Commanders starter benched after 'vexing' mental error

Consequences for blown coverage

“Yep, there was a busted assignment that eliminated some of his reps,” Quinn confirmed when asked about Martin playing a season-low 28 snaps, the fewest he’s played on defense in two years.

“There had been a big mistake in the game regarding coverage. And so, there were consequences to that."

Standards require consequences, and truthfully, while it’s clearly painful in the moment, it’s good for a player and his teammates to understand that in action, not just in theory.

The Cowboys already had a double-digit lead, up by 11 points when the play occurred. After driving a ways downfield, Pro Bowl punter Tress Way and his coverage unit were able to pin Dallas deep in their own end, and after forcing 3rd and 11, the defense had an opportunity to get off the field and to put the offense back on the field.

The 82-yard breakdown

Looking at the film of the play, it appears Washington intended to have three defensive backs deep on the play, but Martin anticipated a throw at or near the first down marker and allowed Turpin to run past him into the deep middle part of the field, where Prescott hit him in stride, and the speedster did the rest.

Cornerback Mike Sainristil, who Pro Football Focus credited as giving up the play, tried to catch up to the ball before it found Turpin, but was unable to do so.

Quinn confirmed in his press conference that he was indeed referring to, "the long one I'm talking about to Turpin in the first half... There was certainly one. …The ones where you allow, you know, a free runner on a blitz or a conversion where you didn't match the right way. Those are the ones that are particularly costly for us."

It was costly for the team who eventually lost by one score, and for Martin, who justifiably saw his snaps drastically reduced after the play. 

"That's not so unusual,” Quinn said of the benching. “When a difficult play happens that you change, and they have to come stand on the sideline for a moment."

"So that's what I wanted to work on, and I'll continue to shrink until I find that right balance to say, ‘hey, this is the most important thing that we need to do,’” Quinn added.

Quinn's belief remains high

It doesn’t mean that Quinn has given up on his young safety, who is in just his third year in the NFL and still has one more left on his rookie contract.

"I'd like to also say, I love Quan, and I believe in him... my belief in him is sky high."

But, Quinn added, the mental errors, more than the physical ones, are the hardest to accept.

"The mental ones are more vexing for sure... those are the ones for sure that you want to make sure, ‘Okay, that part is eliminated.'"

Every player knows he is never done being evaluated, and he’s also never done learning. Martin was taught a valuable lesson on that 82-yard touchdown play, one that Quinn wanted to make sure really landed by giving him time on the sideline to think about it and how to prevent it from happening again.