We know Grant Paulsen didn’t want Dan Quinn, saying he was the only F when they graded potential Commanders hires off the list of seven initial interview names – but can we hear something positive from GP and Danny Rouhier?
“We’ll run it back over at The Bullpen in four years if need be, but let's not root for that,” GP said. “Let's root for a thanks for the Super Bowl Dan Party.”
“I’ve tried to remind myself throughout this process that this is we are still out of the dark ages, with a guy that quite literally gave them no chance that's over,” Danny said. “Whether they win or lose now, it’s on their own merits at this point, right? With normal football stuff, I'll call balls and strikes if I love or don’t love something. We can do normal football ops now, which is a blessing in itself, and I will not take that for granted. That said, here's the first ball to me, right? This process led us to this, that's a ball. Martin Mayhew still being here, that's a ball to me. Maybe the next pitch might be a strike. But they just sort of hand you a pill, you swallow it uncritically, it’s hard for me to have sympathy for you. If every regime that's been new that has failed, you blindly just say yes, this is the group, thinking uncritically, you kind of deserve what you've got.”
If there’s one other thing G&D can say about Quinn, well, yeah, it weakens the Cowboys.
“On the other side of it is a team that’s hurt, your arch-rival in your division that you’re chasing…it’s a double whammy,” GP said.
“That’s not a bad consolation prize,” Danny said. “You don’t want to make it the sole reason for your decision, but it’s a nice bonus for me.”
All well and great, but that said, it all left Danny with one word to describe the hire:
“Uninspired,” he said. “The process led me to feel like, ‘okay, there’s an ending.’ It’s like going through an Advent calendar and someone already ate the candy. We went through this big process, and it’s someone they could’ve hired three weeks ago if they were really excited."
And Grant's one word?
“Thwarted,” he said. “I feel like this was an opposition of my thing, like I was prevented from accomplishing something. I was thwarted by Ben Johnson, and this group I put so much faith in, and for the first time, they’ve let me down a little bit. Saddened, I’d suppose, is another word.”
And, yeah, Grant gave it the ultimate synopsis:
“You had an offseason where it looked like there was a chance that all the stars might align finally, where the GM and the offensive head coach paired with the quarterback underneath of this ownership group, would all happen,” GP said. “And when they went and got the GM and it was the one we all wanted, the plan started to come in into place, and at that point, we were sledding downhill, getting what we wanted. The whole thing was gonna work out beautifully, and this was not that; you're not getting the ideal perfect scenario on current trend of what works at the highest rate. But, there are other ways to do it, and you are making it harder for yourself to win this way. I don’t know why you would want to sign up for that, but they like Dan Quinn enough that they're betting on Dan Quinn.”
