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.

Updated:NFL Cowboys run defense issues vs Washington, the Browns and Cardinals

 In this blog I will discuss some of the run issues that happened in the Cowboys game vs WASHINGTON, The Browns and Cardinals. 

They played Washington twice. The 2nd game was worse than the first. They ran 33 times for 182 yards.

THE WFT Runs duo but blocks the de one time and blocks him with the qb and jet motion another, as the jet fake freezes the de and he's worried about Alex Smith running the ball.

 They seemed confused with some of the jet motions and shifts Washington used and it seemed to give them an advantage in numbers and creating cutback lanes. Here is a perfect example on 2nd and 19. Who is the cutback player. WFT gets 13 yards on the play. 

The LB Dips inside #50 so the back reads it and cuts it back nicely

Heres the touchdown run same duo scheme. The RB makes another good cut as the lb dives inside rather than playing his b gap and its 23 yard td run. The Cowboys are rolling to a cover 3 look to the front side and the WFT does a great job on the double team. Washington flips the back to get it run to the 1 tech side.

2 plays for 35 yards using the duo scheme. Clips below.

They run more  of it to seal the game late. Similar double scheme(Duo)

They re up and its a 3rd and 6. The Cowboys give a dime look and walk the lb up. The WFT makes a solo call on the right side, everyone blocks man on. The left guard and center easily handle Smith#58 who gives no effort, for a 37 yard td. The Jet motion action  and no ilb/safety for cutback  on the back side helps makes the play. The Duo scheme becomes a single block on the front side because of the walked up lb.

GAME 1 vs WASHINGTON

In game 1 In this game the Cowboys got their mike back. Vander Esch #55. It didn't help much as the WFT ran the ball 39 times for 208 yards.

In the first series, Washington ran 6 carries for 62 yards with a long 40 yarder. 

here's three plays from the first series. 3 clips are down below.

vs 12 personnel 4-2 nickel the Cowboys go on 1st and 10. They get 5 yards on the zone play to the right side. 

On 2nd and 1 the Cowboys get 12 personnel but go 3-4 to their big package. They are in an under front. There left def tackle gets planted. The nose guard goes off a and aldon smith is nowhere to be found to the off a gap. He shouldn't get cut off by the guard. Another 5 yard gain.

1st and 10.

I really don't know what 54 is doing. Does he really have #2 man for man. Really doesn't add up to me. You are a lb play run and be there for cut back. Why is the right def tackle swimming, play your gap. 8 yard gain, very bad defense.

The next play is a big blow.

1st the running back is in the tight slot position. Should be an alert to something is up. The WFT runs a good inside handoff with a lead blocker. 

The SS doesn't set the edge and the play side lb tries to go underneath and doesn't get there. 

The free safety does an awful job and cant use the sideline to make a tackle. 

4 clips discussed above

COWBOYS VS BROWNS

Lets look at it in detail. A couple things stand out. The lack of interior defense with the Nose and D Tackle really stood out and the Cowboys are really not getting much production out of their 2 inside linebackers. That coupled with lousy run support from their safeties lead to some major issues on the defensive side. 

I am putting together some clips and finished the 1st  quarter. I will finish this up tomorrow but wanted to give some insight to what I saw. 

Clip # 1-21 yard gain

The Browns are in 11 personnel vs the Cowboys are in a 4-2 base front setting the 3 technique to their left.

The Browns run wide zone to the left and get a great push on the 2i and the 3 technique with their combos.  Look at the push the right guard and right tackle get to the linebacker.  

Notes: The Cowboys are in man free so they lose the safety support as the strong safety is in coverage and thinks it's pass originally and gets driven 10 years down field. 

The free safety wiffs and turns it into a 21 yard gain. 

Clip #2- 9 yard gain

The Browns line up in 21 personnel with the tight end shifting from the left side to the right side.

It looks as if the Browns defense doesn't reset the front because the left defensive end is moving into the same gap as the nose tackle. This is a communication miscue. The left defensive end ends up getting reached by the guard, I don't think their playing half man behind based on the nose tackle slant to the near a gap. and the linebacker flows too fast over the gap so the C gap is exposed. 

Do they check cover 3 to the boundary. ss has to read it quicker and come up and support the run. It seems like an easy run read. 

Clip #3 10 yard gain

The Browns are in 11 personnel condensed 3x1 formation and motion the wr across. The Cowboys are in a 4-2 front have made a tight left call. They set the 3 technique to the tight end side. 

It looks like wide zone again as they run the same play as play #1. The slot wr does a great job on the safety, the center and left guard do a nice job on the combo to the mike and the left tackle does a good job widening the defensive end. The Browns rb does a nice job staying on track to his aiming point which creates a little more space for the cutback. 

