Although it's early in the week, Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn already knows what his unit should be looking out for when they take on the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

For the defense, it shouldn't be a surprise it will mostly come down to stopping quarterback Jordan Love, who is starting his first career playoff game this weekend after a very successful season taking over Aaron Rodgers.

"What really jumped out to me is how impressive (Love) is throwing the deep ball, and great touch to do that," Quinn admitted to reporters on Monday. "They've been a good play action team from Matt (Lafleur's) time there, and that has been carried on."

Per PFF, Love is fifth in the NFL in deep passes attempts, percentage wise. For context, Dak Prescott ranks 15th. As far as play action, Love is only 17th in attempts percentage wise but completes 72.3% of such passes, good for ninth-best in the league. 

It's clearly the aspect of this offense that Quinn seems to respect the most, as he continued on describing the Packers' ability to find explosives.

"You can see the number of yards per catch for a lot of these receivers and tight ends," Quinn added "There are a lot of deep balls, a lot of explosive plays. So, that has been one thing I was very impressed by, his ability to take the shots and hit the deep ball. That's where these explosive plays can live."

It seems like the way to go for the Cowboys is to focus on forcing Love to be patient and sustain long drives. With the year he's put on, it's clear you can't assume he'll be unable to do it. But allowing him to hit those big-gainers will have him right in his comfort zone. How can Dallas take him away from such a script? That's what Quinn will have to figure out ahead of the game.

It won't be easy as Love has shown a surprisingly low amount of weaknesses: When under pressure or kept clean, when blitzed or not blitzed, throwing short or deep, it's tough to find a specific situation where Love struggles.

An early thought, however: Even with a very good right tackle like Zach Tom, facing Micah Parsons naturally makes it harder for quarterbacks to hit the deep ball as there's far less time to throw.

Cowboys run defense will be tested again vs. Packers

Love is far from the only concern, though. The Cowboys' weakness defensively speaking is still the run. And behind that offensive line, the Packers can surely get some yards.

"They've been a heck of a running team, and what I've seen over the last few weeks is that combination of the runs and play passes that go together," Quinn said. "That's, to me, when offenses are at their best—when they're able to make a run look like a pass."

As usual, the Cowboys want to go up on the scoreboard on this one to force the opponent to throw the ball to make the most of their own pass rush.

"I think at the front of it, you see these two good backs, and they got a good line; they can move. But the ability for them to get the ball out in the perimeter, that's been impressive to me."

Quinn already has an interview request for a head coach opening from the Carolina Panthers and more are likely to come. But right now, it's all about beating the Packers. 

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