A concerned party

Hey all, I am an frequent lurker here, and I wanted to get your opinions on your former DC (now Atlanta HC) Dan Quinn. As a Saints fan I have my set of questions that I want to air here, and get your take on.

Is he going to be another Gus Bradley, or will he be more?
Will he only be bringing Maxwell with him to ATL, or who else do you see him bringing with him/ trading for?
How good of a coach is he? Working with the LOB and that Front 7....even Steve Spagnola looked like an amazing DC when he had great talent to work with. How much is him, how much is it the players?
How do you see his loss, Harbaughs departure, and the emergence of the Rams and Cards changing your division?

That's a hard question to answer. A lot of folks think he's better than Bradley, and maybe by a considerable margin. I think he's better. But a lot of folks say the defense is still Pete's, and that ultimately it won't matter as much who the defensive guys are because Pete's running the show. I think it's a little of both.

Bottom line: I'm not much of an expert in the matter, but I think you got yourself a great hire.

I think Dan Quinn is really good with the Defensive line. It was his idea, along with Pete to move Red Bryant to the 5-Tech. I know Bennett swears by him, Quinn hated losing him when Mora/Ruskell decided to cut him his rookie season. The defense swore by him, saying his style was more aggressive than Bradley's.

I think he may bring our former Superbowl MVP along with him, maybe Jeron Johnson as well. Not sure but both those guys probably feel they can be starters in the league.

I could see the NFCW remaining a tough division to win, with the Cards new confidence. 9ers are a mystery to me but until proven otherwise, I expect them to be competitive (though I am probably in the minority on this one).

A lot of what Quinn did was the players but he did put them in the position to operate freely and fast. He just has to be his own man and maybe not getting the HC job last year will be a help for his long term future? Depends on what his OC does to help get the run game going. I would expect his defense to pick up. He has good experience with other NFL orgs as a coach so it isn't like he lacks experience planning against NFL teams. Most swear to his presence in the locker room and in front of the players. We will see how he does as the main voice. I think he is trying a little too hard on Twitter but he is feeling his way through, trying to connect with the fanbase.

Sailor, the OP is a Saints fan ...

More follow-up. I see the loss of Quinn as a big hurdle to clear, since Richard is an unknown as a DC. Richard has produced some quality secondary during his time as the Secondary coach, but with a new LB coach as well as a new to coaching at the pro-level Tatupu asst LB coach, the defense will be watched closely.

Losing Quinn along the defensive line, now leaves it all to Jones (?), former Saints defensive line coach who was at Florida with Quinn and has been here the past two seasons. Will be interesting to see how the defensive staff meshes together. We will never know if there are issues but Richard is a young guy and Norton leaving could have been him being skipped over? All just idle chatter on my part but something to chew on.

drdiags":1j0afs9a said:

Sailor, the OP is a Saints fan ...

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Heh. Yeah. I should amend my thoughts to say "I think your division rival got themselves a great hire."

He will fix Atlantas defense, with Manual as a coach the DB's will get better very fast and the pass rush will be back as well.

Well, it's hard to predict how Quinn will do in Atlanta. I'd say in a general sense, he'll do well. Atlanta was the best place for him, in terms of situation. They already have a great offense and an elite QB. Their defense is crap and needs improvement. I see him doing that.

Also, the ownership is patient and supportive. He's not going to get the axe too soon, and won't feel pressured right away. That will help his transition.

If you're looking for how it affects you as a Saints fan, I'd look in house. You've also got an elite offense and damn good HC, but your defense is crap. Again. Now, Ryan came in and fixed it, but only for a year, so is that year an anomoly, or do we look to see it get better ? If you can improve your defense, you'll be fine. If you can't, you're going to get beat by Atlanta and Carolina. Brees is getting older, and parts of that offense are aging.

As for our division, well that has a lot of variables.

I don't see us losing a whole lot from Quinn to Richardson. It's really Pete's defense and he'll help Kris out if needed. It will be a smooth transition.

The Niners aren't going to be really good. They have some aging players they have to figure out what's going on with, and losing Harbaugh for Tomsula is a definite minus, as well as losing Fangio. I see them slipping a bit, especially if they can't get Kaepernick figured out. Now, they still have a talented and deep roster, so if Kap plays well and Tomsula surprises a bunch of people, I can see them as an 8-10 win team. Problem is, they could end up being a 5-6 win team as well.

STL has a young and very talented roster, but they just can't seem to put it together. QB is a huge question mark, and they're kind of screwed here. Fisher won't mortgage the future for a QB, as he saw what that did to the Redskins. They won't get someone to fall to them that's halfway decent, and this draft is terrible after the first 2 QB's. Bradford is decent when healthy, but that's the question mark.

