For the last two seasons, the Seattle Seahawks have been arguably the best defense in the NFL.
The team's pass rush is ferocious, its secondary scary good. At nearly every position, there can be an argument made that that player deserves a place on the Pro Bowl roster. The defense is a big reason Seattle won the Super Bowl last year and looks poised to make another run in 2015.
Dan Quinn is the director to the Richard Sherman, Michael Bennett and Earl Thomas-led orchestra.
In just a few weeks, he could be New York's head coach.
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Having already spoken to six potential candidates, reports have surfaced that the New York Jets have narrowed their head-coaching search to Quinn. He's the one they want, and the feeling appears to be mutual.
So, is Dan Quinn the right fit for New York? Seattle Seahawks beat writer Kenneth Arthur seems to think so.
For the last four seasons, Arthur has been covering Seattle for SB Nation. He took time out to give his thoughts on Quinn as an NFL head coach and just how much he has to do with Seattle's defensive success. Visit Arthur on twitter (@KennethArthurS) and check out his writing for SB Nation.
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Q: Prior to Quinn taking over, Seattle had a pretty good defense with Gus Bradley. From one defensive coordinator to the other, have you noticed any changes Quinn has made?
ARTHUR- For the most part the Seahawks run "Pete Carroll's defense," but that doesn't mean the coordinators take a passive role in coaching.
Bradley ran Carroll's 4-3 under defense in a more basic sense. Danny Kelly of Field Gulls called his defense "Vanilla." But Quinn is more of a rocky road type. It's more aggressive, more blitzing, and he made some personnel changes that were a little surprising to what we were used to with Bradley. None of us expected Michael Bennett to be the Leo and Cliff Avril to play 5-tech, but that change happened this year. Bennett plays inside too, and Quinn is awesome at recognizing strengths for individual players and putting them in the right spot to make them as successful as possible.
So yes, they are very different coordinators and it shows. The reason both coaches were almost equally successful on paper (Quinn's defenses are probably a little better, and the sustained success for three years is almost unheard of, dating back to the Purple People Eaters of the Vikings in the 70s) is because Carroll is one of the best defensive minds in the history of the game and because they have an extremely talented roster. But Bradley and Quinn both have a part in that success, and are definitely individuals in the way that they are a part of it. It doesn't help that they look so much alike though.
Q: Do you believe Seattle’s defense is a result of Quinn being a great defensive mind, or the talent on the field?
ARTHUR-- I know a lot of people will see Quinn as Carroll's puppet that doesn't do anything, but if that's the case, then wasn't Carroll once George Seifert's puppet as DC of the 49ers from 1995-1996? Yes, I do believe that Carroll is one of the greatest defensive minds in the history of football, but that doesn't exclude Quinn from being special in his own right. Carroll picked up philosophies from working for Monte Kiffin in the seventies and he still employs them as his basic principles over 30 years later.
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Perhaps Quinn has picked up similar values that will allow him to prove himself with his own team, but there's no way to know until you know.
And not a single coach in history got by without talent on the field. A big part of the Seahawks success is the relationship between Carroll and John Schneider. They identify needs and then identify players to fill those needs. Bradley has been unsuccessful in Jacksonville mostly because they have no talent. For Quinn to be successful in New York, it's going to take talent. But I do think that he's proven himself as a great defensive coach.
Q: What is the defensive scheme of Quinn? From the assignments asked of the defensive line, linebackers and secondary? Is he aggressive?
ARTHUR-- The base package is a 4-3 Under. That means that they have four defensive lineman away from the strong side and three linebackers. It's important to have a Leo capable of both rushing the passer and dropping into coverage. This used to be Chris Clemons, but in Quinn's first season as Seattle's defensive coordinator, Clemons was coming off of a torn ACL and they ended up signing Cliff Avril to a two-year contract. Clemons came back midway through last season but is now with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Avril is often at the Leo position. This year, Bennett has been playing the Leo, while Avril is the 5-tech and Bruce Irvin is playing Sam linebacker in base downs. That means he's up on the line of scrimmage on the strong side, with the LEO on the weakside. In nickel packages, Irvin is the LEO and Bennett moves inside.
When Quinn was the Seahawks defensive line coach under Carroll in 2010, he helped save Red Bryant's career by moving him from DT to DE. The 5-tech has to be able to stop the run and is typically bigger than you'd expect a DE to be, while the Leo is typically smaller than your average pass-rusher.
The secondary is usually in cover-3 with both zone and man coverages underneath. Kam Chancellor can come up to the line of scrimmage, cover the tight end, or just cover an area. KJ Wright and Irvin may also cover the tight end based on the coverage and what the offense is showing. The corners usually play a side rather than a specific player.
