Mike Sainristil says he'll stay positive after Dan Quinn called his play "not acceptable"

When discussing the Week 1 loss to the Eagles, Commanders head coach Dan Quinn made a specific point of saying that cornerback Mike Sainristil didn’t play well enough. Sainristil says he’s staying positive.

Quinn doesn’t often call out players by name, but during his Monday press conference after Sunday’s loss, he named Sainristil, whose coverage breakdown gave up an Eagles touchdown pass, as one of the players who needed to correct the way he played.

“We’ve definitely identified a few things that, ‘Hey, man, these are the things that we have to get corrected,’” Quinn said.
“Mike’s a very good competitor. I’m certain that we will, but to have that type of play and just not have the right focus at the right time, completely not acceptable.”

Sainristil told reporters in the Commanders’ locker room this week that he won’t let that get him down.

“People sometimes focus on, What did I do bad? But you don’t play a game and do all bad things. You have to focus on the good things, keep the good things good,” Sainristil said. “I’m not somebody that sits there, whether I played good, whether I played bad, a few good plays or a few bad plays, I’m not going to sit there sulking.”

Sainristil said he’ll always try to get better, whether his coach calls him out or not.

“For me, it’s just focusing on, What can I do better, every single day?” Sainristil said. “Whether I played good or whether I played bad.”