The Cowboys are plenty familiar with this defense
When the Cowboys take the field this Sunday in Northwest Stadium, it’ll be more than just another game in the storied rivalry between the Cowboys and Commanders. This will be their first meeting against former defensive coordinator Dan Quinn since he left to take this head coaching gig.
It wasn’t just Quinn who left, either. He brought along Cowboys defensive pass game coordinator Joe Whitt Jr. to be his defensive coordinator, even as Whitt was under consideration to replace Quinn in Dallas. Quinn also hired Cowboys assistant defensive line coach Sharriff Floyd to the same role in Washington. And when free agency began, Quinn welcomed a handful of Cowboys free agents into the nation’s capitol, including Tyler Biadasz, Noah Brown, Dorance Armstrong, Dante Fowler, and Noah Igbinoghene.
It became a bit of a running joke that Quinn was simply trying to recreate the magic of his three years in Dallas with his new job, but so far that approach has turned out to be a smart idea. The Commanders are 7-4 and on pace for their best season in quite a while. Quinn is firmly in the running for Coach of the Year honors, and star quarterback Jayden Daniels is similarly the frontrunner for Offensive Rookie of the Year.
Despite all the team’s success, though, Quinn has yet to implement a defense as successful as what he had with the Cowboys. Coming into this matchup, Washington ranks 23rd in both EPA/play allowed and defensive DVOA. Only six teams are giving up more yards per play than Washington, though they rank 14th in scoring defense.
Quinn isn’t calling the plays on defense, as he did in Dallas. He’s handed that off to Whitt, who was his most trusted assistant with the Cowboys and also worked with Quinn in his final season as the Falcons head coach. This is Whitt’s first year as a defensive coordinator, and his first time calling the plays, though the overall scheme remains virtually identical to what the two coaches were running in Dallas.
Fundamentally, this defense plays with four down linemen that are all tasked with rushing the passer. Behind it, this scheme aims to take away the middle of the field and primarily plays Cover 1 or Cover 3. As was the case in Dallas, Quinn’s Commanders play man coverage at one of the highest rates in the NFL.
The issue that Quinn and Whitt have run into is that the Commanders do not employ anyone named Trevon Diggs or DaRon Bland. Their top cornerbacks thus far have been Benjamin St-Juste, a third round pick back in 2021, second-round rookie Mike Sainristill, and the aforementioned Igbinoghene, who’s already logged more defensive snaps this season than in any of his previous four years in the league.
Things haven’t been terrible for the Commanders secondary, but they haven’t been good either. Washington is 19th in EPA/pass, 21st in pass defense DVOA, and 18th in pass yards per play. Sainristill has been a bright spot, but St-Juste and Igbinoghene have struggled. That was a motivating factor behind the team trading for four-time Pro Bowler Marshon Lattimore at the trade deadline. Lattimore has yet to make his Commanders debut as he deals with a hamstring injury, and he won’t suit up this week either, but help is on the way for this secondary.
One element that’s followed Quinn and Whitt to Washington is their pass rush prowess. There may not be a Micah Parsons on the team, but Quinn has still managed to scheme up pressure with his creative stunts and twists on the defensive line. Quinn and Whitt have used the blitz more than they ever did in Dallas, currently blitzing at the sixth-highest rate in the league. While it’s only yielded the 15th-best pressure rate, Washington is getting home consistently, currently eighth in sacks.
Due to the problems in the secondary, though, this defense has become all too dependent on the pass rush winning their reps. On plays where they generate a pressure, Washington is 12th in EPA/pass. But on plays where they don’t generate a pressure, they’re 25th in EPA/pass. Simply put, the secondary cannot hold up without help from the pass rush.
Another trait that’s stayed true to this scheme is the struggles against the run. Quinn likes to use such wide alignments on the defensive line, and then moves his guys all over with stunts and twists, that it creates wide open lanes for running backs. Coming into this one, the Commanders are 23rd in EPA/rush, 29th in run defense DVOA, and are giving up the second-most yards per carry in the league. And no, the one team ahead of them is not the Cowboys. That’s right, Quinn’s defense is giving up more yards per carry than Mike Zimmer’s dismal unit.
Whereas Quinn’s Cowboys defenses usually got attacked on the edges to great success, his Commanders defense is mostly getting beat right up the gut. Only five teams have had more runs between the tackles against them, and only the Colts have allowed more runs of 10+ yards on attempts inside the tackles.
That’s music to the Cowboys’ ears, considering that no offense runs up the middle more than them on the year. They haven’t had much success in that approach, mostly because defenses just load the box to stuff the runs. But Washington refuses to do so. Quinn and Whitt have continued their trend of running a high rate of dime personnel, and are presenting light boxes at the fourth-highest rate in the league, making it even harder to bottle up those runs inside.
From a schematic standpoint, the Commanders have almost exactly recreated the defense that Quinn and Whitt were running with the Cowboys. They’ve been able to replicate the success in the pass rush, while also still having the same issues against the run. Personnel issues in the secondary have added an additional challenge, though facing Cooper Rush this Sunday should be a welcome reprieve.
It will be interesting to watch this chess match between Quinn and Mike McCarthy. Neither coach is exactly working with a full cupboard, but they know each other’s schemes quite well. Which coach will be able to pull one over on the other?
