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Jimmy Johnson Reveals Commanders Coach Nearly Replaced Cowboys' Mike McCarthy

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Sean Deveney | Last updated Nov 24, 2024 12:55 PM ET

The Cowboys and Commanders square off in Week 12 on Sunday afternoon, and certainly, the game has shaped up to be much different than most might have expected when this season kicked off. Dallas is in a tailspin, at 3-7 amnd with five straight losses, while the Commanders have put themselves firmly in the playoff picture at 7-4.

This is one of football's top rivalries, but though the records are disparate, this one has a little extra juice. That's because the Commanders are coached by Dan Quinn, who was the Cowboys defensive coordinator for the last three seasons before jumping to Washington as the head coach.

And, it turns out, there was a chance that Quinn would have taken over the Cowboys job for Mike McCarthy after last year's disastrous 48-32 playoff loss to the Packers--except that Quinn's defense played so poorly in that game that owner Jerry Jones could not stomach replacing McCarthy with Quinn.

That's from former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson, whose estrangement from Jones has ended in the last year and whose counsel Jones sought on trying to figure out what to do about his coaching staff this year.

"I really believe had Dallas played better defense against Green bay in that last playoff game, Dan Quinn would be the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys right now," Johnson said on Fox Sports' NFL preview. "But that’s to Washington’s benefit."

Indeed, Quinn--who coached the Falcons for six seasons and led them to the infamous 28-3 Super Bowl against the Patriots--has landed on his feet and is making a difference in Washington.

"You look at him, he is not the same coach,' Johnson said. "He took Atlanta to the Super Bowl. He’s an outstanding football coach. People talk about, these are professionals, they are self-motivated. That may be true on the top two or three guys but you’ve got a roster of 53 guys. And he motivates those players not only to play hard int eh game, but to practice every day, to get better."

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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