The Falcons' Dan Quinn: A good hire who needs to hit big fast

Dan Quinn: Probably the best hire possible this year.

Dan Quinn: Had better be a good head coach.

The Atlanta Falcons have spent two seasons losing nearly every smidgen of luster accrued over the first five years of the Smith/Dimitroff era. They've lost games. They've blown games. They've fired the best coach this franchise has ever had, though it must be said that over the final two years that coach wasn't very good.

They're kept the best general manager this franchise has ever had but restructured the front office so this GM isn't doing the thing that was his claim to eminence. They've played next to no defense. They've built a flimsy roster. They're building a new stadium and charging five-figure-sums for the right to buy tickets therein. (Not for the tickets themselves; just for the right.) They're  being investigated by the NFL for pumping artificial noise into the Georgia Dome, and their high-profile owner has lately made more noise than sense.

To state the blatantly obvious: The Falcons need to stop the rot. Dan Quinn needs to make this team win again soon, and maybe he will. He did a stellar job with Seattle's splendid defense, though it must be said that the Falcons' defenders are markedly less splendid. (And that defense did yield two fourth-quarter touchdowns that overrode a 10-point in Sunday's Super Bowl loss.)

But think of it this way: At least the Falcons won't be introducing Darrell Bevell, the Seahawks' offensive coordinator who'll forever be remembered as the man who ordered up the second-and-goal pass that became the title-losing interception , as their new head coach Tuesday. They got the defensive guy. Good choice.

Further reading: Seattle's throw was bad, but was throwing the ball so wrong?