Blogging The Boys
What do you think Sunday will look like when the Cowboys face off against Dan Quinn?
The Dallas Cowboys travel to play the Washington Commanders in Week 12, an NFC East clash. To prepare for the game we reached out to sister site, Hogs Haven, for some knowledge on the enemy.
Hogs Haven: First and foremost, he seems to be a very positive, high energy person who everyone wants to work for. Quite a few free agents in the offseason said they wanted to come here specifically to work with Dan Quinn, since he has a reputation for being a great person to work with. In addition, several of the defensive free agents said they wanted to play in his defensive scheme because they thought it could really highlight their abilities. The thing is, players at all position groups said that, from safety (Jeremy Chinn) to LB (Frankie Luvu) to DL (Dorance Armstrong and Dante Fowler), which to me indicates it’s just a really good defensive scheme. He’s instilled a culture of effort and discipline and the team has consistently played with high effort (like this play where a WR runs 40 yards down the field to block for his RB and thus is in place to recover his fumble) and very good discipline (tied for 7th fewest penalties per game). Quinn has primarily operated as a CEO, leaving his coordinators to actively manage their sides of the ball, but all sides of the ball seem well coached and our offense and defense are performing much better than most people would expect looking at the roster on paper. The team is functioning as a whole much better than the sum of its parts, which I credit to good coaching.
HH: Based on the first 9 games, I would have said he’s a cerebral QB with pinpoint accuracy on most throws, excellent throwing mechanics, and an advanced ability to recognize the defensive alignment, call protections, and process quickly what is happening around him on the field. In addition to that, he has an excellent sense for pressure and the athleticism to scramble to evade pressure and buy more time to throw or simply make a big gain himself with his legs.
I think the biggest thing that makes him stand out from other rookie QBs is his maturity though. In many ways, he acts like an NFL veteran. He’s one of the first players to the facility every day, studies film and practices constantly, stays calm under pressure in games, and quietly commands the locker room. However, he has struggled in the last two games and come down to Earth a bit, which I’ll talk about in answering the next question.
