Nearly six years after suffering one of the worst losses in NFL history to Tom Brady, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn finally got even.
On top of a superstar performance from Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, Quinn’s vaunted Cowboys defense absolutely smothered Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on their home turf.
The Falcons finally (technically) got their first franchise win against Brady to close the 2022 regular season. Now it’s Quinn who got his dose of 28-3 revenge.
In what’s probably the worst performance Brady has ever had in his multi-decade playoff career, Quinn’s Cowboys defense held Brady’s Bucs offense to 13 points and forced Brady to 66 passing attempts as the Tampa Bay run game sputtered.
In the quick view of things, Quinn’s defense helped Dallas in part advance to the next round of the NFC playoffs. It also helped boost Quinn’s credentials to land another head coaching job after being let go by the Atlanta Falcons in 2020.
In the long view, however, Quinn finally shook off Brady after the latter snatched a Super Bowl win from the Falcons back in 2017. You know, that one.
Yes, it was that fateful February Sunday six years ago that Brady and the New England Patriots rallied back from a 28-3 deficit in the second half to win Super Bowl 51 in overtime.
The game salted what was the best season in Atlanta Falcons history, and a season that sent Quinn from one of the league’s emerging head coaches to the guy whose team blew a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl. Quinn went from a rising star to an internet meme. His team never fully recovered.
The Falcons started their slow descent into the NFL’s basement, while Quinn saw his Seattle-style defense decay in Atlanta as draft and free agency whiffs started to mesh with uninspired play calling. The Falcons have never been known as a defensive heavyweight, but Quinn came to Flowery Branch as a defensive mastermind and left a relative pariah.
In Dallas, Quinn returned to the booth and revitalized his defensive scheme and inherited a much better defensive roster than what he ever had in Atlanta. He helped the Cowboys reemerge as a factor in the NFC. With 2021 first-round pick Micah Parsons the missing piece to a giant, the Cowboys had a buzzsaw defense that nobody in the NFL wanted to play.
However, Quinn was always going to carry 28-3 with him in his attempt to get back to being an NFL head coach. He was going to need some sort of achievement to prove to teams that, indeed, he could get past it and lead an NFL team again. On Monday night, Quinn finally got Brady back after the latter robbed him of a Lombardi.
Brady shredded that Falcons defense to a fine powder during Super Bowl 51, but Quinn did the exact same thing to Brady during Monday night’s Wild Card blowout.
It remains to be seen how far the Cowboys will go in the NFC playoffs, but Quinn’s defense will certainly have the San Francisco 49ers offensive staff staying a little later at the office this week to prepare. That defense is so good that it could launch Dallas to a Super Bowl berth. If Prescott keeps playing like this, the sky’s the limit for America’s Team.
At the very least, Quinn won’t just be known anymore as one of the NFL’s most friendly, player-first coaches. He’ll be known as the guy was able to finally get Brady back after 28-3. That might be enough to get Quinn a spot back on an NFL sideline sooner than later.
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