Below are an amateur’s observations on the Dan Quin Defense as seen in week 12: Dallas 28, New York Football Giants 20.

It will probably go down as the first game of the Super Bowl era to be remembered more for a game of Whac-a-Mole played in the fourth quarter than the game itself. If you don’t believe me, who remembers anything else about the game when Elliott jumped into the Salvation Army kettle? (PS: It was a Sunday night game and they were playing Tampa Bay).

It was a good solid defense that held NY to 4.3 yards a carry and 21 completions on 35 attempts. Expectations before the game were that NY would follow the blueprint and use Saquon Barkley to run at the defense until something gave. Instead of following the blueprint, the Giants tried the unexpected and opened up with 9 passing attempts and didn’t manage their first run until their third offensive series. For the day they ended up with 35 passing attempts and 21 runs and had about as much success as one would expect. If anything, they confirmed that it is difficult to outscore the ’Boys with a pass first offense.

The DQ defense remained true to form in most respects: The base defense utilized 4 linemen, 2 linebackers, and 5 defensive backs throughout the game, and though there were a few snaps in which they had more than 5 defensive backs, I couldn’t find any with less than 5. In the first half, DQ used nothing but base. In the second half DQ sprinkled in a few snaps using 5 DL/LB on the line as part of his blitz package. Typically, when he does this, the linemen stand up and try to add as much confusion as they can with regard to who will actually rush and who won’t.

The experiment of using Parsons as a linebacker as in the Green Bay game (the position he was actually drafted for) appears to be over. Against NY there was exactly 1 snap where he lined up as an off-ball linebacker. On the rest of his 43 snaps he started out on the line of scrimmage. Most of the time he lined up on the defensive right side, across from the left tackle; on a handful of plays he lined up as the left defensive end. On one play he lined up as a defensive tackle. True to his normal form (normal for him, anyway) he completely disrupted the offense. Though he only had 2 sacks, his presence frequently resulted in either poor throws or allowed others to make big plays and provide pressure.

Snap Counts

As can be seen, Damone Clark continues to get Barr’s snaps and Bohanna made up for the ones that Hankins had been getting. It will be interesting to see what happens when Barr and Hankins are both healthy, particularly with regard to Clark, who seems to be playing very well and was credited with a forced fumble on his tackle of Daniel Jones (which, unfortunately, Jones recovered). In other exciting news, there was also a Cox sighting, though only for a few snaps. Golston, who has not been getting many snaps since moving from DE to DT, also got a few, and made the most of them as will be shown later.

To no one’s surprise, the Giants targeted Anthony Brown quite a bit more than they targeted Diggs. On the deep pass near the goal line, it appeared that he did everything right other than make a play on the ball. Looking at the replay, the receiver made a subtle push to his chest that may have prevented him from jumping when he wanted to. Or perhaps in that fraction of a second that he has to decide what he is going to do he just got outplayed by the receiver. I was encouraged by the fact that he was actually in good position, looking at the ball, and trying to track it. Sometimes the opponent is just going to be better than you. By this time, we pretty much know what we have in AB and there is not going to be a simple cure that will make him perfect.

Blue Star Plays

Below is a list of players that did something special: A sack, a pass defensed, a tackle for loss, a fumble or fumble recovery. Interceptions get 2 stars since they just seem to be worth more than hitting the ball with one’s arm. There is an additional column showing the number of star plays divided by the total number of plays that player participated in.

It was good to see two new players appearing on the list this week: Golston (TFL) and Clark (FF). Golston, only playing 10 snaps, made the most of his limited opportunities.

Parsons and Lawrence were the only players to get Blue Stars for the last 3 weeks in a row. That is probably not a surprise to even the most casual fan.

I still haven’t tracked down the mysterious personal foul call on Parsons that occurred near the end of the game. He looked upset while on the sideline afterwards; I can only hope he is not the type to let his emotions get the best of him. That could spell serious trouble for the team if they were to lose him.