Dan Quinn keeps his job for now, but the Commanders' bye week comes loaded with uncomfortable questions
Washington sits 1-4-1 after six weeks of hurt, and while owner Josh Harris isn't pulling the trigger on a coaching change, Dan Quinn is staring down a broken offensive line and a locker room that just lost its best receiver for the year.
In brief
Quinn isn't fired, but the Commanders' bye is anything but a vacation
Dan Quinn still has a job. That's the news out of Ashburn this week, and depending on where you sit, it's either a relief or a frustration. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported Wednesday that Washington will not make a coaching change during the bye, with owner Josh Harris said to be someone who dislikes firing coaches mid-season. The Commanders are 1-4-1. Their best offensive weapon just left on a cart. Their offensive line is giving Jayden Daniels about as much time to throw as a broken traffic light. But Quinn survives, for now.
Commanders fans had genuinely wondered whether Quinn would be fired after Monday's loss to the 49ers, but Rapoport made the picture clearer: "It's clear he did not lose the locker room. Josh Harris doesn't like firing a coach mid-season," Rapoport said. "It seems like based on this effort on the field, Dan Quinn is going to stick around the foreseeable future. The long-term future is still in question."
What is certain is that Quinn used his Tuesday session with reporters to put his own offensive line on notice in terms about as plain as any head coach offers in public. "I thought this performance was below the standard that we've set for ourself at offensive line," Quinn said of the unit's Week 6 showing. "We're going to continue to look and find the right combination. I wasn't pleased with the standard that we have set for our group, and I don't think we met that yet. We left ourselves short."
The numbers explain why. According to PFF's Gordon McGuinness, Washington's front five combined to allow 18 pressures against San Francisco, eight of which were either sacks or quarterback hits. Right tackle Josh Conerly Jr. permitted six pressures on 51 pass-blocking snaps, the most on the team. The pocket is collapsing fast. Daniels has, by far, the shortest time before the pocket collapses of any quarterback in the NFL. The league average is 2.3 seconds. The Commanders give Daniels 1.5.
Quinn stressed the changes won't mean overhauling either system, but said the Commanders should look "more precise" when they return. Washington heads into the break at 1-4-1 following Monday's 23-17 loss to San Francisco, a game in which the 49ers built a 20-3 halftime lead and outgained the Commanders 303-90 over the first two quarters. They rallied to within six in the fourth quarter. It wasn't enough.
McLaurin's season is done, and the fallout keeps coming
The loss itself was bad enough. What happened in it may hurt longer. Terry McLaurin is out for the rest of the season with a torn patellar tendon, an injury he suffered during the Monday night loss to the 49ers. McLaurin has been the face of the franchise for years. He's gone. With the receiver out for the rest of the season, Washington is now faced with the task of replacing the face of the franchise.
The roster around Daniels was already thin. Wide receiver Jaylin Lane underwent surgery on October 9 to repair a fractured and dislocated ankle. He is expected to be cleared for activities before OTAs, per The Washington Post's Tashan Reed. Lane sustained the season-ending injury during Washington's Week 4 win against the Colts in London, and the injury was severe enough to require him to stay overnight for monitoring and additional tests. Running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt is also on injured reserve with a groin injury, after being Washington's best ball-carrier through the early weeks.
There's a harder question lurking, one Sports Illustrated's Philip Hughes put to print this week: has McLaurin played his last game in a Commanders uniform? He's under contract, but patellar tendon tears in receivers who are approaching their late 20s tend to generate that conversation whether anyone wants it or not.
The Nationals lock in Butera's staff, point toward 2027
Across town, the news was quieter but still meaningful. The Nationals' dugout will look the same in 2027. The club plans to bring back manager Blake Butera's entire staff, according to Spencer Nusbaum of The Athletic.
Washington will retain Butera's full coaching staff for 2027, keeping the group assembled during last offseason's front-office overhaul. The Nationals improved to 77 wins in 2026, their best season since 2019, but fell out of the playoff race after a difficult August. Changes are coming on the training side, with five staff members departing and additional investment in player-performance tools planned.
The 77-win total is a floor, not a ceiling, for a front office that came in promising a rebuild. Butera and Paul Toboni were the youngest people in Major League Baseball to hold their positions when they were hired, respectively as team manager and top executive. Among the 12 coaches the Nationals brought in under Butera, they retained just one holdover from their previous staff: former Nationals closer Sean Doolittle, now the assistant pitching coach. The average age of the coaching staff dropped from 51 in 2025 to about 36, with several coaches still in their 20s and 30s.
