Robert Quinn’s history against Aaron Rodgers should have Cowboys fans smiling

They may be only be .500 through them, but the Dallas Cowboys have experienced quite the revelation over the last two games. That revelation’s name is Robert Quinn.

Think back to the days of the offseason when the Cowboys finally did what everyone has begged for them to do when they traded for a savvy veteran on a contract that is very much worth going after (Quinn’s cap hit is $7.3M in 2019). Dallas took advantage of the fact that the Miami Dolphins were beginning the process of tanking (their plan is going quite well) to the tune of a sixth-round pick. It feels like most Cowboys fans feel like that was worth it.

Quinn is off to a very fast start as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. He has three sacks in the first two games that he’s played with the team (he was suspended for the first two games of the season, plus he had a hand injury) which is tied for the most that any defender has ever had in their first two games with the club (Randy Watts and Greg Hardy).

Should Robert Quinn reel in a sack in his next game with the team this Sunday, then he would become the first player in franchise history to have a sack in each of his first three games with the team. Fittingly, the next game that Dallas will play is against a quarterback that has been a thorn in their side, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Why is that fitting? Who would want to face off against someone like Aaron Rodgers? The answer, as you may have guessed, might actually be Robert Quinn.

Robert Quinn has done very well in career games against Aaron Rodgers

The 2019 season is Robert Quinn’s ninth in the NFL. He’s been around the league for almost a decade now and has put together quite the resume. That’s a big reason why the Cowboys traded for him.

Quinn spent time with the St. Louis-turned-Los Angeles Rams and the Miami Dolphins before Dallas spent a sixth-round pick on him, and in that time he played in four career games against Aaron Rodgers.

Those four games against Aaron Rodgers have been relatively prosperous for Robert Quinn the individual. In those four contests he has 3.5 sacks (only one game where he didn’t get one at all, the first he ever played against Rodgers) and even forced a fumble on one of them. His best performance against Rodgers came with the Dolphins last season which bodes well for Sunday’s matchup.

Quinn sack on Rodgers number one: 2012 Week 7

This is the first time that Quinn ever sacked Aaron Rodgers and it came against a left tackle that doesn’t play for the Packers anymore. This was so far back in time that the Seahawks didn’t have a Super Bowl title yet, all the way back to the 2012 season.

Quinn sack on Rodgers number two: 2015 Week 5

2015 was the first time that Quinn got to go against David Bakhtiari and he certainly was successful while doing so. He’s just so much faster than Bakhtiari and is able to get around him and ultimately puts his hands on Rodgers’ throwing hand to jar the ball loose.

Quinn sack on Rodgers number two point five: 2018 Week 10

This was Quinn’s only game against the Packers while a member of the Miami Dolphins, and he made it a pretty memorable one. He managed to beat Bakhtiari yet again while Cam Wake also got free on the other side. The two shared a sack, like good friends!

Quinn sack on Rodgers number three point five: 2018 Week 10

This is without question my favorite Quinn-on-Rodgers sack as it’s arguably the most impressive. At this point, David Bakhtiari was well aware of just how good Robert Quinn was and was still unable to stop him. In fact, you could argue that Bakhtiari is partially holding Quinn who’s relentless enough to get to Aaron Rodgers with one hand.

Quinn’s fast start with the Cowboys isn’t surprising if you’ve been paying attention to him since last season. The pass rusher has seven sacks in his last seven games while accumulating at least one in six of those games. It’s rare that a defender is good for a sack just about every game.

Hopefully the Cowboys are able to finally get after Aaron Rodgers to a legitimate degree with someone like Robert Quinn in the fold. 3.5 sacks against him is a pretty good mark for one player, the most any non NFC North player has had against Rodgers is Michael Bennett with 5.5 (tip of the hat to NFL researcher Careen Falcone).

Quinn has likely benefited from all of the double teams that DeMarcus Lawrence has been seeing, and it’s likely that things are going to open up for Tank soon too with Quinn getting so much attention. All of that happening at once would be a pretty good deal for the Cowboys.