The HC Dan Quinn Discussion Thread

[Riggo44]

View attachment 14182

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

To me he has to get them into the playoffs next season. Only way I'd bring him back if otherwise is if they have an OK season with Jayden missing most of it.

They wasted the 2025 season -- Quinn and Peters. Feels like its all hands on deck to fix things for a rebound season in 2026.

It's cool, I like the sense of urgency from this regime, assuming it sticks, but I am not interested in seeing Quinn's A game land a C season.

If I am giving something everything I have to rebound from a failure and come off as meh in my comeback round at work -- its not like I am getting rewarded from an employer for that.

I think it was a no brainer to give Quinn another chance this season. I think its equally a no brainer not to give Quinn two chances to bounce back if the season goes awry. And yeah a so so season with a franchise QB is a bad season IMO.

I think there is context to everything.

I would have fired Jay after the 8-7-1 season in 2016, even though he had 2 consecutive winning season because of the way they essentially blew a top 5 offense by hiring the statistically worst defensive coordinator in the history of the NFL, only to see the defense set a historical record for ineptitude on 3rd and long. And defense in general. And for sleepwalking through a win and in game.

Was 8-7-1 a terrible record? No. But it’s the way they got there which was a fireable offense.

If the team starts slowly, has a slow start on offense and the defense isn’t improved, even if Daniels is Superman, and they get to 9-7, I’d still fire Quinn.

Now, if they actually play well and just have a few bad breaks and maybe some bad injury luck, they might be a different story.

Context is everything and we don’t know the context yet.

The could also come out gangbusters. Who knows….

 

[Dlts20]

 

[KDawg]

He said a lot without saying much. He’s got the coach speak thing down.

 

[method man]

With the Brian Johnson departure, is anyone else thoroughly unimpressed by the gaps and resumes of the coaching staff?

On offense, you currently don't have either an official run game coordinator or pass game coordinator in place to help a first year OC. Your new OL coach is in his first year as a lead NFL OL coach. Your new QB coach was an "offensive assistant" for 5 years, the guy who hired him (Sean Payton) didn't bring him to Denver and his QB student (Penix) didn't credit him when he was with the Falcons. The "name" they added as an offensive assistant in Welker is a guy who was given a "personnel analyst" role by his drinking buddy AP because no one thought he was worthy of a position coach role last year or this year.

On defense, you have a first year DC who got his first NFL DC gig at 47 (the only DCs in the league older than him to get jobs as first year DCs were Anarumo and Al Golden, an ex college HC). You have no defensive run game coordinator or defensive pass game coordinator/DB coach. Regarding the latter, we are getting media slop that Daronte will fill that role...well, even seasoned DCs have pass game coordinators. Flores had Daronte. The one impressive add here was Henderson.

 

[DWinzit]

With the Brian Johnson departure, is anyone else thoroughly unimpressed by the gaps and resumes of the coaching staff?

On offense, you currently don't have either an official run game coordinator or pass game coordinator in place to help a first year OC. Your new OL coach is in his first year as a lead NFL OL coach. Your new QB coach was an "offensive assistant" for 5 years, the guy who hired him (Sean Payton) didn't bring him to Denver and his QB student (Penix) didn't credit him when he was with the Falcons. The "name" they added as an offensive assistant in Welker is a guy who was given a "personnel analyst" role by his drinking buddy AP because no one thought he was worthy of a position coach role last year or this year.

On defense, you have a first year DC who got his first NFL DC gig at 47 (the only DCs in the league older than him to get jobs as first year DCs were Anarumo and Al Golden, an ex college HC). You have no defensive run game coordinator or defensive pass game coordinator/DB coach. Regarding the latter, we are getting media slop that Daronte will fill that role...well, even seasoned DCs have pass game coordinators. Flores had Daronte. The one impressive add here was Henderson.

Thanks for posting this!

I lightly mentioned a concern about this when Olsen returned to LSU instead of accepting our DB coach position. It doesn't seem as though they have contacts or pull to bring in staff on either side. I'd expect the staff to be much more established by now. Maybe it is just because of all the coaching changed through the NFL but dang, lets get more set.