The training staff is being reshaped. The club parted ways with five members of the training staff, including the director of medical services and the head strength and conditioning coach. Additional departures included the head athletic trainer and two assistant trainers. The club plans to add biomechanics resources this offseason, building on its increased use of technology and data tracking.
Pitching coach Simon Mathews, 30, returns for year two. The Nats are keeping the same coaching staff, but 2027 will be a big year for Mathews. The pitching coaches will have some pressure on them, but they earned a shot at working with more talented arms. Prospects Jarlin Susana and the Arizona Fall League contingent are the arms they're waiting on.
Capitals drop another one, the schedule gets harder
The other significant result from Tuesday night: Adrian Kempe scored twice and the Los Angeles Kings got their first win of the season, rallying from an early deficit to beat the Washington Capitals 5-2. Washington's last game was Tuesday, October 20, at Capital One Arena against the Kings, who entered the night at 1-4-2. Losing to a Kings team that badly needed a win stings. Washington's next game is Saturday against Buffalo.
The Capitals are not in a freefall. They won four of their first seven games and beat the Devils just three nights before the Kings loss. But they've now dropped consecutive home games and have given up five goals in each of those defeats. Defenseman Matt Roy was back in action for Tuesday's clash after missing the previous six games with a lower-body injury, re-joining the top defensive pair alongside Jakob Chychrun. His return didn't steady the back end the way Washington needed.
The Commanders return November 1 to host the Eagles, 0-for-two in the NFC East and desperate for anything to break right. Quinn, still employed, has eight days to figure out an offensive line that's been the league's worst pocket for his quarterback.
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CAN I KICK IT? screens New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument, on Aug. 22. (Courtesy SHAOLIN JAZZ)
The live-cinema series CAN I KICK IT? returns to the National Mall this month with what its producers are calling the "Gangsters on the Mall" chapter of their free outdoor summer run. On Saturday, August 22, the SHAOLIN JAZZ production brings the 1991 crime classic New Jack City to the Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument for a night of film, music, and community under the DC summer sky.
What sets the event apart is the sound. As the film plays, DJ 2-Tone Jones builds an original score in real time, reimagining one of the most iconic crime movies of the ’90s through hip-hop, soul, funk, and more. It is less a movie screening than a live performance built around the film.
The details:
Film: New Jack City (1991), with a live soundtrack by DJ 2-Tone Jones
When: Saturday, August 22 — seating opens at 7:30 p.m. (bring lawn chairs and blankets); film begins at 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument, Independence Ave SW & 15th St NW
A parking note from the organizers: expect road closures and restricted parking east of 14th Street NW due to a separate race event in the District. Roads west of 14th Street NW will be accessible and available for parking.
New Jack City is the second of three screenings in this year’s free CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series, which opened with Black Panther at Skyland Town Center and concludes with Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial on September 5. Produced by the Washington, DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, the series has presented more than 150 live cinematic experiences at venues across the country, from Lincoln Center to SXSW.
"I wanted to be able to tell good stories with substance and remove the ‘ego’ out of the art," said Andrew Huang during a recent interview. Now, he’s building his career at the intersection of discipline, creativity and innovation.
Andrew Huang, founder of New Place Studios. (Courtesy photo)
As a Chinese American, Huang was reared with a deep respect for hard work, consistency and excellence. He describes his childhood as "not so affluent" and later attended college to hone his passion for videography. "In college I tried to do something I loved, which was video, but along the way I knew that I had to find a job. And so I thought, ‘what was the low hanging fruit to get to that stable 9 to 5 job?,’" he stated.
Later in life, Huang found himself working for corporations where his creativity was often limited, eventually leading to burnout. "I worked in a corporation for a long time and there were a lot of missing pieces. I wanted to fill in gaps missing in corporate video production," said Huang.
He later described how his upbringing and a mindset of "survival" led him toward a corporate career. However, his desire for balance and authentic storytelling ultimately pushed him to take the entrepreneurial leap.
"I founded a new place where you can create video and film with ‘substance and style,’" said Huang. His desire for work-life balance and passion for storytelling naturally evolved into a small business based in Virginia. With the launch of New Place Studios, the entrepreneur quickly found himself reconnecting with the values that would become the foundation of everything he creates behind the camera.
Huang said being a business owner has allowed him to first embrace himself. While others may see video as simply capturing moments, he sees it as a way to preserve stories that inspire, connect and leave a lasting imprint.
