RENTON, Wash. — The loudest mouth in all of Seattle knows exactly what’s going to happen when the Seahawks’ playoff run is over.
That’s when Dan Quinn, the maestro behind the NFL’s most fearsome defense, will leave, heading off to become the head coach of some other team, bringing his potent schemes and perfect coaching attitude to another club. And Richard Sherman knows exactly how that is going to work out.
“I think he’d be fantastic,” Sherman told the Daily News.
Yeah, yeah, Sherman said, Quinn will almost certainly land in a rebuilding situation. But he can handle it.
“Obviously, you’re not always getting a great team, so it takes some time to develop,” Sherman said. “But he’ll be fantastic.”
The entire Seattle locker room knows this, because for two years, the Seahawks watched Quinn guide them to into NFL lore, the unit that stuffed Peyton Manning’s supposedly unstoppable Broncos in last season’s Super Bowl.
Two years of guiding this dominant Seattle ‘D’ have transformed Quinn into the hottest head coaching candidate in the NFL. He’s interviewed for five jobs — including the Jet vacancy — already. Every team knows it must wait for him to finish with this Seattle run, but several clubs seem content to wait.
Why? Because Quinn, who coached the Seahawks’ D-line in 2010, headed to Florida as an assistant, and then returned as defensive coordinator in 2013, has displayed a style that seems ideal for a head coach, forming bonds with his players, and extracting every last ounce of talent from his defenders.
Quinn is as much about X’s and O’s as he is about player development, as middle linebacker Bobby Wagner learned when Quinn took the job two years ago. Quinn’s first move: Sitting Wagner and breaking down his game.
“I’ve had coaches do that before,” Wagner said. “But those are coaches I’m kinda close with. This was the first thing he did.”
TED S. WARREN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Dan Quinn has built one of league’s best defenses.
Players love Quinn’s approach. Linebacker Bruce Irvin describes Quinn’s “realness,” and safety Kam Chancellor describes how easily Quinn manages the defense’s “multiple egos,” balancing the quiet Earl Thomas with the loquacious Sherman. “He can help multiple personalities relate to each other,” Chancellor said. “He made us believe. So yeah, I can envision him as a head coach.”
Quinn also doesn’t overburden his players with X’s and O’s. He focuses on empowering his defenders, working with the likes of Wagner, then schooling everyone in fundamentals instead of complicated schemes. Nearly every day includes a review of good tackles and bad tackles.
Quinn builds simple, straightforward defensive schemes, allowing his players to be aggressive and attack the ball. How crazy is the defensive game plan for the Seahawks team that has allowed 6.5 points per game in its last six games?
Not very.
“We don’t have to go out there and come out with this master game plan,” said linebacker K.J. Wright. “Just regular ball, just read your keys and go. If you watch us, we run pretty much simple plays. It’s not a trick that we’re doing.”
But it’s a simplicity that players love. Defensive tackle Kevin Williams, now in his 12th year, has seen far too many coaches fail because they wanted to play game-plan mad scientist.
“You get that a lot in the league,” said Williams, a first-year Hawk. “Sometimes, the coaches think up the perfect play, how to stop this or that. But when you simplify what you’re doing, everybody can play fast. Let us play faster.”
If only all coaches got that. Quinn does. And somewhere, Pete Carroll knows, he’ll be a fine head coach.
“That’s why there’s a lot of people talking to him, wanting to know where he’s going next,” Carroll said. “And you can understand that.”
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