When Will Robert Quinn's Drought Come to an End?

When Will Robert Quinn’s Drought Come to an End?

By Cian Fahey

Oct 2, 2014

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2217734-when-will-robert-quinns-drought-come-to-an-end

One could argue that St. Louis Rams defensive end Robert Quinn deserved to win Defensive Player of the Year last season.

Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly ultimately took the award home, but Quinn still enjoyed a breakout season. In 16 starts, he compiled 57 tackles, 19 sacks and seven forced fumbles. Quinn didn’t fluke his way into that production. He was consistently effective against impressive opposition in different ways.

Because of his physical talent, technical prowess and energy on the field, it’s hard to imagine that Quinn’s effectiveness would suddenly drop off at 24 years of age.

If you look at the numbers, that has happened this year. Quinn has just seven tackles with no sacks and no forced fumbles in three starts. The first three starts after he signed a huge contract extension in the offseason.

It’s always concerning when a player who signs a huge contract suddenly stops producing, but Quinn clearly hasn’t lost his motivation when you watch him on tape.

Against the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1, Quinn was matched up against Matt Kalil. Kalil is a talented player, a former first-round draft pick, but he has struggled a lot to start this season. Against Quinn, the Vikings made a concerted effort to help Kalil as much as possible.

The Vikings were so concerned with Kalil and Quinn’s matchup that there were occasions when they completely took Kalil out of the equation. On at least one occasion, they rolled the pocket to the other side of the field, but most significantly they tried to make Quinn hesitate with unorthodox approaches.

On this play, Quinn lines up at his typical right defensive end spot. Because of his exceptional burst off the line and ability to bend underneath offensive tackles, Quinn isn’t uncomfortable lining up this far wide of the quarterback. However, the Vikings take his space away by lining up a tight end to his side of the field.

That tight end forces Quinn into an even wider position to get on the edge.

As Quinn comes off the edge, Minnesota’s tight end stays in to block and is able to keep Quinn on his outside shoulder. As this happens, quarterback Matt Cassel is slightly sliding away from his blind side within the pocket.

Unsurprisingly, Quinn has the power and speed to push around the edge and drag his blocker to the quarterback. However, just as Quinn is about to close in on the quarterback, Adrian Peterson comes across and meets him to create a double-team.

Quinn is still moving toward the quarterback, but he is slowed enough to let Cassel throw the ball down the field.

Peterson delayed his reaction to Quinn. Whether by design or as a reactionary movement, this made it impossible for Quinn to anticipate and react to the double-team. This baited Quinn into a position he didn’t want to be in.

On another occasion, the Vikings didn’t double-team Quinn in the traditional sense, but they did create the same hesitation.

Instead of lining up their tight end on the end of the line of scrimmage in front of Quinn, they motioned him into the slot just outside of where Quinn lined up. At the snap, the tight end doesn’t engage Quinn, but he motions toward him before breaking past him into his route.

Quinn is forced to react or risk sustaining a blindside hit that would likely knock him to the ground.

When Quinn reacted to the tight end, he didn’t turn his head toward him. Instead he kept his eyes on the quarterback while extending his hands toward the tight end. Unfortunately for Quinn, the Vikings had designed this play beautifully.

As Quinn turns his body back toward the play to follow his eyes to the football, the Vikings hit him from the inside with a pulling offensive lineman. Quinn never has a chance to see this blocker coming, and as such, he is blown backward at the point of contact.

This is the kind of extra attention that 19 sacks in a single season will bring.

It’s important to note that Quinn wasn’t matched up in a one-on-one situation with Kalil on either of these plays. There were a handful of plays when Quinn got a chance to work against Kalil, and for the most part Quinn got the better of the left tackle.

He came closest to a sack against the left guard rather than Kalil, though.

In order to take advantage of the extra attention that the Vikings were paying to Quinn and the complex ways they were slowing him down, the Rams sent a blitz behind him. Quinn initially lined up outside Kalil, with a running back and tight end to his side of the field.

