The appeal of Dan Quinn as head coach for the Denver Broncos
Potentially the leader in Denver Broncos head coach clubhouse can keep the continuity of the defense and aggressively branch out in search of offensive punch.
The defensive coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys is Dan Quinn, who many believe to be the front runner for the Denver Broncos head coach job has many inspiring traits that make him appealing.
The last coach for Denver certainly brought the defensive edge that the team to keep them in close tabs of keeping up with Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, and Las Vegas Raiders. Unfortunately, the defensive side of the football was the only side of focus where significant improvement started to take shape.
Fangio also was too laid back and calm in critical moments of games when they needed a fiery competitor to rise as a leader.
On the other hand, Quinn is a complete 180 to what Fangio brought as a personality. Quinn brings high energy and a passion that is infectious to a team desperate for more of this charisma in the building. He has brought an edge about that creates a belief in his players they can get the job done every Sunday on every single assignment.
A single belief in a person to be a better version of themselves daily goes a long way in creating permanent habits. Schematically putting players in the best opportunity to succeed a the highest level brings the most out of a player’s potential. It affords the person or in this case the player to reach the ceiling he needs to be utilizing the best skill set.
Read these quotes from Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Richard Sherman who played in Seattle when Quinn was head coach and former Florida head coach Will Muschamp who coached Quinn at Florida before rejoining Seattle in 2013-2014.
"He’s great at relating to his players. He’s great at understanding the strengths and weaknesses of his players. He allows everybody to play to their strengths,” Sherman said. [Atlanta Falcons team website back in 2015]“Dan has a bunch of strengths, but his biggest is relating to people. He’s genuine. He’s real. He’s an outstanding football coach and works extremely hard at it. But he just does a great job of dealing with people,” Muschamp said of Quinn. [Atlanta Falcons team website back in 2015]"
The Denver Broncos, Broncos Country, and Sherman know all about Quinn and his orchestration of one of the greatest defenses of all time. One of the impressive markers on Quinn’s resume is having close to five future Hall of Famers on that team who bucked the Broncos back to the second grade back in Super Bowl 48.
Quinn would take the Atlanta Falcons job in 2015 boasting a 43-42 head coaching in that time. He would register three winning seasons and two losing seasons. In the season Quinn was fired, he was winless for five games never seeing the field again.
While Quinn would be tasked with finding an offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach, and possibly others to fill that part of the staff in Denver, he showed aggressiveness in his time at Atlanta finding offensive coordinator.
There is one glaring “what if” in this side of the ball Quinn could have done differently. We will talk about this later. Quinn hired one of the most brilliant minds in Kyle Shanahan to his staff as offensive coordinator. Shanahan orchestrated one of the best offenses to head to Super Bowl 51. That’s where Atlanta crumbled in the second half after notoriously being down 28-3.
Shanahan in the off-season took a head coaching job with San Francisco leaving a vacant seat as offensive coordinator.
It is a version of aggressive and out-of-the-box thinking that brought a few question marks and head raises. Quinn hired Steve Sarkisian to be offensive coordinator replacing Shanahan. It was a drop-off from Shanahan; however, they still managed 20+ points per game.
This was impressive at the time. Unfortunately in the 2019 season, Sarkisian moved back to college. This brings us to where things could have happened differently. The moment when Shanahan left is when Quinn should have hired from within with Matt LaFleur. This could be a positive sign of how Quinn might handle a future situation if the offensive coordinator is hired in the next few years (if Quinn is hired).
Once Quinn was let go by the Atlanta Falcons, he became the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. In one lone season, Quinn became who many believe is the assistant coach of the year in 2021. He also re-emerged one of his growing strengths in getting the most out of his players.
From Micah Parsons, Randy Gregory to Trevon Diggs, Quinn excelled in placing responsibility and trusting his unit to excel. In nearly every opportunity he allowed his team to be in the best possible place to succeed. This resulted in Dallas being one of the best teams in creating turnovers.
Micah Parsons said after the demoralizing loss to San Francisco in playoffs on Quinn.
Micah Parsons said any NFL team would be lucky to have Cowboys DC Dan Quinn as a head coach, but said: “I hope Q is back. That’s my dog. … Q, I hope you stay, if you see this.” pic.twitter.com/SgIFSRxi0u
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) January 17, 2022
Quinn’s aggressive nature of defense must come with a sense of discipline. Gregory and others channeled Raiders bad penalties juju that Quinn must correct before he takes any head coaching opportunity. 14 penalties for close to 89 yards is too high for any team in the National Football League.
In closing, Quinn if he comes is going to be met with criticism. However, it’s important to understand he showed an out-of-the-box aggressiveness to bring in Sarkisian even though LaFleur was the best candidate. If Quinn brings on a marvel at offensive coordinator in his return back to coaching, then he must get the next coach right.
The other is entrusting that offensive coordinator to bring the best possible solution at quarterback. With Shanahan ties, it does beg the question if he goes down the same tree with Mike McDaniel or he thinks outside the box again with Luke Getsy, who interviewed for the head coach vacancy.
The important thing to remember with Quinn is this: leadership. The number one quality George Paton wants in his new head coach. Aside from the tea leaves that Paton wanted Quinn as his HC or vice versa, Quinn does check a fair number of boxes. The one glaring is what he does on the offensive side. However, remember once more that Quinn is a coach who gets the most out of his players. Here are a few quotes to leave you with from 2015 again.
"“Dan Quinn is a really special leader. He knows his stuff. His record speaks for itself with how he’s been able to work with people and put people in the right spots. His defenses have been dominating. So, I think what he’s going to be able to accomplish on his own is going to be really good,” Ken Norton former linebacker coach in Seattle with Quinn. [Atlanta Falcons team website back in 2015]“He does a great job of getting guys ready for the game and does a great job of teaching technique. Especially, the younger guys. He’s a good coach for getting guys to continue to improve,” Michael Bennett said. [Atlanta Falcons team website back in 2015]“We’ve got two to three base defenses, pretty much, and we run that all game. And then we’ve got about four nickel defenses. So it’s simple, man. And that allows us to play fast,” KJ Wright said. [Atlanta Falcons team website back in 2015]"
If Quinn comes to Denver, it is imperative to keep that same energy and provide the same simple defense that allows his players to play fast. It will be fascinating to watch if Quinn is the guy for Denver.