Seattle has had the best secondary in the NFL for the last three years because Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor, and Richard Sherman are great players that can handle this system. Thomas is fast, Chancellor is huge, and Sherman can cover any receiver in the league.
It's Carroll's defense, but Quinn was hired for a reason. There were plenty of in-house candidates to replace Bradley, but Carroll ended up re-hiring Quinn away from the University of Florida, where Quinn was the DC. The Gators were a top-10 defense in both of his season's there.
Q: How do the players feel about Quinn? Would you classify him as a players' coach, or does he demand respect?
ARTHUR-- The team has their occasional in-fighting or arguments, but I can't imagine any of Carroll's coaches as anything other than "players' coaches." Quinn is loved and the team principle is that they play for each other. Pete Carroll absolutely adores Dan Quinn and vice versa. There was no other choice to replace Bradley if he could help it, and that's even though Quinn only coached with Carroll for one season (2010) before leaving for Florida. Quinn called it one of the toughest decisions of his career because of how much he loves the team and knew the players were on the verge of something special. Nobody has anything bad to say about Quinn that I know of.
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Q: Quinn’s still pretty young, do you believe he’s ready to take that jump to be a head coach?
ARTHUR-- I don't see 44 as being young to be a head coach, actually. The Ravens hired John Harbaugh when he was 45 and he didn't have any head coaching experience. The Bengals hired Marvin Lewis at 45 with no head coaching experience. The Cowboys hired Jason Garrett at 45, no head coaching experience. I mean, these are just a few off the top of my dome, so I don't think he's too young.
Is he ready to take the jump though? Well his career started 20 years ago and he did act as assistant head coach under Jim Mora with the Seahawks in 2009. Yeah, I do think he's ready. It doesn't mean he'll be successful though, it's just a matter of finding out what he can do when it's his own team. I have no reason to believe Quinn isn't ready, he's been wanting this for a long time.
Q: In order for Quinn to be successful, do you believe he needs to have a great offensive mind tagged with him? Or is he a well-balanced coach?
ARTHUR-- I think the real question is: "Do you believe that Darrell Bevell is a great offensive mind?"
I have no idea what Quinn knows about offense, but I don't really know of any head coaches that came up with significant experience on both sides of the ball. The head coach's job isn't much different than that of a director on a movie set: There's a writer, an actor, a cinematographer, a cameraman, a grip, a sound guy, a makeup artist, a set designer, and a prop guy. The director doesn't necessarily specialize in anything. He just makes sure all those other people can work together to make one great scene. So with Quinn as a head coach, his main job is to harmonize and spread his vision to everyone else trying to make the scene work. If his vision emulates Carroll's vision, then here's what to know about the Jets future offense:
Run. The. Football.
Carroll believes in running the football above all else. Their first big move, the one that changed the organization forever, was trading for Marshawn Lynch in the middle of 2010. Yes, they drafted Thomas and Russell Okung prior to that, but Lynch was the key cog to the offense. The guy that controls the rhythm of the game. They want to keep the other team's score low enough that the game is always within reach and then once they get a fourth quarter lead, out-run you. The Seahawks have held the lead in every game since drafting Russell Wilson, including playoffs. They have not lost a game by double digits since 2011. Only one of those games was by more than a touchdown. Every game is winnable because of their defensive strategy and their running game. Carroll believes in the power of explosive passing and running plays, going for more than 15 yards, but other than that, it's a pound-it-home on the ground strategy. It would be quite ironic if Quinn was re-matched with Percy Harvin though.
Q: What’s your biggest criticism of Quinn and the defense to date?
ARTHUR-- None. You'd be a damn fool to criticize this defense, it's something special. We're seeing something that's rarely ever been seen before: three straight seasons of finishing first in points allowed. The defense has allowed fewer yards per game in four straight years. The team itself has finished first in DVOA for three straight years. The defense has been a major part of that.
If you want to know what they've struggled with, this year it's been defending the tight end. They've allowed 11 passing touchdowns to tight ends and only five to wide receivers. But last year they were the best team in the NFL against tight ends. It's a fantastic run defense, fantastic pass defense, and over the last six weeks of the season, they were so much better than the rest of the NFL that it was laughable. They allowed 39 points in their last six games and gave up three touchdowns. Ridiculous.
Quinn was the hottest head coaching candidate for a reason and team's know he's more than just a puppet.
Connor Hughes is the New York Jets beat writer for About.com Sports. He can be reached on twitter: @Connor_J_Hughes, or via email: Connor_J_Hughes@yahoo.com