Defense Trends in Wrong Direction: Cowboys Face Tough Questions

2
Micah Parsons Hopes "Dog" DC Dan Quinn Returns to Cowboys

The Dan Quinn led defense trended in the wrong direction for much of the year this season.

Now they are faced with a lot of questions as the season came to a disappointing end.

After the Cowboys brought back Quinn a season ago, me and pretty much everyone else were very excited, that excitement slowly drained as the year went on.

Outside out a handful of studs on the defensive end, this Quinn led group could not stop a nose bleed.

All season they struggled to stop the run, and we saw it again in the playoff loss to the Green Bay.

Also pulled some stats on Dan Quinn’s defense.DAL allowed 28.7 PPG vs winning teams — only 11.7 vs teams with losing recordsIN 2022 — virtually even20.1 PPG allowed vs winning teams20.0 PPG allowed “otherwise” OR “vs teams .500 or worse”

Aaron Jones ran for 118 yards and three touchdowns.

It seemed like Quinn was at his worst on Sunday. The Packers had guys running free all over the place.

They didn’t sack Jordan Love one time, the first it has happened in over 15 games.

Quinn seemed checked out, and he might be considering he has had interviews for head coaching jobs.

He might have knocked himself out of some offers with the performance last week.

Time To Go

I am just waiting on the announcement from Shefty or Ian that Quinn has been let go. McCarthy is coming back so that already sucks.

In all honesty though, Quinn has a more likely chance to not return next season than McCarthy.

This defense has play makers, but they are failing to make plays when it matters against good teams.

They did not make Jordan Love press at all, he had all day to throw, and for a team that ran pretty much man coverage all season, Quinn had them in Zone 90% of the time.

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy when asked if Dan Quinn will be back as Cowboys DC if he doesn't get a head coaching job somewhere else: "Dan is a highly-valued member of our coaching staff. We'll go through the process here."

Makes absolutely no sense to me.

I understand that when the playoffs hit, pressure gets pumped up, but these guys have played here before.

They got beat up by a team who had never been there before.

I understand the offense was not good, but the defense forced, what, one or no punts?

Right from the start they had a sack wiped on a defensive penalty.

Mike McCarthy talked about Quinn at his press conference on Thursday morning.

He said that he wants Quinn to return if he doesn’t take a head coaching job.

To be honest, I loved him returning last season, but I don’t want him now. He gave up 40 to the Niners, 40 to the Packers, 40 to the Seahawks.

He didn’t have an answer for teams with above average offenses this season. He has the play makers, they just didn’t show up.

He ran drop coverages all wild card game when Aaron Jones was gashing them on the ground.

Even when Trevon Diggs returns next season, these problems are going to carry over into next year.

Who would take over?

If Quinn takes a head coaching job, the Cowboys have a few guys in the building who would have a chance to take the DC role.

Al Harris is growing on me.

The former Green Bay CB has been coaching for 12 years in the NFL.

In his short time in Dallas, he’s produced two guys that have led the league in interceptions.

Joe Whitt Jr. would be my first pick to take over.

Whitt, Quinn’s No. 2 in command, is the odds-on favorite of the internal candidates. It’s Whitt who fills in for Quinn as play-caller on occasions.

End of the day is that no matter what happens, this defense against above average teams might carry over.

Talent is everywhere, but fail to show up when it matters.

Was this helpful?

Shane Taylor is a sports journalist with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and seven years of professional media experience. He has written 766 articles for InsideTheStar.com, reaching over 928,000 readers. Prior to Inside The Star, Shane worked as a Sports Reporter for Journal Star and a Regional News Reporter for Shaw Media. He currently works in the TRIO Upward Bound department at a junior college.

2 Comments

Loading comments…

Comments are closed.