Dan Quinn spent the past three seasons as the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. It was a highly successful stint that saw Quinn lead Dallas to a top-five defensive finish each year and lead the NFL in turnovers over his three-year stint.
Quinn was so good in Dallas that he earned his second head coaching opportunity, this time against one of the Cowboys’ most hated rivals, the Washington Commanders. He has the Commanders at 7-4 and on pace for their first playoff berth since 2020.
Meanwhile, the Dallas defense has fallen apart without Quinn. Former Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer returned to Dallas but hasn’t had the same luck as he did during his first stint.
On Sunday, Quinn will meet his former team for the first time since taking over Washington’s head coaching position earlier this year. He met with the media and was asked if playing his former team felt different compared to other teams.
“No, not really,” Quinn said. “I think probably because I’m a little bit older, maybe like early on in your coaching career you do. More than anything you see your friends that you coached with or worked with post-game, and you see some of the players, in the same space, that you worked with beforehand.”
Washington, having last played on Thursday, came off a few extra days of rest, giving Quinn and his coaching staff extra time to prepare for the Cowboys. Quinn was asked if he thought injuries played a significant part in Dallas’ struggles (3-7) this season. He didn’t take the bait.
“I can’t say how the injuries have affected them,” Quinn said. “It’s a different scheme, a different group of how they feature the players. So, I’ll get more into them as I dig into the week, but really, I can only comment on my time with them, but not how they feature the guys and the injuries that could come up. At this time of year, well, every time of year, that’s one of the hard parts of our league, is injuries and dealing with them. And so, it’s the part of the game that sucks and how do you keep developing the next player to be into that space to go. But all teams deal with it, and it is hard.”
That’s the perfect answer from Quinn. He’s not going to reveal too much or say the smallest of things that the Cowboys could use as a slight. That’s not Quinn’s style.
Even though the Commanders are big favorites, Quinn will not allow his team to look past the reeling Cowboys. While he left Dallas on excellent terms with ownership and his former players, you can bet Quinn wants this one badly for multiple reasons.