By combining cinematic visuals with cutting-edge production techniques and a keen understanding of branding, Huang helps organizations and individuals communicate their vision with purpose. He said understanding a client’s "why" serves as the compass for delivering the services they need.
One benefit of working with a small business, he said, is that clients get to see the production process unfold through a micro lens while working with the same faces throughout the entire project. "The work feels personal," said Huang.
Huang does not regret leaving behind the flash-over-substance mentality and corporate hustle culture. That does not mean the Asian American entrepreneur has been without challenges in the industry. "It’s relatively hard to find other Asian American creatives or people who would want to work with me in the DMV," said Huang.
He identifies the industry culture in which everyone is trying to blend in, creatives may fear displaying their Asian identity and some feel pressure to adopt an American corporate persona. He also points to what he describes as a level of gatekeeping within the industry. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 2024 statistics, Asian American and Pacific Islander entrepreneurs own more than 3 million businesses and employ 5.2 million people in the United States.
After tapping into organizations such as SCORE, which offers free small business mentorship, New Place Studios has become a trusted creative partner throughout the DMV (Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia). The company produces a range of creative services, including commercials, corporate branding, documentaries, film, 2D animation, motion graphics and photography.
For Huang, entrepreneurship has become more than a departure from corporate life. It has given him the freedom to create with intention, build meaningful connections and tell stories that go beyond the surface.
The 2026 CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
For three Saturdays this summer, some of Washington’s most familiar public spaces will do something they rarely do after dark: fill up with blankets, lawn chairs, and the sound of a movie being scored live, in real time. CAN I KICK IT?, the traveling “live cinema” series produced by the DC-based multimedia arts company SHAOLIN JAZZ, is bringing a free outdoor run to the city — pairing three era-defining films with an original soundtrack performed on the spot by DJ 2-Tone Jones.
The premise is what sets it apart from a normal screening in the park. Rather than simply pressing play, 2-Tone Jones builds a score as the film unfolds, pulling from hip-hop, soul, funk, jazz, rock, electronic music, and sounds from around the world. The result, the organizers say, is less a movie night than a one-time performance — the same film you know, wired to a soundtrack you have never heard and will not hear again. Guest DJs warm up the crowd starting at 7:30 PM before each 8:30 PM screening.
The 2026 outdoor schedule
All three events are free and open to the public.
Saturday, August 8 — Black Panther at Skyland Town Center. A pop-up marketplace and community activities kick off the evening; guest DJs at 7:30 PM, film at 8:30 PM. Marvel’s superhero epic gets a one-night-only live score in Southeast DC.
Saturday, August 22 — New Jack City at the Sylvan Theater, Washington Monument. Seating begins at 7:30 PM; the film starts at 8:30 PM. The 1991 crime drama plays out at the foot of one of the country’s most recognizable landmarks.
Saturday, September 5 — Scarface at the Lincoln Memorial. Seating at 7:30 PM; film at 8:30 PM. The series closes with Brian De Palma’s crime saga against the backdrop of the Memorial, scored live from start to finish.
First up: Black Panther at Skyland Town Center on August 8. Poster courtesy of SHAOLIN JAZZ.
A DC company with a national footprint
SHAOLIN JAZZ describes itself as a Washington-based arts company working at the intersection of music, film, art, and culture, and CAN I KICK IT? is its signature production. According to the organizers, the series has staged more than 150 live cinematic experiences around the country — at performing arts centers, museums, festivals, and cultural institutions including Lincoln Center in New York, SXSW, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Republic Square in Austin, the Tacoma Armory, and The Cary Theater.
“CAN I KICK IT? has always been about creating a shared experience,” said Gerald Watson, co-founder of SHAOLIN JAZZ. “When you combine iconic films with live music in public spaces, something special happens. People aren’t just watching a movie — they’re experiencing it together. That’s what makes these nights so memorable.”
Cinema as a community event
The DC run lands as cities across the country look for new ways to activate public space through arts and culture — and this series is a straightforward pitch for how to do it: take a landmark everyone already knows, add a film everyone has an opinion about, and let a live soundtrack turn the evening into something neighbors experience shoulder to shoulder. Families, film buffs, and music fans are all invited, and admission won’t cost a thing.
The CAN I KICK IT? outdoor series runs August 8, August 22, and September 5. All events are free; check SHAOLIN JAZZ (shaolinjazz.com) for the latest details and any weather updates before heading out.
