The first half of Monday night\u2019s game included a failed fourth-and-two play by the Commanders from the San Francisco 13. After the pass to the end zone landed incomplete and the Commanders were called for an illegal shift, ESPN\u2019s cameras caught Commanders coach Dan Quinn seemingly surprised to learn it was fourth down.<\/p>\n
When he met with reporters nearly an hour after the game ended, Quinn was ready for the question regarding the viral lip-reading moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely knew it was fourth down,\u201d Quinn said. \u201cWe were going for it, and I was \u2014 I think what you\u2019re referring to, I was probably saying, like, with the illegal shift, there\u2019s not a penalty to go for a field goal. Like, it doesn\u2019t go, like, it\u2019s the turn on downs. Like, I think somebody asked me, \u2018Can we kick a field goal?\u2019 \u2029So, now we were going for it. We knew we had to go for some fourth downs to be bold in the game. I didn\u2019t think it was gonna be a 17-14 game. \u2029I probably thought it was gonna need 28, 30 to score, you know, to go win it. And so it was by design that we were gonna go, but I knew what happened. I think, I probably was just commenting that I remember, at least on the headset, somebody asked me, after an illegal shift, like it was turnover on downs, and [quarterback] Jayden [Daniels] saw the foul, too. \u2029He also came out and saw the penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n