What to Expect from Dan Quinn and the Commanders Defense - Part 2
In part 1 of this breakdown, we covered the different ways Dan Quinn generated pressure in Dallas and how he will likely use linebacker Frankie Luvu like he used Micah Parsons during his rookie season.
Below, we’ll get into his coverage preferences as well as the areas where his approach fell short in Dallas.
Aggressive Coverage
We all know how Quinn has leaned on single-high coverages since his days in Seattle and Atlanta. Cover-3 and cover-1 are at the core of what he likes to do. Below, you can get a good feel for how much he leaned on them in 2023 as well as how his scheme compares to what the Commanders did last season (Again, this comes from of who puts these out each week during the season):
Quinn’s approach is roughly the inverse of what Washington did under Jack Del Rio.
The Cowboys were also among the league leaders each year is man-coverage frequency, most often leaning on cover-1. But regardless of what they played, they tried to be aggressive. Often, that meant playing man-press and disrupting receivers at the line of scrimmage:
Sometimes, that meant playing off-coverage and sitting on or jumping routes whether in man or zone. Here’s an example with Trevon Diggs from 2021, Quinn’s first season in Dallas:
And here’s an example from last season, this time with Daron Bland:
Cheating on routes is encouraged in Quinn’s defense.
The examples above were on simple 4-man rushes where those corners read the concept and took chances with their only help sitting in the middle of the field.
But many of the Cowboys’ interceptions and pick-6’s came as a result of Quinn’s pressure schemes forcing quick throws, as you can see on this next INT by Diggs.
Notice the pressure look, the single-high coverage, and Trevon Diggs at the top of the screen anticipating a short route and a quick throw:
Quinn did a great job during his time in Dallas of marrying his pressures to his coverages. It’s easy to understand why the Cowboys generated more takeaways and defensive touchdowns than any team in the NFL during Quinn’s tenure.
Disguise and Deception
The Cowboys didn’t use a ton of disguise under Quinn. Generally, what you saw pre-snap was what you got post-snap, at least when it came to the coverage being 1-shell or 2-shell. In fact, Dallas was in the bottom-10 in the league in middle of the field (MOF) disguise last season.
But there were some situations, particularly on 3rd down and in other key moments, where he did pull out some effective disguises.
One of his best came against the Chargers during the 2021 season. This was 3rd-and-4, a typical man-coverage down-and-distance.
Dallas had established earlier in this game that when playing man coverage, cornerbacks Trevon Diggs, Anthony Brown, and Jourdan Lewis would match up to wide receivers Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Jalen Guyton respectively. And that’s how they lined up at the snap here:
