2021 Cowboys Offseason Thread

[Doomsday]

Sources: Quinn favorite to be new Cowboys DC

10:47 AM ET Adam Schefter Close ESPN Senior Writer ESPN NFL Insider Joined ESPN in 2009 Former president of the Pro Football Writers of America and the author of four books Todd Archer Close ESPN Staff Writer Covered NFL since 1997, Cowboys since 2003 Previously covered Bengals and...

www.profootballforums.com

Interesting tidbit:

Part of the problem was not fitting the scheme to the players. Defensive linemen used to attacking upfield to disrupt plays were now asked to hold up blockers. Linebackers did not play downhill and were often late in making their decisions or were gobbled up by bigger offensive linemen.

Just what I had observed. Nolan ditched the modern upfield pressure scheme and reverted us back to the ancient way of "read and react." That garbage went the way of the DoDo 30 years ago when Jimmy brought his upfield pressure scheme to the NFL. Here's more:

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones was eager to move away from the scheme the Cowboys used in McCarthy's first year because he thought it was too simplistic.

No, you imbecile idiot. The opposite was true. It was TOO COMPLICATED AND NOT AT ALL INTUITIVE.

 

[Jerseycowboysfan]

Sources: Quinn favorite to be new Cowboys DC

10:47 AM ET Adam Schefter Close ESPN Senior Writer ESPN NFL Insider Joined ESPN in 2009 Former president of the Pro Football Writers of America and the author of four books Todd Archer Close ESPN Staff Writer Covered NFL since 1997, Cowboys since 2003 Previously covered Bengals and...

www.profootballforums.com

Interesting tidbit:

Just what I had observed. Nolan ditched the modern upfield pressure scheme and reverted us back to the ancient way of "read and react." That garbage went the way of the DoDo 30 years ago when Jimmy brought his upfield pressure scheme to the NFL. Here's more:
No, you imbecile idiot. The opposite was true. It was TOO COMPLICATED AND NOT AT ALL INTUITIVE.

Let’s hope by simplistic he means “ easy to figure out how to beat “. So they need to go to a more disguised defense and not show their hand .

 

[Doomsday]

Let’s hope by simplistic he means “ easy to figure out how to beat “

He doesn't know what he means. He doesn't know anything about it. Otherwise there is no way he would let Nolan put us on the ancient "read and react" shit.

So they need to go to a more disguised defense and not show their hand .

That's exactly what Nolan said his scheme was.

Again, it ain't the scheme. It's whether your players are a good fit for it, and it's whether they buy into it or not. But shit, "read and react" is so ancient it's not taught anymore, not even in peewee, jr. high, HS, college, anywhere. Because it's stupid.

 

[Doomsday]

The fucking idea of "read and react" is to use fat slow DTs in the middle to collect and tie up blockers. So ostensibly the linebackers then make the stops. It's so fucking ancient it might as well be written in hieroglyphics.

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

Because the Falcons were dominant against the pass and that D really stood out
McCarthy needs to get uncomfortable with his next hire and not keep dipping back into his well of known

The Panthers and Falcons pass defense in completions was ranked #25 and #26, respectively, compared to the Cowboys at #13.

The Panthers and Falcons pass defense in yards allow was ranked #18 and #32 (DEAD LAST), respectively, compared to the Cowboys at #11.

Cowboys and Falcons were ranked #29 and #30 in TDs allowed.

Panthers ranked #31 in INTs.

The Panthers, Cowboys, and Falcons pass defense in QB ratings allowed was ranked #25, #26, #27, respectively.

Overall, the Cowboys pass defense was better than both the Panthers and Falcons...so why are we looking at the passing game coordinators from both teams that basically were among the worse in passing defense? As opposed to the ones from the Steelers, Rams, or even the WFR, that had top-ranked defenses? This is beyond idiotic.

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

FWIW, Archer saying Dan Quinn the likely new DC:

The fired ATL coach, who was the head of the defense. Why not simply bring in the DC for the Falcons?

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

OK, so you support the idea that the HC shouldn't hire people he wants to work with.

Maybe you think it's a good idea for Jerry to try and assemble the head coaches staff for him, because you know, that'w worked so well post-Jimmy.

He wanted to work with Nolan, and how did that turn out?

 

[LAZARUS_LOGAN]

When Quinn was the DC for the Seahawks, the Seahawks pass D had the Legion of Boom, and they were ranked #1 in fewest pass yards allowed, #1 in INTs, #2 in TDs allowed, #1 in QB fewest ratings, and #8 in sacks. Ranked #8 against the run.

Now I'm not expecting him to do all of this for the Cowboys right away, but is it too much to expect him to be significantly better than Nolan?

 

[Scot]

When Quinn was the DC for the Seahawks, the Seahawks pass D had the Legion of Boom, and they were ranked #1 in fewest pass yards allowed, #1 in INTs, #2 in TDs allowed, #1 in QB fewest ratings, and #8 in sacks. Ranked #8 against the run.

