Cowboys’ Quinn should prepare for a presidential run, not a head coach opening

The defensive mastermind is in his bag already, and the season is just getting started. | From @KDDrummondNFL

If he keeps this up, a head coaching position might not be enough. Perhaps Dan Quinn should have bigger goals, stick around in Dallas for next season too and then just start a write-in campaign for the US presidency. The Cowboys’ defensive mastermind is having a great start to his second season at the helm.

After taking over for the footnote that was Mike Nolan’s tenure as defensive coordinator, Quinn has shaken things up in Big D. Normally averse to creating turnovers, Dallas led the league in 2021 and by a wide margin. Finishing with 34 takeaways, everyone rightly predicted there would be regression in the second season, and there has been. Dallas has just two takeaways through three games. But everything else? Mama Mia, this is as impressive a defense Dallas has seen in several years. They lead the NFL in sacks with 13 in three games.

This is the first time since the Cowboys have held their opposition to less than 20 points in three straight contests since 2017. They accomplished the feat twice that season and one more time the year prior in 2016. Before that, it hadn’t happened since 2009. But there’s a major difference between this team and those iterations; those clubs had offenses that forced opponents to be one dimensional. This team isn’t doing that, scoring just four touchdowns of their own so far.

The three streaks prior single-season streaks (there was a fourth that bookended the end of 2017 and the 2018 opener) saw Dallas score 88, 101 and 113 points themselves, respectively. The 2022 Cowboys have scored just 46 points.

That puts an enormous amount of pressure on the defense to do its job on every drive, and Quinn’s guys have responded.

More to the point, those other streaks were midseason feats. The 2022 Cowboys are doing this right out the gate.

Their 13 sacks in three games took the NFL lead back from the Philadelphia Eagles. The 3-0 birds were pedestrian in pressure before Sunday when they took down Carson Wentz a mind-boggling nine times.

Quinn and his guys get their shot at the hold-it-too-long thrower this coming Sunday. Dallas’ Micah Parsons is on a ridiculous pace for 22.5 sacks. Late to the party, DeMarcus Lawrence is fresh off a three-sack night which puts him on a 17-sack pace, as is his counter at RDE Dorance Armstrong.

During the broadcast last week, former Cowboys QB Tony Romo mentioned how Quinn is likely the best head coaching candidate this offseason will be Quinn. Over the past two years combined, the only team with a better defensive DVOA has been the Buffalo Bills. The way Dallas is great against the pass is different though, getting to the quarterback at ridiculous rates.

After he was fired midseason as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons, Quinn took the rest of the 2020 season to reinvent himself and the way he planned to call defense in his next stop. There will certainly be tougher offenses on the schedule to come, with five games against teams in the top-10 of offensive DVOA right now (Philly x 2, Jacksonville, Detroit, Green Bay). But the schedule isn’t daunting; there’s more meat on the bone this season.

Cowboys fans are praying to the football gods there’s some way he’ll marinate in Texas for at least one additional year. He has the time if he just sets his sights high enough. Hey, there have been four prior presidents to emerge from the Lone Star.

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