Quinn could have attacked Kalil’s outside shoulder like the Vikings would typically expect him to, but instead he worked inside to the left guard. The Vikings had to isolate him against the left guard because the Rams sent multiple defenders off the edge behind him to occupy the other blockers.

Left in space against an inferior athlete, Quinn was able to easily slide his way past the left guard. He closed on Cassel quickly, but Cassel was able to begin his throwing motion and get the ball away before Quinn could complete the sack.

The impact of this play was still big because the ball fell incomplete nowhere near a receiver and the Vikings were forced to punt the ball away.

As a premier NFL pass-rusher, Quinn is used to being held on a regular basis. In Week 1, Kalil appeared to hold him on a few occasions without being called. In Week 2, Anthony Collins was grabbing him so often that he likely had enough pieces to stitch up a new Robert Quinn jersey when he got home after the game.

Collins wasn’t the only Buccaneers player to hold Quinn and cost him opportunities to sack the quarterback. The Buccaneers weren’t very creative in blocking Quinn like the Vikings were, but they did still double-team him on occasion and rolled the pocket away from his side of the field at least once.

After two weeks of the season, Quinn had played well. His production was down because of the creativity of the Vikings in Week 1 and the poor officiating in Week 2.

That preceded a marquee matchup in Week 3. Quinn is definitely the best defensive end in the NFL. There are very few 4-3 defensive ends who can even consider themselves challengers against his level of talent. It’s less clear who the best left tackle in the NFL is, but the Dallas Cowboys’ Tyron Smith has a great case.

Smith wasn’t given a lot of help and the Cowboys offense didn’t stretch itself unnecessarily to account for Quinn.

Instead, the ‘Boys simply relied on Smith to win against Quinn in one-on-one situations while working with a quarterback who could get rid of the football quickly or extend plays with his mobility if need be. Through four quarters, this plan worked.

Unlike in Weeks 1 and 2, Smith was effectively containing Quinn without the assistance of the rest of the offense. Smith’s athleticism allowed him to play at the same speed as Quinn, which took away his advantages at the snap and around the edge.

Quinn became too infatuated with his speed rush and didn’t show the awareness or technical ability to beat a left tackle who could match his speed. Smith was able to routinely keep him on the outside, while the Cowboys appeared to target him somewhat in the running game.

Quinn looked a little lost in space working against the run. He was hesitant and often out of position, but it was the lack of pass rush that really hurt his impact on this game.

This was fully evident on one of Tony Romo’s touchdown passes.

Quinn lines up at right defensive end in space against Smith. The Cowboys don’t have a running back or tight end to his side of the field and don’t slide the line to his side of the field, either. Romo stays in the pocket and delivers the ball from there instead of extending the play to the other side of the field.

This was actually one of Quinn’s better rushes. If Romo had held the ball and didn’t step up in the pocket, Quinn may have had a chance to knock it out during his throwing motion. Of course, Romo didn’t hold the ball and instead delivered it quickly for a relatively simple score.

Smith is playing at his peak right now. Any pass-rusher who is capable of getting the better of him in a one-on-one matchup for four quarters needs to also be playing at his peak. Quinn is one of the few players in the league who has the talent to match Smith, but he simply didn’t play well enough in this game.

After a Week 4 bye, the Rams will face the Philadelphia Eagles this weekend.

For Quinn, that means a matchup with Jason Peters. Peters was one of the most athletic left tackles in the NFL for a very long time. He was also one of the best left tackles in the NFL for a very long time. Last season, he returned to the field after missing all of 2012 through injury.

Peters was an All-Pro-caliber player last season, but he has struggled to start this year.

This is undoubtedly a tough matchup for Quinn, but it’s not like facing Smith again. Smith is in his prime, Peters appears to be past his. If Quinn plays like he did in Week 1 or 2, he should be able to get his first sack, if not his first two.