It's Jets Week, Here's An Interesting Article About The Jets Wanting Dan Quinn, And What Could Have Been.

[paulitik]

This is really interesting, and how a Seattle playoff win changed our and the Jets future.

The Jets really wanted Quinn, and almost traded for Kirk Cousins to seal the deal.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/mehta-jets-dumped-geno-smith-kirk-cousins-article-1.2332700?utm_content=buffer0c6c7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=mmehta+twitter

How Jets almost dumped Geno Smith for Kirk Cousins

Howard Simmons/New York Daily News By settling for Todd Bowles (l.) instead of Dan Quinn, the Jets also indirectly saved Geno Smith's (r.) job as starting quarterback.

Geno Smith didn’t know it at the time, but his future with the Jets hung in the balance on that Tuesday afternoon seven months ago.

It was just before 4 o’clock on Jan. 13, a watershed moment for a franchise looking for new leadership.

An exhaustive two-week head coaching search had reached a sensitive stage. The organization’s next decision would be its most critical in years. The wrong choice might prove costly.

Todd Bowles was wrapping up his second interview at the Jets facility. The Cardinals defensive coordinator was solid and steady, but Woody Johnson was still intrigued by Seahawks defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, who had emerged as the most coveted candidate in the league.

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Johnson & Co. left their first interview with Quinn in Seattle 12 days earlier enamored with the synergy of the defending Super Bowl champs’ entire operation. The Jets wanted to replicate the dynamic between the coaching staff and front office. The vibe was just right.

Quinn was extremely impressive in the meeting.

The NFL’s restrictive/ridiculous interview rules had prevented Johnson and consultants Charley Casserly and Ron Wolf from talking to Quinn again until the Seahawks were eliminated from the playoffs or the bye week before the Super Bowl, whichever came first.

Johnson was prepared to take his private jet back to the Pacific Northwest on Saturday night, Jan. 10, if the Seahawks had lost to the Panthers in the divisional playoffs to close the deal and hire Quinn.

The Seahawks won, setting in motion a chain of events that brought the Jets to this moment on Jan. 13.

The Jets had heard rumblings that they were Quinn’s top choice. After all, he was a Jersey guy. Coming home made perfect sense, but Jets brass needed iron-clad assurance that Quinn wasn’t wavering in his belief in the Jets. Anything short of that was playing with fire.

They wanted to be absolutely sure that Quinn wanted them as much as they wanted him, but time was running short. Bowles was going to board a plane the next morning for a second interview in Atlanta.

Could the Jets take the chance of letting such an impressive candidate walk out the door?

What if Quinn, who had interviewed with five teams and been mentioned for a late opening in Denver, didn’t have the Jets atop of his wish list?

The smokescreens and shell games during coaching-search processes had turned plenty of teams into fools in the past.

What if the Jets didn’t land Quinn or Bowles?

Eric Hartline/USA Today Sports A Dan Quinn-coached Jets team possibly would've been led by Kirk Cousins.

The organization needed to make a swift and smart move. Just before 4 p.m., decision makers started to reach out to people who might be able to provide clarity. The next two hours were critical.

They needed to know: Was Quinn in or out?

The Jets weren’t given any guarantees. Yes, Quinn liked the Jets, but the Falcons and others were intriguing, too. That wasn’t good enough for the Jets, who agreed to a deal with Bowles just after 7 o’clock. The Jets might have been smitten with Quinn, but Bowles was hardly a consolation prize.

Atlanta’s patience, meanwhile, paid off. Quinn, whose Falcons will face the Jets on Friday , was hired the day after the Super Bowl.

The Jets’ decision to hire Bowles had a ripple effect that gave Smith new life.

Quinn’s plan had he been hired by the Jets included adding offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who resigned as the Browns’ play caller one week after Quinn met with Johnson. Shanahan’s vision didn’t include Smith, according to people familiar with the coordinator’s thinking.

Sources told the Daily News that the former Washington play-caller wanted to trade for former pupil Kirk Cousins, who showed promise in two years under Shanahan. Cousins, stuck behind Robert Griffin III on the depth chart, was Shanahan’s primary target to run his offense in New York.

The Jets’ concurrent head coaching and general manager searches made for an interesting dynamic. Quinn told friends that he wanted to bring former Buccaneers GM Mark Dominik aboard in some capacity.

Although Casserly contacted Dominik, the Jets never formally interviewed him for a front-office role. Shanahan believed that Dominik, who worked for five years in Tampa with Washington president Bruce Allen, could facilitate a deal for Cousins, according to sources.

Shanahan had an affinity for the Washington signal-caller despite his 2-7 record as a starter (with four 100-plus passer rating games) in his three seasons.

Instead, Bowles’ arrival gave Smith a chance at redemption before his jaw was broken in a locker-room altercation last week. Smith would have been marginalized from the get-go under Quinn if/when the Jets traded for Cousins.

“He’d be a middle-of-the-road starter right now,” one NFC scout said of Cousins. “He has all the intangibles to ascend, but needs to make better decisions with the ball.”

Cousins might have been the answer for a franchise that has been desperately searching for a quarterback for five decades. Or he might have made no difference at all.

We’ll never know.

[Sun Tzu 7]

Wow. Nice boost for Bowles confidence....

Technically you were our second choice but we didn't want to get stood up so we settled for you.

While I wasn't a fan of it at the time you gotta give Arthur credit for not settling and getting the man he wanted....

[CTann]

Good read.

Quinn+Shanahan+Cousins with that Jets defense would be a nice team.

It's interesting how things turn out and to ponder the 'what could of been' situations.

[paulitik]

Wow. Nice boost for Bowles confidence....

Technically you were our second choice but we didn't want to get stood up so we settled for you.

If it makes him feel better, I wanted Bowles at first.

Now I'm glad I was wrong.

[Tuggle'2]

He's ours!

[gazoo]

I really do believe Arthur Blank landed the most coveted coaching candidate available this offseason and getting the package deal that included Shanahan.....Blank really outsmarted Jeff Shultz and Mark Bradley who both were pillorying him as the bumbling owner who was running,all the good candidates off.

[paulitik]

I really do believe Arthur Blank landed the most coveted coaching candidate available this offseason and getting my the package with Shanahan.....Blank really outsmarted Jeff Shultz and Mark Bradley who both were pillorying him as the bumbling owner who was running,all the good candidates off.

I think we owe Joe Banner a solid.

I think he convinced Blank to wait for Quinn, because he didn't in Cleveland. The chemistry with TD sealed it.

[gazoo]

I think we owe Joe Banner a solid.

I think he convinced Blank to wait for Quinn, because he didn't in Cleveland. The chemistry with TD sealed it.

Yep, Joe Banner was a very smart hire by Blank at the end of last season.

[Guest facelessman07]

I miss those few short weeks when some were changing their avatars more than underwear

[DirtyBird8711]

I really do believe Arthur Blank landed the most coveted coaching candidate available this offseason and getting the package deal that included Shanahan.....Blank really outsmarted Jeff Shultz and Mark Bradley who both were pillorying him as the bumbling owner who was running,all the good candidates off.

Also there's some posters on here who owe Blank an apology as well...........But I'm not gonna say any names....

[Dr_truth189]

Troff'd

[gazoo]

Also there's some posters on here who owe Blank an apology as well...........But I'm not gonna say any names....

Yep, some round here bit hard on the AJC venom coming from Jeff Shultz and Mark Bradley. It was all trash reporting and The worst instigators have never apologized to Blank.

[DirtyBird8711]

Yep, some round here bit hard on the AJC venom coming from Jeff Shultz and Mark Bradley. It was all trash reporting and The worst instigators have never apologized to Blank.

The Question is: Who's gonna step up and admit THEY WERE WRONG??????

[Falconsfan567]

The Question is: Who's gonna step up and admit THEY WERE WRONG??????

I was. I thought the Falcons had screwed it up by not landing Bowles because no way did I ever think in a million years would the clear cut number one choice pick Atlanta. I mean history was totally stacked against the Falcons. The top free agents never choose to play in Atlanta. The top coaches never choose to coach in Atlanta. The top front office people never choose to come to Atlanta. The Falcons had always been left standing at the alter. For once they didn't get spurned.

I called out Blank because I believed that he was being too involved in the football decisions over the years and more times than not had seen it totally back fire. That a lot of the Falcons problems over the years could be laid right at Blank's feet. I feel like he's made mistakes in the way he handed Michael Vick during his entire time in a Falcons uniform. He shouldn't have been wheel chairing Michael Vick all over the sidelines when Vick had his broken leg. He shouldn't have fired Dan Reeves just because it was the thing that Vick wanted to happen.

