By Falcons standards, it had been an eternity between debuts. The seven years and one week since Mike Smith’s first game — a 17-13 exhibition loss in Jacksonville on Aug. 9, 2008 — and Dan Quinn’s opening bow against Tennessee on Friday night matched the longest this franchise has gone without trotting out a new head coach, and here we note that this franchise is entering its 50th season.
Norb Hecker, the inaugural Falcons coach, lasted two seasons and three games. Norm Van Brocklin lasted parts of seven seasons but only six calendar years. Marion Campbell’s separate stints — Swampy was this club’s Grover Cleveland — spanned six seasons but only 68 games. Leeman Bennett made it through six full seasons, Dan Henning and Jerry Glanville four apiece, June Jones and Jim Mora three. Bobby Petrino lit out for the Ozarks after 13 games.
Only once before had this franchise gone seven full seasons between titular head coaches. (We’re not counting interims, of which there have been several.) Dan Reeves’ first exhibition game with the Falcons came Aug. 1, 1997. They lost in Baltimore. Mora’s first exhibition came Aug. 12, 2004, in Baltimore. They lost then, too.
(When, you’re asking, did a new Falcons coach last win his first exhibition? On July 30, 1994, in Canton, Ohio. Under Jones, the Falcons beat San Diego in the Hall of Fame Game. Those were the days, huh?)
(Actually, no. Those weren’t the days. But we digress.)
It would be wrong to say Quinn had done no coaching before Friday. His new team had held a rookie camp, two minicamps — a team gets an extra one when it hires a new coach — and those all-important OTAs, not to mention the Xfinity 2015 Atlanta Falcons Training Camp. (Hey, how come nobody sponsors Organized Team Activities? OTAs would seem a natural for Quaker Oats, would they not?)
It would, however, be right to say that Game 1 of Preseason 1 couldn’t have started any better for the men of DQ. (Further note to the sponsorship guys: Dan Quinn? Dairy Queen? Free Blizzard when a Falcons’ blitz nets a sack?) The Falcons led the Titans 17-0 not 12 minutes in. Could world domination be far behind?
Matt Ryan and Julio Jones combined for four completions, 61 yards and a touchdown on the opening series. They do such things periodically, both of them being really good. The Falcons’ defense has been less than splendiferous for what seems the entirety of this franchise’s existence, but that could be subject to change. The Falcons got a Tyson Jackson sack — an actual sack by a guy who had none all last season! — and a Justin Durant interception on their first series, a Paul Worrilow touchdown return on their second.
It didn’t hurt that they were working against a rookie quarterback — Marcus Mariota, the reigning Heisman Trophy holder — who’d never faced an actual NFL defense. (We’re taking a leap of faith and saying the Falcons now qualify.) The Worrilow touchdown wasn’t the result of a sack or a strip; Mariota simply dropped the ball. Still: A 17-point lead after 11 minutes and 38 seconds — can’t beat that with a hickory stick.
This being preseason, the Falcons pulled Ryan and Jones after a series and most of their starting defenders after two. Tennessee removed Mariota after he engineered a touchdown drive to make the score 17-7 early in the second quarter. Thus were we treated to a duel between T.J. Yates, the No. 2 quarterback who has shown little as a Falcon, and the former Georgia Bulldog Zach Mettenberger, who’s trying to beat out Mariota, whom the Titans drafted No. 2 overall and who would have to stink not to start on the real opening day.
Which is why we shouldn’t take much of what we see in any exhibition as gospel truth. These are practice games. They do not count. (Did you really remember that Smith lost his first exhibition game? I didn’t.)
As nice as it was to see the under-new-management Falcons dash to a 17-point lead, it will count for nothing when the Eagles roll into the Dome come Sept. 14. But on a warm Friday in August, it was kind of cool to see.
