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Hello, welcome to my podcast. Do me a favor, subscribe to the John Conn report.

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That's AMP, IRE. Always much appreciated when you tune in. Don't forget, you can read my work on ESPN.com. I have a story now about what I'm going to talk about. As you can see, I'm live from the airport because I had to hustle my butt to the airport after the news that Dan Kuhn was going to be taking over as defensive coordinator for Joe Whit.

I'm going to get to that in a minute.

First couple bits of news.

One, Duran Payne. but to the airport after the news that Dan Quinn was going to be taking over as defensive coordinator for Joe Whit.

I'm going to get to that in a minute.

First couple bits of news.

One, Duran Payne was suspended, as you know. I'm sure by now he can appeal it. By the time you hear this, you probably already know the result of that appeal. So stay tuned for that. Also, cornerback Trey Amos fractured his fibula. as Dan Quinn said, he's going to miss a significant amount of time.

Typically, it's up to probably around eight weeks.

That would knock him out for the season.

Just yet another injury for the commanders kind of, again, further wiping out that lineup. And again, it doesn't excuse everything because if it did, they would not have made this move today with Dan Quinn. So, and this, of course, is Quinn's decision. And it's funny because I did record a podcast earlier today in which I talked about what more could they do. What kind of things could they do to change? Now, you're going to look at personnel before you start going down other roads. Clearly, this is something that Quinn had been thinking about. Now, we saw on Sunday, Dan Campbell took over the play calling duties for the Detroit Lions and offense. Kind of worked out well. Good time to do it against this defense. But that's what. And so the other part is because of that, one of my two questions today was going to be, are you considering giving up play calling duties and or not giving up, but taking over for Joe Witt? Because they've tried so many things. They've changed the practice. They pared it down., they had wit down in the field. Nothing has worked. And I think that's the problem is what are the fixes for this defense? Is this going to be enough alone? I think it's awfully hard to say that it will be. The one thing for Quinn is, it's like, hey, we had a good vibe together in Dallas when Quinn was the D.C. and it was the past game coordinator plus secondary coach. But when you look at this team, do they have the talent where it's going to make a difference? I think that's the problem here. I don't know that. Listen, we all know that they're not sure that they do. And the other part is for Witt, he of course has not been fired. What this means beyond here, he, and as Quinn said, he took it like a pro that he is, but there's no way you can be happy. This is a demotion, plain and simple, and it's certainly a referendum on what they think about him as the, is the coordinator, and nothing has worked, and, you know, why is that? And I think that's the problem here. And what is going to really change over the next seven weeks? We've seen these changes before, these in season findings before, and they don't typically result in a whole lot, right? So could it be different? Is it a play calling thing? Well, I'll give you a few examples because I was talking to someone today who knows a lot about defenses and asked them like, hey, when do you know it's time to change coordinator? And so, you know, and he started going into the play calling aspect. And there was an example from Sunday that I was asking him about, which was the 28-yard run by Jemir Gibbs. So on that play, you see golf at the line checking to, it's a first and 10, checking to a run because there is a too high safety look. It's a cover two look. And the linebackers looked like they're going to be ready to drop in the covers. They are anticipating play action. But the lines of state a step ahead of them. And they engulf audibles to the run. Gibbs hits it for 20 yards. The other problem with it was the play of the linebackers. And it wasn't just because of speed. I know people talk about a lot about their speed, but to me it was false steps, or just basically not just me. It was talking to these people who know more than me. It was some false steps. And then you had Kinlaw getting a WAM block, you know, trap, basically. And then you didn't, you had the linebackers took, you know, they gave it to a defensive coach. And he certainly showed it to him. He said,

hey, on these kind of plays, you have to, if you're a linebacker, you're reading the back. The back didn't take any counterstep. So there's no reason to go to that side. They both did. and it left open a path over here.

But the other part of it off of that this guy was talking about was the play calling

and how, like, you know when. But the other part of it off of that this guy was talking about was the play calling

...