FRISCO, Texas -- There are "revenge games" or "reunion games" in the NFL every season between players and their former teams. That's normal.
However, what's less common is what's going down in Washington Sunday afternoon between the Dallas Cowboys (3-7) and the Commanders (7-4). Dallas will square off against Washington head coach Dan Quinn, who served as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator during each of their 12-win seasons from 2021-2023 on Mike McCarthy's Dallas staff.
Under Quinn, Dallas led the NFL in takeaways (93), interceptions (59), defensive touchdowns (15) and quarterback pressure rate (41.4%) while ranking fifth in scoring defense (19.9 points per game allowed).
"Just knowing Dan from across the way, I always had a ton of respect for him," McCarthy said on Tuesday. "It was awesome to have him here in Dallas. He's become a very good friend. I'm really happy for the success he's having. ... Dan does a great job connecting with people. He has a great personality. He did a great job for us, and he's doing a great job now."
The uncommon component of the Cowboys reunion with Quinn is the rarity of immediately facing a former coordinator as a division rival's head coach in the first season after his departure when he still retains plenty of institutional knowledge of Dallas.
"It's a unique thing because they know you and you know them," Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said Tuesday. "Sometimes it's a little bit of gamesmanship in terms of 'hey are you guys still doing that?' There's always some fun stuff that you do pregame, but once the ball is snapped, man, the game is the game."
Quinn won't be the only former Cowboy on the Washington sideline on Sunday. He brought Cowboys defensive backs/passing game coordinator Joe Whitt by promoting him to the defensive coordinator role, center Tyler Biadasz, edge rusher Dorance Arrmstrong, edge rusher Dante Fowler Jr. and cornerback Noah Igbinoghene along with him to the nation's capital. Fowler, whose eight-and-a-half sacks rank as the fourth most in the NFL this season, is thriving and on pace to eclipse his career-high sack total of 11.5 set back in 2019 with the Los Angeles Rams.
"We're going to have to block DA, and Dante's going to have to stop the run, and DQ and [Washington defensive coordinator] Joe [Whitt] are going to have to adjust to us," Schottenheimer said. "We'll have to adjust for them because they've actually had, they got the benefit because they've had a couple extra days to prepare for us. We got the Monday night game, they had the Thursday night game, so there'll be some different things that they for us from a wrinkle standpoint, but you don't downplay it. It's also once the ball is kicked off, you just kind of play."
The Cowboys' defensive culture and scheme Quinn imported to the Commanders has transformed what was the NFL's worst scoring defense in 2023 (30.5 points per game allowed) into an above average unit in 2024 thus far, allowing 22.1 points per game, which ranks 14th in the league this season. Between numerous injuries to key pieces like cornerback DaRon Bland (foot stress fracture, zero games played), edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence (foot injury, six games missed) and edge rusher Micah Parsons (high ankle sprain, four games missed) to name a few and a longer than anticipated adjustment period to new defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer's scheme, the Cowboys defense has taken a noticeable step back in Quinn's absence.
They are allowing 10.8 more points per game in 2024 than they did in 2023, the largest increase across the past two seasons.
| Scoring defenses | Cowboys | Commanders |
|---|---|---|
2023 PPG Allowed | 18.5 (5th) | 30.5 (Worst) |
2024 PPG Allowed | 29.3 (31st) | 22.1 (14th) |
PPG Allowed Differential | +10.8 (Worst) | -8.4 (2nd-best) |
"I'll say he's a player's coach. I feel like that's one of the most effective coaches there is: a guy that's going to listen to player needs, whatever that may be, and I feel like that's why he's so effective," Cowboys safety Malik Hooker said of Quinn on Wednesday. ... "Q, I love him. I'm sure there's guys a lot of guys here that loved him. Obviously, I haven't talked to him since the season started, but offseason he still reaches out and checks in from time to time. Q is always going to be one of the favorite guys in my book. He's one of the best coaches I had, and I still love him like a mentor as he was here."
With the Cowboys rolling with eight-year veteran backup Cooper Rush in the wake of Dak Prescott's season-ending hamstring injury while also having some packages for former top-five pick quarterback Trey Lance, McCarthy and Schottenheimer are heavily stressing their guys take the field on Sunday perhaps even more prepared than usual. That's because Quinn's scheme uses disguise packages more than the average NFL defense, and Quinn has 2010's All-Decade Team linebacker Bobby Wagner, who played for him on the "Legion of Boom" Seattle Seahawks defenses, quarterbacking his unit in Washington this season.
"Obviously, we know him [Quinn] well. He knows us well," Schottenheimer said. "Again, I think you watch them play, their play style is very familiar in terms of the way they fly around football and stuff like that. They do a really good job with disguising their defenses. I'm a huge fan of [Commanders defensive coordinator] Joe Witt. I think Joe's doing a terrific job. Their disguise packages you have to be really good with your eyes, not only pre-snap but post-snap because what they show you pre-snap, you might be something completely different than what they do post snap, so we have to be very, very disciplined with our eyes.
"Right now they're doing a nice job with their packages with their linebackers. Bobby Wagner, I was with him in Seattle [as the Seahawks OC from 2018-2020], [he's] playing at an elite level. He's obviously comfortable with DQ's defense. It'll be fun to see those guys, and they're playing with some confidence right now."
