The Cowboys Defense: the Dan Quinn Factor

 Dan Quinn was known as the defensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks and the Legion of Boom. They dominated many years under his guidance. Now Dan Quinn has taken a below average defense and turned it around in Dallas into one of the the top in the NFL in just 2 years. They play primarily a 4-3 and he has an excellent defensive line and a game changer in Micah Parsons. 

 They are near the top in several categories:

Points allowed: 19.8 #5 in the league (just 2 years ago they were at 29.6 ppg)

Sacks:  #2 in the league in Sack Percentage

Completions allowed: #8

Great Red Zone Defense: #8 in touchdowns allowed

They are top 10 in yards allowed and completion Percentage

Noticeable differences in the defense and what makes them successful:

1. They seem to be blitzing less in 2022 and stunting more with their active defensive line. They utilize more 4 man games and are getting great pressure from Lawrence and Parsons. According to PFF, they lead the league and have stunted on 124 snaps. The 2nd closest is the 49ers with 82.  They have only blitzed 1/5 times this year at slightly below 20%. Micah parsons is unblockable at times as he had 10 qb pressures in the playoff game vs the Bucs. 

2. They are playing less man coverage this season. Last year they were 3rd in man coverage rate and this year they are at 15th in man coverage rate. They played a ton of single high. This year there is a  considerable difference as they are more balanced with several cover 2 and hole concepts. They also play their variations of cover 3.

3. Trevon Diggs is a great CB and has been rock solid all year. He is a great cb as was evident against Mike Evans last night holding Mike Evans to 6 catches for 74 yards, most of it late when the game was on  the line. He has been matched up often against a teams top wr, which was evident at times vs Mike Evans in the playoff game last week. 

4. Dan does a great job of moving players around and playing to their strength and let's look at some of his schemes. You will see Micah Parsons as a LB in a 4-2 a mike in a bear look and then either on the left side and right side in their base scheme. They play to his skill set designing some pressures for him and getting matchups they like. It causes issues preparing for them defensively because you have to have special plans and schemes for Parsons and where he aligns. You want to try to avoid a matchup issue with him on a RB.  SEE BELOW

5. They do a good job of using the safeties in the middle of the field as hole defenders, taking away those in breaking concepts that teams like to run. They do it in their nickel often and it can cause problems for qb's in their progressions. They don't play them as deep as other teams and they are active in the middle of the field, jumping routes. 

Lets go to some film: 

Stunts:  Here's 2 they ran vs the Bucs last week. Quinn will find your weakness and attack it with games.

1st one is a T and E stunt

2nd one is one where Parsons rushes inside and the DT will be a late looper. 

Using the safeties

Here you can see the safeties with eyes on Godwin and Evans. They play combo coverage, zone to the trips side and man backside. Both safeties are aggressive. The free looks like he's eyeing Evans and the SS with eyes on Godwin. Nice design by quinn

Moving Parsons around to create protection issues.

Here's some examples of Micah Parsons being utilized. In addition to being on the line as a defensive end, Quinn will have the Micah package each game. 

#1 Bear  , he's at the middle linebacker spot. He gets the mismatch on the RB

#2 Here is Micah in the 4-2 look, they get the mismatch with RB on #55 as they run a cross dog. Nice job of getting pressure.  

These are just some of the reasons the Cowboys defense is top 10 in several categories. Dan Quinn is a top coordinator and outstanding football coach. Hope you enjoyed the article.