‘Still Q’: How Quinyon Mitchell is moving on from late-game mistakes against Falcons

After Monday night’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons, in which Kirk Cousins led a six-play, 70-yard scoring drive late in the fourth quarter to win the game, Quinyon Mitchell responded to a text from Avonte Maddox with a promise.

Maddox, the veteran defensive back, originally reached out to Mitchell to offer words of encouragement in the wake of the first-round rookie’s performance on that drive. Mitchell had conceded a 21-yard pass to Darnell Mooney on the second play that put the Falcons in Eagles territory. He was in Cover 2, and he was supposed to maintain his depth to take away the deep corner route that Mooney ran.

Instead, Mitchell bit on Ray-Ray McCloud’s flat route, which left Mooney wide open behind him to make the chunk play and forced Reed Blankenship to come down and make the tackle. On the following play, Mitchell got beat on a Mooney out route, then missed the tackle, leading to a 26-yard gain.

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Over text, Mitchell told Maddox that he won’t let those mistakes happen again.

“I appreciate that from him, for manning up and owning up to it,” Maddox said Thursday. “I always gotta let him know he’ll always be a great player. Don’t let that dwell on him, man. Let’s keep going forward.”

In the process of moving forward, Maddox said Mitchell is “still Q.” In other words, he’s still the playful, inquisitive youngster the veteran has become fond of since the Eagles drafted Mitchell in April. Maddox called him a “vet” in his approach to learning from a game, win or loss, in the meeting room and on the practice field. Mitchell said the short week leading up to their Sunday afternoon road game against the New Orleans Saints has forced him to learn from his mistakes and “put that loss to bed” quickly.

As the second-oldest defensive back on the active roster, Maddox, 28, tries to impart wisdom among the rookies when he can (Darius Slay, 33, is the “dad” of the room while Maddox has “graduated,” he said, to the role of “uncle”). In this case, Maddox told Mitchell about a similar experience he had in his rookie season when the Eagles played the Tennessee Titans in 2018.

In overtime, Marcus Mariota completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Corey Davis with Maddox in coverage to win the game. He used the anecdote as an example of learning from rookie errors.

“Of course it [stinks],” Maddox said. “I felt bad. You feel like you lost it for everyone. But it’s not just that play that lost the game. It’s a lot of plays that you can add together and put together to see when you watch the film that led up to it.

“I had a good group of guys back then, and they all put their arm around me. Told me everything is fine. Let’s move on. Let’s learn from our mistakes. That’s the same thing we did with Q.”

While Mitchell was hard on himself following the loss, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Thursday that he is still “very pleased” with the 23-year-old cornerback as he continues to progress in his first season. Mitchell’s performance against the Falcons beyond the two receptions on the touchdown drive ought to play in a role Fangio coming to that conclusion.

Mitchell was only targeted on one other occasion that night. On the Falcons’ second possession of the game, Mitchell jumped a Drake London 5-yard out route and nearly made his first NFL interception, but he dropped the ball. Still, his play resulted in a third-down stop and forced the Falcons to punt. Overall, Mitchell has taken a lot of positives away from his play through two games.

“I feel like I’ve been handling everything well,” Mitchell said. “I know I’m doing a good job. Just got to focus on those keys.”

Sunday will provide another test for Mitchell and the Eagles in Derek Carr and the Saints’ offense under Klint Kubiak, the team’s new offensive coordinator. Through the first two weeks of the season, no team has a hotter offense than the Saints, who rank No. 1 in scoring, No. 3 in yards, and No. 2 in the red zone.

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Mitchell is focused on staying fundamentally sound as he prepares to face Rashid Shaheed and Chris Olave, who are averaging 24.1 and 15.3 yards per reception, respectively, which is good for fourth and tied for 20thin the league. Meanwhile, Carr has led 15 straight scoring drives through two games, maintaining a league-high 142.4 passer rating.

Still, amid a week of learning from rookie mistakes and preparing for the next opponent, Mitchell has shown Maddox that he’s having fun along the way. The young cornerback likes to find ways to get under the veteran’s skin, whether Mitchell tries to put Maddox in a chokehold or say his name while Maddox isn’t paying attention. When Maddox calls him out, Mitchell acts like he doesn’t hear him.

“He better watch out,” Maddox joked. “One of my kids getting out of his place.”

Even if he won’t let him know it, Maddox takes the ribbing as a positive sign following defeat.

“I feel like he took that well, and his mindset has been great,” Maddox said. “He’s still been smiling, being the Q he is. That’s a good sign to see, because it’s a new week, new team, and, you know, put that behind him and we move forward.”

The Eagles play in Week 3 against the Saints in New Orleans. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Caesars Superdome.