Do you like the hiring of Dan Quinn?

[quickccc]

I vote YES, … we had to have someone reputable with skins on the wall and credentials,
Place the man in charge first, then get him the players that he needs to achieve the task.

the key vs an unknown first timer was more the direction of hitting the ground running,..and I also like the fact
it's not one of McCarthy's buddies again - we've been there , done that. ..and we paid a terrible heavy price for that buddy system too.

imo, management played a bigger influence on bringing in a reputable DC who wasn't under McCarthy's umbrella.
It's more a decision that factors into the Win Now mode, vs back to another lousy defense with a person that's familiar linked to MM.

 

[stiletto]

I despised the Marinelli defense and was glad when he was removed. Quite frankly, once the dead weight free agents were canned the defense was playing better under Nolan than it did under Marinelli and I don't think Nolan was particularly good.

Now we are going to go back to the "prevent victory" defensive style that got Garrett fired.

Brilliant.

I have been a Cowboys fan for a long time and I don't switch allegiance. There have been periods where my interest waned though and I didn't pay much attention. I thought the team was headed in the right direction but I was wrong. I have a feeling we are heading into another "don't pay much attention" periods for the Cowboys.

I don't think I've ever seen Quinn run the type defense you speak of. His defenses are always usually pretty aggressive overall. The Legion of Boom certainly did not play like that. The Cowboys just need to get half a dozen BETTER players. Nolan sucked so that didn't help. He's always been a bad DC.

 

[doomsday9084]

I don't think I've ever seen Quinn run the type defense you speak of. His defenses are always usually pretty aggressive overall. The Legion of Boom certainly did not play like that. The Cowboys just need to get half a dozen BETTER players. Nolan sucked so that didn't help. He's always been a bad DC.

Perhaps I am mistaken. Its my understanding that the Marinelli philosophy was to have a simple scheme and use superior talent and execution to beat your man. DLaw spoke of how the idea was to stop the run on the way to the QB.

With top line talent, the Marinelli scheme is aggressive. You would regularly see defenders blowing up plays by attacking gaps. I thought Quinn was similar.

IMO, a defense needs more complexity to make the reads more difficult for QB's. Nowadays, there are too many QB's who can just rip this up almost regardless of the defensive talent.

 

[Rockport]

Just curious, since NOTHING is changing, what keeps you a fan of this team?

He enjoys coming here and whining and moaning about EVERYTHING.

 

[Howboutdemcowboys31]

Wait & see. He’s better than Nolan that’s about all I can guarantee as of now. His defenses have been amazing or putrid but you have to think that’s because of the extreme talent in Seattle versus the lack of talent in ATL

 

[LACowboysFan1]

Perhaps I am mistaken. Its my understanding that the Marinelli philosophy was to have a simple scheme and use superior talent and execution to beat your man. DLaw spoke of how the idea was to stop the run on the way to the QB.

With top line talent, the Marinelli scheme is aggressive. You would regularly see defenders blowing up plays by attacking gaps. I thought Quinn was similar.

IMO, a defense needs more complexity to make the reads more difficult for QB's. Nowadays, there are too many QB's who can just rip this up almost regardless of the defensive talent.

There were far too many plays that had the opposing quarterback able to slip outside the pocket and either buy lots of time to find receivers, or run 10 or more yards before any defender got near him, or he could flip a short pass to the safety valve tight end or running back. The Cowboys defenders were all funneled to the middle of the line, where the offensive linemen could just bunch up and form a wall to protect the quarterback, and if some defender got pressure, there was no one outside to stop the quarterback from moving to the outside.

Seems like the defense just didn't worry about the flat, even with running or mobile quarterbacks...

 

[john van brocklin]

I like the pick. Looking forward to watching it unfold!

Me too!

 

[CouchCoach]

He is experienced and a former HC so he gets the coaching the D to compliment the O and that's good. Marinelli had that was well which is why he played BDBD so much.

Since I didn't lay it all on this DC or his predecessor, I will wait to see what they do talent wise to address this poor D. Great talent makes good coaches great.

Two problems I have and this doesn't relate to Quinn and I'd feel the same if they hired Belichick as DC. The word on Nolan's D was that his scheme needed smart players and we're not a quarter into the season when the MLB, cornerstone of the D, is asking him PUBLICLY to dumb it down. I don't think I've seen that before.

 

[eromeopolk]

Did Jerry Jones make the right move here?

Yes and no. Yes, back to the 4-3 that you have drafted personnel for the last 6 years. No, Kris Richard should have never been let go and deserved a full reign control of the defense letting him build the next Doomsday. See my post in Dan Quinn = Barry Switzer for the reasons why.