Arizona is kinda the same thing. They have an aging roster on defense and an unspectacular roster on offense. They're good with Palmer, but he can't stay healthy as well, but their defense is elite. They've been drafting well, so they're a threat for quite a while, IMO. They'll beat you, even with a backup QB.

A lot of good DC's do not make good head coaches.Some do such as Pete,Bill B ect but the odds are not great in DQ's favor .I think he will be more like Gus.If you don't have the right mix of players then you won't win no matter who you are.

El Caliente":6eeh0bwt said:

Is he going to be another Gus Bradley, or will he be more?

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Not entirely fair to put down Bradley, he took the worst HC job in the league. He's still a great coach, and hopefully the Jags will give him the time it'll take to fix 10 years of mistakes.

Quinn took a much better job, with an established top 10 QB and some decent talent to work with. More importantly one of the better owners in the league to have his back.

I think Quinn will have the Falcons back in the playoffs in the next couple of years after he works on the defense, which is BY FAR their weakest unit.

Sgt. Largent":3u2w1mfn said:

El Caliente":3u2w1mfn said:

Is he going to be another Gus Bradley, or will he be more?

Click to expand...

Not entirely fair to put down Bradley, he took the worst HC job in the league. He's still a great coach, and hopefully the Jags will give him the time it'll take to fix 10 years of mistakes.

Quinn took a much better job, with an established top 10 QB and some decent talent to work with. More importantly one of the better owners in the league to have his back.

I think Quinn will have the Falcons back in the playoffs in the next couple of years after he works on the defense, which is BY FAR their weakest unit.

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The jury's still out on Bradley--if the Jaguars will let him do what he needs to turn the team around. Pete Carroll arguably took one of the worst head coaching jobs in the league in 2010. The team was a disaster after Holmgren's last year and Mora's only year. If we see a marked improvement over the next couple of years, then he'll probably do alright. If not, I think it's safe to assume he doesn't have what it takes.

With the situation Quinn stepped into, he should turn Atlanta around rather quickly. If not, we'll know a bit more about how much Carroll actually runs the defense.

I think Quinn is a much better play caller than Bradley (who IMHO cost the Hawks the Atlanta playoff game in 2012) but I think Bradley is still a high quality coach. I think Quinn might overall be better but by a little or a lot who knows.

I think Atlanta will be very aggressive on defense, depends on his scheme of course but he seems to like to make a offense go on defense.

Seahawk Sailor":4r4aehzq said:

Sgt. Largent":4r4aehzq said:

El Caliente":4r4aehzq said:

Is he going to be another Gus Bradley, or will he be more?

Click to expand...

Not entirely fair to put down Bradley, he took the worst HC job in the league. He's still a great coach, and hopefully the Jags will give him the time it'll take to fix 10 years of mistakes.

Quinn took a much better job, with an established top 10 QB and some decent talent to work with. More importantly one of the better owners in the league to have his back.

I think Quinn will have the Falcons back in the playoffs in the next couple of years after he works on the defense, which is BY FAR their weakest unit.

Click to expand...

The jury's still out on Bradley--if the Jaguars will let him do what he needs to turn the team around. Pete Carroll arguably took one of the worst head coaching jobs in the league in 2010. The team was a disaster after Holmgren's last year and Mora's only year. If we see a marked improvement over the next couple of years, then he'll probably do alright. If not, I think it's safe to assume he doesn't have what it takes.

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I don't remember ANYONE saying that Seattle was one of the worst HC jobs in the league, unless we're talking 1993.

Seattle has a great owner, unbelievable fanbase and first class stadium/facilities. To compare Bradley to Carroll isn't even close to accurate. Jacksonville's been a lame duck franchise with a apathetic fanbase and bafoon of an owner for a long long time.

Behring Era...................

Sgt. Largent":2fbnjg3v said:

I don't remember ANYONE saying that Seattle was one of the worst HC jobs in the league, unless we're talking 1993.

Seattle has a great owner, unbelievable fanbase and first class stadium/facilities. To compare Bradley to Carroll isn't even close to accurate. Jacksonville's been a lame duck franchise with a apathetic fanbase and bafoon of an owner for a long long time.

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I distinctly remember a cacophony of mediots virtually guaranteeing Pete Carroll would fail. He was a rah-rah college coach joining a disaster of a team in the middle of nowhere. We were told the hire was doomed from the start.

If the Jags ownership takes a look at what Pete's done here and allows Bradly to do the same there, things could very well turn out similarly for him.

Saints fans SHOULD be worried.