Dan Quinn hired as new Defensive Coordinator

boozeman

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I am familiar with the guy since he used to coach DL at Georgia Tech.

He did have one year where he had the Yellow Jackets leading the nation in sacks.

He also helped the Titans roll out a 3-4 scheme, so it lends more credence to the idea that Quinn will be more multiple with the fronts and employ the LEO-role.
 

Chocolate Lab

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Cotton

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Hiring Dan Quinn isn’t solely scheme-based. It’s about recapturing Cowboys’ edge shown under Rod Marinelli

Quinn is 21 years younger but cut out of the same, relational cloth of Marinelli.

By David Moore

8:07 PM on Jan 12, 2021


Dan Quinn has been on the job for 24 hours or so. That’s long enough to assess the sorry state of the Cowboys defense, identify essential personnel changes and articulate any scheme alterations he intends to implement.

What’s that? He needs a little more time to sift through the rubble of a defense that allowed a franchise-record 473 points? That’s fair.

Let’s leave the Cover 3 tendencies the team’s new defensive coordinator exhibits for another day. We’ll delay the discussion of what free agents Quinn wants the Cowboys to retain and the ones he wants to pursue.

We can quickly address whether he ascribes a greater weight to the safety position than the coaching staff and personnel department have applied in recent years.

Yes. Or as you’re more likely to see on social media these days, YES!!!!

Here’s betting in April that the club drafts a safety before the sixth round for the first time in eight years.

Again, there will be time to explore these and other issues in the coming days, weeks and months. For the moment, let’s strip this move down to an emotional level.

Quinn will be the cool dad defensive players love.

He’s one year removed from the funny, 71-year-old grandad defensive players loved.

This hiring isn’t simply about getting back to a scheme or defensive concept that better suits the existing talent. It’s about capturing the excitement, attitude and edge the group displayed under Rod Marinelli.

No one thought Marinelli did a poor job. The defense wasn’t as dominant as anyone hoped. It didn’t generate the turnovers he constantly talked about forcing and was too simplistic for some tastes.

But it was effective. The defense rarely gave up big plays under Marinelli, played hard and kept the team in games. The group ranked in the top 10 defensively in each of the coordinator’s last three seasons in Dallas.

How does that look after this past season?

Marinelli forged a relationship with his players, one that gave him the latitude to demand that they go above and beyond once the game was underway. He gave them colorful nicknames.

Remember defensive tackle Nick Hayden? He was the Golden Cock because of the technique he played at nose tackle.

The players ate it up.

Quinn is 21 years younger but cut out of the same, relational cloth. He doesn’t coach by fear. He doesn’t berate.

He befriends. He’ll talk about establishing a brotherhood and wanting to play fast and furious.

Those who played under Quinn when he was the coordinator in Seattle rave about him. The same goes for his time in Atlanta as head coach. He’s universally liked and respected.

Why didn’t it work with the Falcons? Why didn’t Atlanta make the defensive strides you would expect with Quinn’s résumé?

Some of that can be attributed to the mistakes Quinn made in putting his staff together and the hires he made afterward when it went wrong. Management was also more willing to pump money into the offensive side of the ball, an inclination that’s firmly established in the Cowboys’ DNA.

Quinn is unquestionably the coach Mike McCarthy targeted. You don’t fire one coordinator (Mike Nolan) on Friday afternoon and have his replacement in house Monday afternoon without a prolonged internal discussion with ownership.

These conversations began weeks before the Cowboys season came to an end with a loss to the New York Giants in Week 17.

Quinn needs this opportunity as much as the Cowboys need him. He can remind owners and general managers around the NFL what made him so attractive as a head coaching candidate.

Dallas must get back to the point where its defense isn’t a drag on the team’s success. Once it’s back to that level, well, then the franchise can legitimately think about becoming contenders.

And let’s face it. The Cowboys defense can’t be worse than it was in 2020.

This appears to be a good fit for Quinn and the Cowboys.

Just like it was for Marinelli.
 

Cotton

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Wait. We had an "edge" under Marinelli? We were somewhat competent, but don't pretend it was great.
I'm not sure I like the whole buddy buddy approach to coaching. Especially with this bunch of knuckleheads. We already have that shit in Jerry. We need a coach that will whip their asses.
 

Chocolate Lab

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Wait. We had an "edge" under Marinelli? We were somewhat competent, but don't pretend it was great.
Yeah, I was never as anti-Marinelli as some, but pretty amazing that now they're spinning his tenure as the Good Ol' Days of Cowboys defense. Come on, man!
 

p1_

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Yeah, I was never as anti-Marinelli as some, but pretty amazing that now they're spinning his tenure as the Good Ol' Days of Cowboys defense. Come on, man!
when you hold it up to Nolan, it was the good ole days.
 

stubbie

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Maybe Quinn is one of those guys who is a good Coordinator, but shitty HC. I dunno. All I know is we need more talent on that side of the ball. I was hoping some would show up this year, but the new scheme set them all back. They looked stupid and lost.
 

mcnuttz

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Cowboysrock55

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Maybe Quinn is one of those guys who is a good Coordinator, but shitty HC. I dunno. All I know is we need more talent on that side of the ball. I was hoping some would show up this year, but the new scheme set them all back. They looked stupid and lost.
I think this is entirely reasonable. I think only focusing on what the defense is doing will help Quinn a lot. Great defensive coordinators when they become head coaches don't always have the ability to focus on one side of the ball anymore. It's why they hire coordinators.
 

p1_

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one or more of you hard cores needs to tell me who Quinn might want to tap as his line coach. Im too lazy to research who he's worked with.
 
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