Now I'm not expecting him to do all of this for the Cowboys right away, but is it too much to expect him to be significantly better than Nolan?

Those are great stats

But like you said, that was when he had the Legion of Boom

What have his stats been like without the legion of boom?

 

[Scot]

Dan Quinn is our new DC

Cowboys turn to Quinn as defensive coordinator

Former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn has been hired as the Cowboys' next defensive coordinator, replacing Mike Nolan.

www.espn.com

So it’s apparently out with the new scheme and back in with the old defensive scheme once again

 

[Doomsday]

apparently out with the new scheme

"New" scheme that was long obsolete. You have it backwards.

old defensive scheme

Upfield pressure with linebackers playing downhill isn't old. It's Jimmy's stack/slide D. And what Quinn does in the backend wouldn't be considered old either.

 

[InternetKing]

Ya it’s official!!!

Cowboys Mobile: Dan Quinn Agrees To Terms As Cowboys’ New DC

Dan Quinn Agrees To Terms As Cowboys’ New DC

www.dallascowboys.com

 

[Scot]

"New" scheme that was long obsolete. You have it backwards.

Upfield pressure with linebackers playing downhill isn't old. It's Jimmy's stack/slide D. And what Quinn does in the backend wouldn't be considered old either.

New as in the one we used this season (which was new to our players) and old as in the one we ran in the decades prior to last season

 

[Doomsday]

New as in the one we used this season (which was new to our players) and old as in the one we ran in the decades prior to last season

It was "new" to our players because it hasn't even been taught in decades. It's obsolete. Nolan figured it would "confuse" QBs and OCs but all it did was make them laugh and confuse our players. There was nothing at all new about what he tried.

"Ran in the decades prior" but definitely in a non-committal half-assed way. Lots of teams do it right, Buffalo among them.

 

[dbair1967]

Again, it ain't the scheme. It's whether your players are a good fit for it, and it's whether they buy into it or not. But shit, "read and react" is so ancient it's not taught anymore, not even in peewee, jr. high, HS, college, anywhere. Because it's stupid.

Some of it was the scheme, it had a lot of flaws in it and people that dissect game film and offensive/defensive plays for a living even said so.

That said, there wasn't a plethora of talent there and the talent we did have a lot of them were hurt or missed a lot of time. What was available though appeared to be grossly mis-used.

Bottom line is Nolan had to go, he did a lousy job.

 

[dbair1967]

The Panthers and Falcons pass defense in completions was ranked #25 and #26, respectively, compared to the Cowboys at #13.

The Panthers and Falcons pass defense in yards allow was ranked #18 and #32 (DEAD LAST), respectively, compared to the Cowboys at #11.

Cowboys and Falcons were ranked #29 and #30 in TDs allowed.

Panthers ranked #31 in INTs.

The Panthers, Cowboys, and Falcons pass defense in QB ratings allowed was ranked #25, #26, #27, respectively.

Overall, the Cowboys pass defense was better than both the Panthers and Falcons...so why are we looking at the passing game coordinators from both teams that basically were among the worse in passing defense? As opposed to the ones from the Steelers, Rams, or even the WFR, that had top-ranked defenses? This is beyond idiotic.

Our pass defense sucked for most of the year. We ranked near the bottom of the league in QB rating against and TD-INT ratio. We also ranked in the lower half of the league in sacks (again).

The only reason some of the raw numbers looked "better" is because the run defense was historically bad.

Lastly, the Panthers and Falcons have less talent than we do.

 

[dbair1967]

He wanted to work with Nolan, and how did that turn out?

Obviously it didn't, but if you want the HC to have the best chance of success you let him pick his guys and implement his philosophy/views etc etc. Other than Parcells, none of the Cowboy head coaches post-Jimmy controlled the staff until McCarthy.

You can't complain about Jerruh's meddling when he pulls the puppet strings and then turn around and complain when he stays out of it and lets the coach actually coach, even if you don't like the results. McCarthy made a bad hire, but to his credit he made a move to correct it after an epic bad season.

 

[dbair1967]

What have his stats been like without the legion of boom?

What was Jimmy's postseason record without Aikman/Emmitt/Irvin?

 

[dbair1967]

Dan Quinn is our new DC

Cowboys turn to Quinn as defensive coordinator

Former Falcons head coach Dan Quinn has been hired as the Cowboys' next defensive coordinator, replacing Mike Nolan.

www.espn.com

So it’s apparently out with the new scheme and back in with the old defensive scheme once again

While there might be some similarities, Quinn's defensive style/sets are a little different than Marinelli's were.

I'm not enough of an expert to post all the differences but I was reading some of the comments by those who study this stuff, and they all noted his style of defense is a little different.

 

[Scot]

Now this would be damn funny:

I’m keeping my fingers crossed