DeMarcus Lawrence has been the best Dallas Cowboys defender for a couple of years now, and maintains that title today, but he’s no longer the most productive pass-rusher on the roster.

After 11 weeks, that mantel belongs to Robert Quinn, who leads the team in sacks (8.5) and is third in total pressures (30) despite missing the first two games of the season.

While Quinn may not lead the team in total pressures, when broken down into a per-play basis, Quinn has been, by a healthy margin, Dallas’ most productive pass-rusher. He leads the team in Pro Football Focus’ pass rush productivity rating (9.2), which measures pressure created on a per snap basis with weighting toward sacks. Quinn also ranks second among edge defenders in ESPN’s Pass-Rush Win Rate metric — which measures the rate at which a pass rusher beats his blocker within 2.5 seconds — while also being doubled teamed at one of the higher rates in the NFL.

Quinn has also been remarkably consistent, recording at least two pressures in every game he’s played this season, at least four pressures in every game except two (Eagles in Week 7 and Giants in Week 9) and has at least 0.5 sacks in every game except one (Packers in Week 5).

Robert Quinn's 1st sack as a Cowboy.



Pure speed. Dip & rip. Pay attention to RQ's 2nd step, as it widens his path even more while also changing the intersection point between him & the LT. Beats the LT to the spot, dips to reduce his surface area & rips to clear residual contact pic.twitter.com/SGpEC0up5e — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 23, 2019

The bulk of Quinn’s production has come on the back of his ever-so potent speed rush. Quinn attacks upfield, bends and flattens to the QB with the kind of speed and explosiveness reminiscent of Apolo Ohno speed skating around corners and accelerating down the stretch in the Olympics.

Any time a left tackle is getting ready to face the Cowboys, he knows that he must be ready to defend Quinn’s speed rush, as it is his calling card. Yet despite this, as any fan who watches the team knows, Quinn’s speed rush has remained incredibly potent.

Why? Glad you asked.

First off, Quinn’s effective speed rush is built off his elite get-off, great upfield burst and rare lower body flexibility, as it enables him to bend around the corner at more acute angles and higher speeds than most edge defenders in the NFL.

At times this will enable Quinn to beat offensive tackles to the intersection point between Quinn’s path to the quarterback and the tackle’s pass set, where Quinn loves to employ a cross-chop to defeat a tackle’s punch or a ghost technique to evade the tackle’s strike as he carves the corner and flattens to the pocket.

Robert Quinn had so many near sacks vs MIA. Explodes off the LOS and uses a cross chop to send 63 face first into the turf. pic.twitter.com/WTegb3QDgC — John Owning (@JohnOwning) September 24, 2019

In the above clip, after bursting upfield off the snap and beating the tackle to the intersection point, Quinn executes a perfectly timed cross chop to knock down the tackle’s low strike, which enables him to attack the pocket free of contact.

The cross chop is a great attack because it’s an effective way to shorten the corner by knocking down the tackle’s strike.

On this play, the offensive tackle’s punch with his outside hand comes from chest level rather than below the waist. Therefore, after gobbling up ground and outpacing the tackle with his get-off and upfield burst, Quinn executes a gorgeous ghost technique, where he feints a stab with his inside hand before dipping underneath the tackle’s strike and then ripping upwards to defeat any residual contact.

The ghost move is great because it gets the pass rusher to drop his pad level which, in turn, enables the pass rusher to bend around the corner at more acute angles than if his pad level was higher.

While Quinn’s physical traits are great — and certainly give him a higher floor for production than most edge defenders — speed, quickness and flexibility aren’t enough to consistently produce in the NFL. Offensive linemen — especially left tackles in the NFL — are for the most part simply too savvy to get consistently beat by speed alone.

Quinn is extremely effective but possesses a rather shallow repertoire of moves when compared with other top pass rushers in the NFL, and each one is built off his speed around the corner. Quinn maintains effectiveness because he has rare physical traits and uses subtle changes in his footwork and hand technique to keep offensive tackles off guard.

One of the biggest reasons Quinn’s speed rush maintains its effectiveness is because he keeps tackles honest with effective speed-to-power and counter inside moves, and he’s done it against high-level competition.