I have no idea what the will lb # 48 is doing. Where are his eyes. Its zone and fast flow. He doesn't move at all and is responsible for the b gap. That is not good football and what is he keying.

Clip #4 - 8 yard gain

Browns are in 12 personnel and give you a wing tight set on the left with a flanker outside.They shift and move both tight ends to the other side. The Cowboys seem confused. They went from an under front but never seem to get into an under front to the new tight end. They are on a 3 technique backside.  They seem confused and have many different moving parts as they reset the front.

The problem is they over run it as 54 Smith and Griffen really gets upfield and then tries to fold back inside to play the cutback. Good run for 8 yards

The Cowboys stay 2 deep which really doesn't give much help to the front 7 in the run game.

Clip 5 and 6 are  on the video below:

clip 5 -10 yard gain

The Browns line up in 12 personnel. They bring the tight end in motion and run a counter scheme. The left guard actually misses his block when the defensive end jumps inside. Hunt makes a great cut and gets a great block from the right tackle who manhandles the inside linebacker. The h back does a nice job climbing to the 2nd level lb. Due to the bounce and being in cover 2 the safety is too deep to be a factor and give any run support.

clip 6-12 yard gain

The Browns come out in 12 personnel again and use the h back to wham back on the nose guard. The center actually blocks back on the defensive end as the Cowboys run an eagle front to the back side.

With the guard tackle and tight end they run wide zone and look at the shoulder turn of the rb in conjunction with his offensive line. The Rt does a great job on the 5 technique and the guard does a good job climbing to the 2nd level. The Cowboys bring the safety down but he misses the tackle. This play comes down to tackling as the safety could have held it to 1-2 yards but instead turns into a 12 yard gain.

The left guard and left tackle do a nice job sealing the backside as the cowboys lb has his eyes in the backfield again and ends up chasing the false influence block by the center. 

See below for clips 7 and 8

Clip #7- 28 yard gain

The Browns come out in 13 personnel and bring the h back across to get into pro flank formation.

Now the Cowboys  blitz into it but the corner back doesn't play it very tough. He has every opportunity to blow this play up. Also, the playside linebacker has to assume the play is going to spill to him because the def end is slanting down into the b gap with the corner fire. He has to scrape wider on this to give his backside lb a chance. The backside lb has to see the guard pull a little quicker and scrape over the top. The playside lb scrapes and attacks it with his inside shoulder he gives the defense a better shot.

Clip #8- 11 yards.

The Browns come out with 11 personnel, ace formation and the Cowboys go bear. The right tackle actually reaches the 9 technique which allows this play to bounce outside. The right guard reaches the the 3 technique and they do a good job sealing the perimeter with the flanker and tight end. The cb should be crack replacing but it looks they are in man again and he takes a few steps inside with the wr cracking. Turns out to be a 2 for 1 blocking wise.

The Cowboys have issues inside at defensive tackle, inside linebacker and safety. They need to get it fixed to get deeper into the playoffs.

COWBOYS VS CARDINALS.

Early in the game, I thought the Cowboys did a better job defending the run.

The first 7 carries on traditional runs, the Cardinals were 7 for 23 yards. The Cowboys brought the weak safety down and rolled to a cover 3 look. Seemed sound and they had success. This was a 0-0 game at the end of quarter 1 and  the Cowboys defense was not playing bad. 
Here are a couple clips.

Then their players lack of discipline gets them in trouble on a key 4th and 1.

Watch the defensive end peak inside and the safety not be disciplined and stay home on a pivotal 4th and 1. 

Everyone wants to blame the coaches but that's not a bad call and should be off the field if everyone 

DOES THEIR JOB!

The score is 7-0 Cardinals because after the play above they score on a walk in jet sweep down on the goalline.

But, here we go again with the inconsistencies defensively. After Elliot's 2nd fumble, they run 2 designed qb runs. The 1st is a draw/lead play in which they defend it well. The 2nd one they botch defensively and the defensive end loses outside leverage.  Watch the difference in the 2.

Cardinals 1st play 

D & D:  1st and 10 on the Dallas 28. Dallas runs the lead draw

Offense: 11 personnel  twins left open with fb offset away from the strength

Defense 4-2,  3 tech to the run strength  sam blitz b  gap 

Play:  Dallas runs the lead draw

Cowboys play it well. de  stays home.  #90 makes a great play 

They get a 1st down on an 1l yard completion 

1st and 10 

Offense : 12 personnel tight wing with a flanker to the same side.

Defense: 4-2 cover 4 look 

Play:  Inside Zone Read

Defensive end loses contain causes a major gap.