It wasn’t official when the Junkies were on air Thursday morning, but it was pretty widely expected that Dan Quinn was going to be the Commanders’ choice for their new head coach – so he guys brought in Clarence Hill Jr. of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to give some insight on Quinn.
Hill has covered the Cowboys as long as the Junks have been on air in DC, so he’s seen a lot, and but he revealed a shocking report that if Quinn did come to the Commanders, there could be a coach swap?
“What is Washington doing? I thought the hockey and basketball guys were gonna be better this Snyder. You knew you were gonna fire Rivera and you wait to the last minute, and then you're the last team looking for a coach. That makes no sense,” Hill said. “The Quinn situation, the Cowboys want him back, and there's rumors that Rivera might be an option here if Quinn does get the job, so, yeah, there's some trepidation to a certain extent.”
When it comes to Dallas’ defense, even Hill admits the Packers loss wasn’t a good resume-closer, but it was still a highly-ranked D in his tenure, because Quinn maximizes his talent.
“He’s a players’ coach and people like him; he's a good leader, and he'll be great with the media,” Hill said. “As far as the schemes are concerned, he certainly knows how to move people around and schemes to get his best guys in position to make plays. His heavy defensive back scheme was praised for much of the last three years, as their base defense was three safeties, but this year, being so small back there kind of bit them, because he ran this big nickel defense and didn't have linebackers and they couldn't stop the run. The Cowboys were built to get to the quarterback.”
There was concern that Quinn didn’t change anything tailored to the Packers’ offensive schemes in that game and never made adjustments, and that’s something that happened in a few games where the Cowboys never stopped the run, too.
But again, schemes can be changed and adjusted but personality is harder to fix, and Quinn has that – even if his style is a little closer to Eric Bieniemy than Ron Rivera.
“Yeah he’s a likeable dude; he’s kind of old school, but he's somebody that will coach them hard and certainly hold them accountable, but they like him,” Hill said. “I think that will certainly be different than an old school guy like Bieniemy, who likes to cuss you out and has a lot of fire. It’s tough when you bring in a guy to get you going and then you complain about him holding you accountable.”
And, as Hill even noted, for those worried about Quinn’s past as a head coach, there are success stories in second chances, like the guy Quinn worked under in Seattle and Mr. Belichick himself – so it might not excite the fan base, but it doesn’t mean it’s automatically a bad choice.
Take a listen to Hill’s entire segment, which also goes into the idea of Bill Belichick coming to Big D, Jerry Jones’ quirks, CeeDee Lamb’s season, and more!
