there’s going to be consequences from this game.” Quinn declined to say whether his job is in jeopardy and said he spoke with owner Josh Harris after the game as part of their normal routine. The tie left Washington at 1-3-1, last in the NFC East, a season after a five-win campaign. Next comes a trip to the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football on October 19.

Parsons wanted urgency from the quarterback getting up off that turf. Quinn walked to the podium and claimed the whole sequence. Parsons’ sentence has a culprit and a victim, and the coach has spent the days since insisting they are the same man.

Tags: NFL, Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders, Dan Quinn, Micah Parsons

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