DALLAS — Week 10 was circled on the Dallas Cowboys' calendar by fans and media because it would be the first time that defensive coordinator Dan Quinn would face his old team, the Atlanta Falcons.
Quinn didn't have a gracious exit from the NFC South club. Despite leading the Falcons to a 43-42 record from 2015-20, including the franchise's second Super Bowl appearance in 2016, the Falcons started Quinn’s final season in Atlanta 0-5 after finishing the previous two seasons 7-9. Owner Arthur Blank wiped the slate clean in the middle of the season with the firing of Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff.
The Cowboys defense took care of their coach by limiting quarterback Matt Ryan and Atlanta's offense to three points. The offense added 43 just to ensure that Quinn would come out a winner.
After the win, which moves Dallas to 7-2, Quinn talked about his emotions from facing his former team.
"One, there’s a lot of people I care about. A lot," Quinn said. "It’s good to have that game done and over with. More than anything, when [there’s a team with] a lot of friends you have, you go and battle. It’s the fun part of the NFL. There’s always good rivalries between coaches and players. There’s a lot of guys on that roster and in the building I certainly care about a lot."
Coach Mike McCarthy, who presented Quinn with a game ball in the locker room, thought it was "human nature" for Quinn to want to get a win against his old team.
"We were all very happy for Dan and the [Cowboys players] that were in Atlanta last year," McCarthy said. "I think it’s natural, goes on in this league — very happy for Dan."
Quinn underscored last week that there wouldn’t be time to reminisce and where he needed to be at the moment was with the Cowboys, and with a defense that had plenty to clean up after a 30-16 loss to the Denver Broncos wherein his unit had 14 missed tackles.
The defense rebounded against the Falcons by limiting them to 214 yards of total offense, gathering three interceptions, and holding Atlanta to 1-11 on third downs.
"We took a good step today," Quinn said. "We’re going to continue to push to improve, and keep going on, you want to get better and better with your execution. I thought we took a step in that direction today."
The Cowboys improved to 7-2 for the first time since the Bill Parcells era in 2003. All eight of the previous teams in club history that started 7-2 made the playoffs. Eventually four of those eight squads won the division.
Do you think that Sunday’s win was a statement game for the Cowboys on defense? Share your thoughts with Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.
