Tag: Scott McCurley

3 internal defensive coordinator options for Cowboys if Dan Quinn leaves

If the Cowboys want to replace Dan Quinn at defensive coordinator with internal options, these three Cowboys assistance headline the list. | From @ReidDHanson

And just like, that the Cowboys season has come to an end. After being upset 48-32 to the No. 7 seeded Packers on Sunday, Dallas now must assess the future of their coaching staff. While head coach Mike McCarthy draws the bulk of the attention in this matter, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is every bit on the block as McCarthy. And that’s regardless of whether or not he is hired away as a head coach elswhere.

After starting the season red hot, Quinn’s defense cooled as the season progressed. The Cowboys defense ranked 20th in EPA/play over the last four weeks of the season. Over that same period, they ranked 28th in success rate against, with 47.7% of plays against them being successful.

In the postseason things only got worse, with the Cowboys yielding a historic performance to a first-year starting QB. For as poorly as the Dallas offense played, Love’s 1.13 EPA/play against the Cowboys defense is the most by a playoff QB in the last 24 years.

Mental mistakes and discipline were season-long issues on defense. When good times came, good times rolled. But all too often bad plays happened in bunches and disaster befell the Cowboys in avalanche form. A change is likely needed and with Quinn reportedly interviewing for positions elsewhere, change is likely.

But what if the Cowboys stay the course with McCarthy? What if they want to buy time for one more year and resist big moves which require long-term commitments?

Then promoting from within may be Dallas’ preferred course of action in 2024

Report: Cowboys to announce longtime McCarthy aides as QB coach, LB coach

Scott Tolzien has been with McCarthy as a player and an assistant; Scott McCurley was the Cowboys’ 2020 LB coach. | From @ToddBrock24f7

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy has turned to two of his own to fill what would appear to be the final openings on the team’s coaching staff for 2023.

And they both already have a parking pass at The Star.

Scott Tolzien is expected to be officially named as the new quarterbacks coach in Dallas, as per Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Tolzien has served as a coaching assistant for the team since 2020; he was brought aboard early in McCarthy’s tenure mainly to work with the team’s passers. Tolzien played under McCarthy in Green Bay for three seasons, getting into six games as Aaron Rodgers’s backup.

The 35-year-old Wisconsin product will take over the role after Doug Nussmeier’s move to the Chargers, where he’ll reunite with Kellen Moore.

Scott McCurley will also get a promotion, according to reports, and is set to become the Cowboys’ primary linebackers coach.

It will actually be McCurley’s second stint in the position. Originally hired by McCarthy in 2020 to be linebackers coach, McCurley was more or less demoted after one season. That’s when senior defensive assistant George Edwards took over the linebackers upon the arrival of Dan Quinn as defensive coordinator.

McCurley is a Pennsylvania native and Pitt alum who first served under McCarthy as a Packers coaching intern in 2006. He spent five years as a defensive quality control assistant before McCarthy promoted him to assistant linebackers coach. He had worked his way up to defensive assistant by 2018 and spent 2019 out of football before McCarthy brought him to Dallas.

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Report: McCarthy bringing two former Green Bay assistants to Dallas

New Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy continues to build his staff, reportedly tapping two of his former assistants from Green Bay for key roles.

Mike McCarthy is moving quickly to round out his new coaching staff in Dallas. And he’s drawing from a pool of familiar faces to do it. According to ESPN’s Todd Archer, McCarthy will tap two former assistants from his Green Bay tenure for key roles with the Cowboys for the 2020 season.

Jeff Blasko is expected to serve as an assistant under new offensive line coach Joe Philbin, and Scott McCurley looks to have a position awaiting him coaching the Dallas linebackers. Both have experience with McCarthy after being a part of his staff with the Packers at the end of his tenure.

McCurley was a member of McCarthy’s original staff in Green Bay, joining the team as an intern in 2006. He was let go by the club last January, a month after McCarthy had been fired.

During his time there, McCurley filled several jobs on the defensive side of the ball, from defensive quality control coach to assistant linebackers coach to defensive assistant. Among other achievements, McCurley helped Packers linebacker Clay Matthews transition from outside to inside linebacker in 2015; Matthews received a Pro Bowl nod in his first year in the middle.

McCurley will help with a Cowboys linebacking unit that currently features Pro Bowlers Jaylon Smith, Leighton Vander Esch, and Sean Lee. But there are question marks McCurley will need to address: Lee’s future with the team is undecided, Vander Esch missed the final five games of 2019 with a troublesome neck injury, and Jaylon Smith was widely criticized for a down year in his first season as a captain with a mega-contract.

Blasko spent the 2019 season as the assistant offensive line coach in Cleveland after spending three years with McCarthy in Green Bay. Originally hired by the Packers in 2016 as a coaching administrator, he was promoted to assistant O-line coach, where he helped tackle David Bakhtiari earn All-Pro honors three straight years.

Before that, Blasko spent eight years on college coaching staffs: at Akron, Florida, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. In Dallas, he’ll inherit a line that boasts three 2020 Pro Bowlers in Zack Martin, Travis Frederick, and Tyron Smith.

McCarthy has shown loyalty to his former staffers and a noted affinity for blue-collar guys from his hometown of Pittsburgh. Blasko hails from Bessemer, about an hour north of the Steel City, and went to Pitt for college, where he played linebacker for the Panthers. McCurley is also a Pittsburgh native.