Is there a chance this will affect a FA in their decision to sign here or go with a team with a more established staff? It would be a negative the teams competing with us for the player cold try to use against us.

Either way, I did expect the staff to be more filled in right after the SB, instead our numbers are dwindling

 

[method man]

Thanks for posting this!

I lightly mentioned a concern about this when Olsen returned to LSU instead of accepting our DB coach position. It doesn't seem as though they have contacts or pull to bring in staff on either side. I'd expect the staff to be much more established by now. Maybe it is just because of all the coaching changed through the NFL but dang, lets get more set.

Is there a chance this will affect a FA in their decision to sign here or go with a team with a more established staff? It would be a negative the teams competing with us for the player cold try to use against us.

Either way, I did expect the staff to be more filled in right after the SB, instead our numbers are dwindling

Henderson was a nice pull.

With Johnson, the screwup was it seems they gave him weeks to look for another job. Should’ve given him an exploding deadline for the stay/leave decision so they wouldn’t have missed out on some of these senior offensive assistants

Yes, not landing assistants will hurt. FAs oftentimes follow position coaches and other non coordinators they have worked with in the past

 

[DWinzit]

Henderson was a nice pull.

With Johnson, the screwup was it seems they gave him weeks to look for another job. Should’ve given him an exploding deadline for the stay/leave decision so they wouldn’t have missed out on some of these senior offensive assistants

Yes, not landing assistants will hurt. FAs oftentimes follow position coaches and other non coordinators they have worked with in the past

Yeah the Johnson situation seemed like a willy nilly deal, I didn't understand that and I was under the impression he was important to our staff. I hope they have other decent prospects in mind and get after them

 

[burgold]

I agree with the concern that we are lacking some solid graybeards to help Blough. Part of me wonders if Brian Johnson is a big loss. He probably is, but he stank when he was the Eagles OC so the question of how good a mentor he would be is up in the air. Still, it would be useful for Blough to have some vet coaches to lean on.

As for the "offensive passing game coordinator" and "offensive running game coordinator" Aren't these relatively new titles? I always pictured them as sort of fake titles used to prevent coach poaching. Maybe their not, but there was a trend a few years ago of attaching "Assistant head coach" to almost every coaching job. Remember when we saw the Assistant Head Coach towel boy strutting around? Being more serious, I would think the running backs coach by default is still going to have a lot of input on the rushing attack. Likewise, the wide receivers and tight ends coaches will contribute to the passing plays. So, maybe having an offensive running game coordinator is useful, but I think it's baked in. I don't think an OC is only a play caller and I think the rest of the coaches do have a voice in gameplanning.

 

[DWinzit]

While I understand your point, to a newbie DC or OC I would think the more good staff you surround yourself with, the better

 

[burgold]

Yeah the Johnson situation seemed like a willy nilly deal, I didn't understand that and I was under the impression he was important to our staff. I hope they have other decent prospects in mind and get after them

When he was hired, I read he was the succession plan. The expectation was that Kingsbury would be good and that he would get poached sooner or later for a head coaching position. Quinn was badly burned in the past by not being ready for losing his OC in Atlanta so he picked up Johnson who had the credentials, but wasn't in danger of getting an OC job right away because he had been so bad at it in Philly. The hope was that working under Kliff, he would level up and become a good OC by the time he left. Obviously, that plan changed and Quinn thought he saw something in Blough that made him leapfrog Johnson.

I do imagine Johnson is good. The offense was good over the past two years. I am surprised that Johnson followed Kliff when Kliff didn't even get an OC job. Basically, Johnson and Kliff both accepted demotions which brings up some unpleasant concerns.

 

[burgold]

While I understand your point, to a newbie DC or OC I would think the more good staff you surround yourself with, the better

I agree. My point notwithstanding. Blough and Jones need some graybeards around them to lean on.

The title thing doesn't bother me so much but the lack of brainpower and experience does. When I first started working as a reporter at WAMU, boy did I lean on the engineers to figure out the software, how to use the equipment, and get a sense of how things were done. I still did the research, the writing, and story generation, but it was invaluable to have someone to show me how to put it together and do it well. Right now, Blough doesn't know what he doesn't know. He probably has a lot of the theory down, but there's a difference between understainding it and doing it. Having someone by his side who's done it is a big deal.