Jim Mora ended up being a joke of a coach because he was too buddy/buddy with Vick and never held Vick accountable for learning the playbook and improving as a QB. Reeves didn't do that with Vick. There's a reason Vick's best season with the Falcons came under Reeves. I think Vick played a big part in Mora getting hired then. We all know that Bobby Petrino was hired solely because of Vick. There's no question about that. That hire had nothing to do with hiring the best possible coach for the job. It was all about hiring the coach that would "supposedly" get the most out of Vick.

Blank finally hired the right coach. The best coach for the Falcons.

[me4falcons]

I believe Blank got it right with Smith. He was the right guy at the right time. Quinn also seems to be the guy that can now get us over.

[hjerry]

I believe Blank got it right with Smith. He was the right guy at the right time. Quinn also seems to be the guy that can now get us over.

I've said it before, but you don't get top Coaching candidates, when you're in the kind of situation that we were in 2007. I don't just mean the state of our roster either.

What Smith did here set the stage for Quinn to take over.

[*NiteFalcon*]

I've said it before, but you don't get top Coaching candidates, when you're in the kind of situation that we were in 2007. I don't just mean the state of our roster either.

What Smith did here set the stage for Quinn to take over.

Agree 100% on both these points. Smith was just as important of a cog in the machine as Quinn is now.

[GEORGIAfan]

I think we owe Joe Banner a solid.

I think he convinced Blank to wait for Quinn, because he didn't in Cleveland. The chemistry with TD sealed it.

I feel like with hindsight, we should have known that Joe Banner was going to push for Quinn. I believe he even mentioned regretting not waiting for that second interview. I gotta say as this was unfolding I was afraid, because there were a lot of rumors about the Jets being Quinn's number 1 choice. I do think there was a good chance we would have lot out to him had the seahawks lost to the panthers. The jets were like vultures at that time. We got lucky that they hesitated, but I do think we were the most logical number 1 choice for a defensive minded coach.

[Duff_Man]

And now Quinn has Matt Ryan and Julio Jones...while Bowles has Geno Smith getting punched over $600 in the locker room.

[JDaveG]

If it makes him feel better, I wanted Bowles at first.

Now I'm glad I was wrong.

Me too. Good grief I'm glad I don't own this team.

My preferences at the time:

Rex Ryan

Bowles

Quinn

[capologist]

Mine was (and this list is posted somewhere btw):

1. Quinn

2. Austin

3. Bowles

4. Ryan

[Fiddlin John Carson]

I never hated on Blank. I joined you gazoo in pointing out the ajc idjits Blank hate.

But I wanted Ryan over Quinn. I wasnt against Quinn....and he was a close second...but I was a Ryan guy.

I also wanted Dorsey over Matt Ryan.

In both cases...I was more wrong than Hillary Clinton in a thong.

[BigDawgMania]

I never hated on Blank. I joined you gazoo in pointing out the ajc idjits Blank hate.

But I wanted Ryan over Quinn. I wasnt against Quinn....and he was a close second...but I was a Ryan guy.

I also wanted Dorsey over Matt Ryan.

In both cases...I was more wrong than Hillary Clinton in a thong.

i dont even want to picture that. stuff of nightmares right there.

anyways, i was on the Rex Ryan train until he signed with Buffalo. i was disappointed. But, im so happy we have Coach Quinn (as you can see by my SN and Pic) as a head coach. The energy he brings. I love the Fast & Physical mantra he is establishing here in Atlanta.

[Fiddlin John Carson]

i dont even want to picture that. stuff of nightmares right there.

anyways, i was on the Rex Ryan train until he signed with Buffalo. i was disappointed. But, im so happy we have Coach Quinn (as you can see by my SN and Pic) as a head coach. The energy he brings. I love the Fast & Physical mantra he is establishing here in Atlanta.

I admit I did not do due dilligence on Quinn before we hired him. But the minute we did...after his presser I liked him more than Ryan. Now...I am thanking God that I was not in charge of that decision.

Loving Quinn.

1. Love the balance he brings between being player friendly and putting foot to azz.

2. Love his philosophy...simplify scheme and focus on fundamentals. My God...that was the best tackling I have seen in a falcon team in a long time. Loved seeing the aggression on defense and offense. It was very telling seeing Solia and Jackson blow up the line and sack Mariotta.

3. Love the way he has structured the coaching staff.

[JDaveG]

The funny thing is, I still think Bowles would have done very well here (Rex is a clown shoe, it turns out). In hindsight I prefer Quinn, and this is mostly because of his choice of OC and his overall vision for how to put together a football team. But Bowles' biggest problem in NY is the one Quinn/Shanny weren't there to solve. Bowles needs a QB. Stat.