Mike Sainristil - , commanders Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-13 | Full transcript (primary source).
Mike Sainristil spoke at a press conference for the Washington Commanders on September 13, 2026, following a game against the Philadelphia Eagles. During the conference, he addressed his performance and the team's preparation for their upcoming opponent.
Transcript
Sainristil: I know Philly had a couple of scores, a couple of big plays against you guys, against you. How did you feel about your performance in this game? Give them a few plays. You know, the first D-ball, I kind of let up during the route and then obviously the testing, I could add a little bit better technique throughout by Wicks, but, you know, I myself, I take pride in making sure that my technique is what it needs to be and, you know, my strain and my effort. So just, I just got to be better in those two areas.
Sainristil: I'm a football player, bro. Like, it happens. I'm not worried about bad plays happening, good plays happening. At the end of the day, it's about how you respond. So whether I make a good play, I never get too high. If I have a bad play, I never get too low, I'm always level headed anyway. So that's just how I am. So it's about how you respond to success and failure. That's what it's about.
Sainristil: I think, you know, there's going to be good things on tape, there's going to be bad things on tape. Get back to the drawing board, see what needs to be cleaned up. They have another good opponent coming up next week. So I think we all feel it, that there's, you know, something special in this room. And all we got to do is just lean on each other.
Sainristil: Like I just said, I just gave up. I didn't give up. I just let up. I thought, you know, the ball had already been out. So I turned to find, to see if, you know, I have to go make a tackle feeling somewhere. And then when I turned around, I realized the ball was going to get thrown to my man. So I just can't let him pass the choice.
Sainristil: I think, you know, obviously, you know, we played, we played in our right game. There's obviously going to be things to clean up. Nobody's perfect. I think what it came down to was the situations where we needed to get off the field, we didn't do the best at that. So I think just giving up, you know, two crucial, two crucial plays late, where it mattered the most is what it came down to. But you know, everything, games are, it's moments, everything's a moment. There's a whole bunch of moments within a game. You can't just call it on one thing, but I think when it's time to, you know, when the football matters the most, we just got to be better in that situation as a, you know, whole defense.
Sainristil: I think, you know, he played a great first game, had a TFL, had a sack. And I think, you know, he's going to have a lot of, you know, good stuff to look at to build off of. So, you know, I'm proud of him, how he came out and played, handled, you know, this first game against an opponent like this, handled himself well, stepped in, had to, you know, play Mike because Lou, who went down. So obviously that's just how he works, that's how he prepares himself. So he was ready for it and obviously he didn't play like it was his first time being out there anyway.
Sainristil: I think it's complicated if you're allowed to be. As long as we're working together, communicating at a very high level, there's a defense to go as far as we take it.
Sainristil: I was in a match coverage, I didn't really, you know, I'm not sure what happened. I just know that when he did get out, the rest of us that are in coverage just got to help get him down. We really, you know, we just can't allow that to happen from the guys in coverage and we, you know, we got to help the rush out if it does get out. So right there on that play, we just got to work together as a defense.
