For five and half seasons in Atlanta, Matt Ryan was the quarterback that head coach Dan Quinn tried to put in a position to win, week in and week out.
But when the two reunite at AT&T Stadium this Sunday night, Ryan will be wearing horseshoes on his helmet, and Quinn will be the man designing ways to shut him down and send him home with a loss.
The Cowboys defensive coordinator talked this week about his former passer- now with the Colts- and what it will be like when his current unit squares off against the four-time Pro Bowler and former league MVP.
“I love him. He is a rare and relentless competitor,” Quinn told reporters at The Star in Frisco. “That’s probably one of the first things that you’ll find out about him, being around him for a long time. I describe him like he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He comes across real clean-cut and nice, but he is a tough-ass competitor.”
That toughness has served Ryan well in Indianapolis, as it’s been a rough first year with the 4-7-1 Colts. The 2008 No. 3 draft pick has a QBR score of 44.1, which ranks him 26th in the NFL. He’s thrown 10 interceptions in 10 games (just one pick off the league’s worst total) and is tied for the most fumbles leaguewide. And he’s been sacked 32 times behind an offensive line that’s given up the most sacks in the league this year.
That’s all mouth-watering news for the Cowboys defense, who are allowing a league-low 177.7 passing yards per game, stand seventh in takeaways, and lead the league in quarterback sacks.
But the Colts will likely put a larger emphasis on running the ball against Dallas. Running back Jonathan Taylor is averaging 86.6 yards a contest, fifth-best overall.
Even though the Cowboys kept Minnesota’s Dalvin Cook and the Giants’ Saquon Barkley mostly contained over their last two outings, Quinn knows his unit will now have to line up and prove it again against last year’s rushing champ.
“Absolutely,” he told reporters. “And the reason being, it’s the speed. Taylor’s a bigger back, so you wouldn’t think he has this kind of speed. But he is a strong-size back. So the inside run, if you just miss your fit or miss your angle, you can really be vulnerable. I think you saw that against the Raiders on the long one that he had where if he gets out to the edge and he can split it, he’s got the speed to go the distance. That was true from his college days, and it’s kind of carried all the way through. He is a tough back that has real good speed. This will be our third one in a row of guys that can really make the big plays.”
But since the Green Bay debacle, Quinn’s defensive players have been putting a renewed focus on everybody simply doing their job and not trying to do too much. The result has been better performances from several of the unit’s stars.
Defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence was one of those singled out by Quinn.
“I think one of the things that gets overlooked sometimes is how violent he is in the run game,” the coordinator explained, citing Lawrence’s knack for chasing down ball carriers from behind and forcing fumbles with a devastating punch.
“I just think staying within the system has allowed him to really make some of these plays for us.”
But corralling Taylor will no doubt require a group effort, and the Cowboys of late are getting support across the defense.
Cornerback Trevon Diggs, for example. Last season’s interceptions king has been instrumental over the past few outings in offering run support.
Quinn recalled one recent play where a jet sweep was run toward Diggs’s side of the field. Rather than zero in on the ball carrier, Diggs took on the blocking tight end and held the edge, knowing that Micah Parsons and Donovan Wilson were closing in to snuff out the play.
“What a great example of trusting one another,” Quinn offered. “‘I’ll do my job so these guys can do theirs.’ So some of his game doesn’t show up on the stat sheet right now in terms of the volume of interceptions, but he is playing better today than he was a year ago today, and our defense is playing better.”
As proof, Quinn compared the defense’s tackling in this season’s two-game series versus the Giants.
“If you remember, going back to our first game,” Quinn said, “we had nine missed tackles when we played them at their spot. We had two this game, so that was a big improvement.”
And with the home stretch of the regular season about to get underway, it’s about ignoring an opponent’s record. It’s about not getting distracted by a reunion with an old teammate who’s now wearing enemy colors. It’s about buckling down when one of the best in business is looking to run free. It’s about continuing to improve.
“I just kind of reminded them we’re getting into December football,” Quinn said of his message to the group. “No time to sit back and smell the roses. This is the time to get it on and accept new challenges and try to go smash it. So that’s what we expect to do.”
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