 

[Riggo44]

It is rather interesting both Kingsbury and Johnson took demotions, essentially. However, they are on McVay's staff, so they'll be shitting rainbows this time next year. I've noticed we have a small coaching staff--McVay on the other hand has a huge one. Id think with two first time coordinators, we'd have a few more experienced voices in the room.

 

[burgold]

It is rather interesting both Kingsbury and Johnson took demotions, essentially. However, they are on McVay's staff, so they'll be shitting rainbows this time next year. I've noticed we have a small coaching staff--McVay on the other hand has a huge one. Id think with two first time coordinators, we'd have a few more experienced voices in the room.

I wonder if that's by design? A "Too many cooks..." kind of thing? I kind of doubt it, but clarity of vision does matter.

Still, I'd like us to beef up the brain trust a little.

 

[Riggo44]

I wonder if that's by design? A "Too many cooks..." kind of thing? I kind of doubt it, but clarity of vision does matter.

Still, I'd like us to beef up the brain trust a little.

There are some coaches and organizations we should do the opposite of, the Rams are not one of them. I had the same thought about the number of voices in the room, too. But when someone like McVay has that many, it gives me pause.

Johnson will be replaced, they've specifically stated that. So we'll see who they get, there are a number of good coaches available that would fit will, I think.

 

[DWinzit]

I agree. My point notwithstanding. Blough and Jones need some graybeards around them to lean on.

The title thing doesn't bother me so much but the lack of brainpower and experience does. When I first started working as a reporter at WAMU, boy did I lean on the engineers to figure out the software, how to use the equipment, and get a sense of how things were done. I still did the research, the writing, and story generation, but it was invaluable to have someone to show me how to put it together and do it well. Right now, Blough doesn't know what he doesn't know. He probably has a lot of the theory down, but there's a difference between understainding it and doing it. Having someone by his side who's done it is a big deal.

Yes, the titles are somewhat irrelevant but the experience that the well versed staff bring will be desperately missing especially little to know play calling experience added onto the duties for the important titles, of OC and DC

 

[SkinsNumberOne]

There are some coaches and organizations we should do the opposite of, the Rams are not one of them. I had the same thought about the number of voices in the room, too. But when someone like McVay has that many, it gives me pause.

Johnson will be replaced, they've specifically stated that. So we'll see who they get, there are a number of good coaches available that would fit will, I think.

It is possible too many cooks is more of a problem when you want and encourage more collaboration. DQ apparently does. McVay learned a lot in his journey to HC, and I am sure he has some appreciation for collaboration.

Yes I would guess like you maybe- McVay may just be better at setting up the structure. I mean, it is the default guess based on success. We will see.

According to Schultz now, McVay and Kliff are buddies. I didn’t know that.

 

[Dlts20]

 

[KDawg]

With the Brian Johnson departure, is anyone else thoroughly unimpressed by the gaps and resumes of the coaching staff?

On offense, you currently don't have either an official run game coordinator or pass game coordinator in place to help a first year OC. Your new OL coach is in his first year as a lead NFL OL coach. Your new QB coach was an "offensive assistant" for 5 years, the guy who hired him (Sean Payton) didn't bring him to Denver and his QB student (Penix) didn't credit him when he was with the Falcons. The "name" they added as an offensive assistant in Welker is a guy who was given a "personnel analyst" role by his drinking buddy AP because no one thought he was worthy of a position coach role last year or this year.

On defense, you have a first year DC who got his first NFL DC gig at 47 (the only DCs in the league older than him to get jobs as first year DCs were Anarumo and Al Golden, an ex college HC). You have no defensive run game coordinator or defensive pass game coordinator/DB coach. Regarding the latter, we are getting media slop that Daronte will fill that role...well, even seasoned DCs have pass game coordinators. Flores had Daronte. The one impressive add here was Henderson.

I’ve been concerned with the coaching staff since the end of the season.

 

[Dlts20]