Dan Quinn delivers epic response when asked about Cowboys heading to playoffs

It’s been quite some time since Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn went to the NFL playoffs.

Quinn, who served as the Atlanta Falcons’ head coach for five seasons prior to joining Mike McCarthy’s staff in Dallas, led the Falcons to the Super Bowl in 2016, where they famously blew a 28-3 halftime lead over the New England Patriots. The following year, Quinn’s third year at the helm, he led the Falcons to a 10-6 record, but Atlanta lost in the divisional round of the 2017 playoffs. He hasn’t been to the playoffs since then, and now that the Cowboys are on their way to the franchise’s first NFL playoff matchup since 2018, Quinn couldn’t be more excited.

“I’m damn fired up,” Quinn said emphatically. “You kidding me? I’m ready to go.”

In the first round of the playoffs, the Dallas Cowboys — fresh off earning a No. 3 seed in the NFC — will play host to the San Francisco 49ers.

Dallas Cowboys win NFC East title for first time since 2018

Just days after the Dallas Cowboys clinched a playoff berth, the franchise’s first trip to the playoffs since 2018, they were able to take it a step further on Jan. 26 and win the NFC East division crown.

The Cowboys didn’t even have to win a game to clinch the NFC East title, either — thanks to the Las Vegas Raiders’ win over the Denver Broncos, the Cowboys were able to do just that. Of course, neither the Raiders or Broncos are in the NFC East. However, the Eagles’ win over the Broncos, to whom the Cowboys had lost, could have served as a critical factor helping tiebreak the NFC East if it came down to it. Interestingly, with the Cowboys’ latest title, a bizarre trend continued in the NFC East: 2021 marks the 17th consecutive season in which there has not been a repeat division champion in the NFC East. No other NFL division has gone longer than three years without a team winning it in consecutive years.

The last time the Cowboys went to the playoffs was in 2018. Dallas finished the 2018 season with a 10-6 regular-season record and won the NFC East; in the first round of the playoffs, they faced the Seattle Seahawks, and they emerged in a narrow 24-22 fashion. The next round, however, the Cowboys lost in the divisional playoffs, 30-22, to the Los Angeles Rams.

“We had confidence that we’d check this box,” head coach Mike McCarthy said after clinching a berth (they had not clinched the division title at the time), “but this is about winning the division outright and staying in the hunt for a higher seed.”