Dallas City News

There was a time not so long ago when the Dallas Cowboys had two of the best coordinators in the game as Dan Quinn and Kellen Moore were leading their respective units. Both coordinators finished in the top five in points scored/allowed in each of their last two seasons with the Cowboys. Not too shabby.

But in 16 short months, both those guys are gone. The Cowboys have replaced them with coordinators who have a lot more experience. They hired Brian Schottenheimer last year to replace Moore on offense and Mike Zimmer this year to replace Quinn on defense.

Oddly enough, both their former coordinators will be coaching in the NFC East this season. Moore is the offensive coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles while Quinn has taken the head coaching job with the Washington Commanders. There has been quite the movement of coaches this offseason as all four teams have made at least one coordinator change. In total, six of the eight coordinator positions will be new faces in new places. The remaining two are Schottenheimer who only has one year under his belt with the Cowboys, and New York Giants offensive coordinator Mike Kafka, who is the longest-tenured coordinator in the division with a whopping two years.

With all these changes, we thought it would be interesting to see how they stack up against each other. There are many ways to compare these coordinators. For this exercise, we’ll look at the overall experience in the coordinator position, where they ranked in points throughout their career as an OC/DC, and where they finished in points over their last five years in the position. Then, we’ll average all these measurables and see which coach lands on top. Let’s get things started with experience.

“Experience is the teacher of all things.” – Julius Caesar

Experience plays a huge role. Coaches who have been around the block have seen some things and they have many different tools in their repertoire. Young hot-shot coaches make fans excited, but there’s a lot to be said for having a coordinator who’s logged many years in the league. The NFC East is filled with many young coordinators, but a few of them stand out as the “old heads.”

You might expect Mike Zimmer to lead this category as he is the oldest coach of this group, but Zimmer spent his last eight years as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings. As coordinators go, Vic Fangio has been coaching the longest, taking his first DC job back in 1995 with the Carolina Panthers. He spent three years as the head coach of the Denver Broncos, but he still leads the pack with two decades of experience as a defensive coordinator.

The next two most experienced coordinators are Zimmer and Schottenheimer and the Cowboys collectively have more years than any other team, although the Eagles are right behind him thanks to Fangio, but also Moore who is gradually gaining more and more experience.

Both the Cowboys and Eagles dwarf the Giants and Commanders in experience. It should be noted that Commander’s new DC Joe Whitt Jr. is entering his first year as a defensive coordinator, but for the remainder of this evaluation, we are going to use his time as the passing game coordinator so he can be compared to these other coaches.

Experience is great, but who can get the job done on the scoreboard?

“The game of life is like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity.” – Lewis Grizzard

It’s easy to forget how great Moore was during his time with the Cowboys. In 2021, the Cowboys led the league in both points scored and yards gained. You’d have to go back 50 years when the Cowboys won their first Super Bowl in 1971 for the last time they accomplished such a feat. Being the best at moving the ball and putting it in the end zone can never be overappreciated.

Moore leads this group and it would be even higher if his passer was healthier as in three of his five years as an offensive coordinator he’s had a season where his starting QB has missed at least four games. Regardless, Moore still holds the top spot here, but a little context is needed. He benefits from a smaller sample size. These more experienced coordinators have had their share of bad units and battled adversity. This metric alone shouldn’t carry a whole lot of weight. It’s just a data point. What is more relevant is how well these coordinators have performed in their most recent coaching stints.

“What have you done for me lately?” – Janet Jackson

For this next checkpoint, we’ll look at how these coaches rated in points scored/allowed rankings over their last five seasons at the coordinator position. Averaging those five seasons, things look like this…

Both Schottenheimer and Zimmer shoot up the rankings. This reminds us that Schottenheimer was very good during his time with the Seattle Seahawks as they finished in the top 10 in points scored in all three of his seasons with the team. The Seahawks made the playoffs each year and haven’t had double-digit winning seasons since.

Zimmer was one of the top DCs in the league in Cincinnati before he moved up the ranks to head coach in Minnesota, ranking in the top 10 in points allowed in four of his final five years as defensive coordinator. But it’s been 10 years since Zimmer has been a defensive coordinator his most recent success at the position isn’t so recent.

In the spirit of good framing, we want to mention that although Fangio is near the bottom in this category, that might not be a good representation. He had a couple of bad years with the Chicago Bears before finishing his last two in the top 10 in points allowed, so that’s good. He also only had one season with the Miami Dolphins (last year) so who knows how that would have turned out if he stuck around a little longer.

TOTAL SCORE

If we average the rankings of all three metrics, here is how they stack up…

The Cowboys grade out with two of the top three coordinators. Having success on multiple teams is nice because it doesn’t point to them being a benefactor of a good situation. Of course, any list having Kellen Moore at the top may not be a list you give much credibility to. To each their own. But these are the rankings for what’s been measured. While unsatisfied Cowboys fans might proclaim he’s not that good, it’s still a little unsettling to think of what he might be able to do in Philly. Last season, they finished seventh in points scored with some impressive offensive weapons. How will they look this year with Moore calling the plays? Worse, we hope, but better is in the range of outcomes.

The Giants and Commanders remained a huge TBD. They both will only go as far as their quarterback takes them, and we know what that’s been for Daniel Jones, but don’t know what they’ll get from Jayden Daniels. What can their new coordinators do with the groceries they have in the cupboard?