This was Robert Quinn's best pass rush of the day but the ball gets out just in time to avoid the sack.



Quinn having success with speed caused 72 to be wary of speed, which is why 72 slide to defend the speed rush when Quinn stuttered, leaving available the inside swim. Gorgeous pic.twitter.com/7vYImsKvIK — John Owning (@JohnOwning) October 1, 2019

On this play, Quinn takes advantage of Terron Armstead inside, as the Saints left tackle’s wariness of Quinn’s speed caused him to slightly overset, which enabled Quinn to win so quickly with the inside swim.

Understand that Armstead is no slouch of a tackle, as he was a second-team All-Pro last year and currently ranks third among tackles in pass-blocking efficiency, giving up just 15 pressures this entire season, per PFF. Beating a player of that caliber with an inside counter will make tackles wary of oversetting to defend Quinn’s speed rush.

Because of this rush and others like it, tackles understand that if they try to cheat upfield too much to defend Quinn’s speed they’re liable to get embarrassed by a silky inside move, as Armstead did above, or a speed-to-power bull rush.

This is a key to understand when discussing why the nuances in Quinn’s speed rush are so effective, as they typically rely on threatening the tackle with power or a counter inside in combination with effective hand technique. Here’s a great example:

At first glance, this may appear to be a generic speed rush where Quinn simply outran Lions left tackle Taylor Decker to the QB. Further investigation, however, reveals the little nuances that enable Quinn to successfully apply pressure, record the QB hit and force the incompletion.

Quinn is extremely purposeful with his footwork, as there is a distinct reason for every step’s placement. It is important to note that instead of stepping vertically with his first step out of his stance, Quinn stepped at a 45-degree angle inside, which not only changed his rush angle, but it also cleverly makes the inside move more of a threat.

From there, Quinn stepped vertical with his second step in an effort to gain as much ground as possible before stepping to contact on his third step, electing to use a stab with his inside arm in combination with the third step.

The stab move with the inside hand was a great choice because not only does it enable Quinn to initiate contact with superior hand position but it also forces Decker to brace for power, as the stab move looks identical to a long arm power move.

Notice how Decker slows his feet just enough to allow Quinn to accelerate and capture the corner. Decker’s only hope is to try and run Quinn past the apex of the quarterback’s drop, but Quinn is prepared for that as well.

Quinn’s slap-rip moves prevent Decker from attaining optimal hand placement with his strike. Moreover, pay attention to how Quinn uses the rip move to hang on Decker’s outside arm. He uses it to pull his hips around the corner and flatten to the QB at a more acute angle.

To finish, Quinn attacks the pocket and hits the QB just as he’s letting go of the ball, which throws off the accuracy inducing an incompletion.

Pay attention to how Decker immediately turns his shoulders perpendicular to the line of scrimmage once the ball is snapped. He knows Quinn is going to use speed, but because Quinn got Decker to slow his feet by changing his rush angle and feinting power, he was still able to be successful.

Quinn used similar means to record his lone sack against Detroit but with a subtle difference:

On this play, instead of stepping inside to contact in combination with a stab move, Quinn actually expands his rush outside at the same time he uses the stab move with his inside hand.

Quinn uses the stab move to once again initiate contact and establish superior hand placement. Instead of using it to feint power as he did in the previous clip, he uses it here to establish distance so that he has the necessary time and space to capture the corner and execute his slap-rip move to defeat the lineman’s hands, pull his hips around the corner and attack the pocket.

This time, Quinn is able to reach the QB before he lets go of the ball. Even though the QB escapes his grasp momentarily, Quinn is able to chase him down to complete the sack.

In general terms, these two rushes are nearly identical, as they are both speed rushes that used the slap-rip to beat the hands and carve the corner to generate pressure. However, it was the subtle differences in the footwork that enabled Quinn to sustain success.

Hopefully, now you understand that the success of Quinn’s outstanding speed rush is due to more than just his rare physical traits. The nuance in Quinn’s speed rushes ensures that his physical traits are optimally leveraged.

This is why Quinn has been the Cowboys’ most productive pass-rusher this year, and he doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

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