 

[KJJ]

who the hell cares what i said then or now.
i thought nolan was gonna be good.
he wasn't.
i think quinn is a solid coach...if i'm wrong i'll admit it.
you gonna single out everyone who ever posted something?

I’m not singling out anyone just thought it would be interesting posting a link to a thread from last year seeing what everyone said about the Nolan hire. Many thought Nolan was a great hire including you but the players suck. Quinn will run into the same problem if we don’t come up with better players. In the past decade we’ve gone through Ryan, Kiffin, Marinelli and Nolan and had no success. We don’t know how to draft defense. It comes down to the players. Rod Marinelli was great in Tampa when he had great players.

 

[Jake]

Did Jerry Jones make the right move here?

It's similar to the McCarthy hire. An unemployed retread, happy for a job and Jerry is familiar with him.

Just this franchise continuing to tread water. They're not drowning, but they're also not going anywhere.

 

[KJJ]

who the hell cares what i said then or now.
i thought nolan was gonna be good.
he wasn't.
i think quinn is a solid coach...if i'm wrong i'll admit it.
you gonna single out everyone who ever posted something?

By the way you singled yourself out. You responded to the link I posted and said you loved the Nolan hire at the time.

 

[DandyDon52]

true but all these coaches believe in their abilities especially in the area they are most familiar with. DQ had to at least think he can do better than last place with the same players. And i'm sure they talked about draft, FA strategies etc one would believe so anyway.

I doubt they did that, maybe later.
And it could be he just took the first job offered.
He has no idea what he just got himself into lol.

 

[DandyDon52]

It's similar to the McCarthy hire. An unemployed retread, happy for a job and Jerry is familiar with him.

Just this franchise continuing to tread water. They're not drowning, but they're also not going anywhere.

exactly.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Yes, Quinn is a classic case of a man better suited to be a coordinator than a HC. In Atlanta, he had some serious bad luck. Every top defensive pick he made looked great and then got injured.

 

[fivetwos]

It's similar to the McCarthy hire. An unemployed retread, happy for a job and Jerry is familiar with him.

Just this franchise continuing to tread water. They're not drowning, but they're also not going anywhere.

If exactly that happens it should surprise no one.

I'll continue to attempt to remain cautiously optimistic but been burned way too often.

The second I throw up my arms and walk away is the same second Jerry will figure it all out just to spite me.

I know it.

 

[KJJ]

It's similar to the McCarthy hire. An unemployed retread, happy for a job and Jerry is familiar with him.

Just this franchise continuing to tread water. They're not drowning, but they're also not going anywhere.

It’s probably better going with a retread than a complete unknown at the position with not much of a track record. Quinn had great success as a DC when he had those great players in Seattle in 2013 and 2014. Scheme is important but it ultimately comes down to the players.

 

[Starforever]

Big Mike used Nolan for a trial run, now he knows what he has on the team. The team will draft/use free agency, insert better players, and Quinn will be a DC genius.
Honestly, if the players don't care, coaching will have little to no effect. What I mean by caring is, spending time in the playbook, good workouts, good practices, and minimized distractions.

 

[KJJ]

I’m just going to assume we’re going to have a more normal offseason this year with players on the field. With yet another DC and scheme change everything is going to have to be implemented with players on the practice field.

 

[gimmesix]

Many loved the hire of Mike Nolan. It’s always interesting taking a walk down memory lane.

https://cowboyszone.com/threads/mike-nolan-is-our-new-defensive-coordinator.450692/

I feel the same way about this hire as I felt about that one. There are some reasons for optimism, but also some for pessimism. Obviously, with Nolan, the reasons for pessimism won out. I hope it will be different with Quinn, but I'll take another wait and see approach.

Realistically, I don't think there's any coach we could hire where there wouldn't be some doubt. Either it's an assistant to a very good DC where we don't know if he can have that same kind of success. Or it's a college DC where we don't know if his success will translate to the pros. Or maybe a DC or head coach, like in this case, who was let go by his team but had success elsewhere ... under a defensive-minded head coach.

The part that gives me hope with Quinn is that after leaving Seattle, where his success was under defensive-minded head coach Pete Carroll, he had at least limited defensive success with Atlanta in 2016 and 2017. His defense was eighth in points allowed in 2017 and in the playoffs both years, his defenses held two opponents to 15 points or fewer (2017) and two others to 21 or fewer (2016). Several here bring up the blown lead to New England, but don't consider how his defense played to help them reach the Super Bowl.

That being said, it's also hard to ignore the past few years where his defenses have been spotty at best and terrible at worst. Not having examined his teams, I can't say exactly why he's had that downturn, but I hope it's more of a personnel issue than a coaching one. (Of course, I don't know if we're going to provide him with any better personnel here.)