HOW THEY STARTED
A look at the record of Falcons coaches in the first season of their tenure as head coach:
Year; Coach; Record
2008; Mike Smith; 11-5
2007; Bobby Petrino; 3-10
2004; Jim Mora; 11-5
1997; Dan Reeves; 7-9
1994; June Jones; 7-9
1990; Jerry Glanville; 5-11
1987; Marion Campbell; 3-12
1983; Dan Henning; 7-9
1977; Leeman Bennett; 7-7
1975; Marion Campbell; 4-10
1969; Norm Van Brocklin; 6-8
1966; Norb Hecker; 3-11
* First full season
Notes: Petrino did not complete his only season. Hecker's first season was the franchise's first season. Campbell served two tenures as Falcons coach.
When Dan Quinn was hired as the 16th head coach in Falcons history on Feb. 2, there was a laundry list of seven issues that needed his immediate attention.
With the players set to report for training camp Thursday, the first-year coach, who was defensive coordinator of Seattle’s bone-rattling and record-setting defense the past two seasons, will have some mountains to climb to quickly turn around the Falcons in 2015.
Jud Hughes, the vice chair and head of Global Sports Practice at Korn/Ferry, helped with the Falcons’ search that landed Quinn.
He was a coach before he moved into the human-resources side of football and worked under five Hall of Fame coaches in Chuck Noll and Bud Grant (Pro Football Hall of Fame) and Bo Schembechler, John Ralston and Terry Donahue (College).
While non-disclosure agreements prohibit Hughes from commenting specifically about Quinn and the Falcons, he knows what it takes for a first-year coach to have some success.
“The most critical piece is having alignment,” Hughes said. “Meaning, that the owner, the general manager and the head coach are all coordinated in what they think it’s going to take to be successful.”
He pointed to New England, Seattle and Green Bay as examples of teams where the ownership and the front office is in sync with the head coach. The Falcons re-arranged their structure, which Quinn reporting directly to owner Arthur Blank, likely with the hopes of having better alignment.
After laying the foundation of his program over the offseason, Quinn must galvanize the units. The Falcons must be ready for a daunting opening of the season, which includes a nationally televised game against the Eagles on Sept. 14 followed by games at the Giants and the Cowboys. Most prognosticators have the Falcons pegged for a 0-3 opening and bumpy start to the Quinn era.
For the Falcons to mount a fast start and rebound from going 10-22 over the past two seasons, Quinn’s top issue will be to improve the league’s worst defense.
The Falcons didn’t make any splash moves in free agency, but signed a slew of veterans who they hope are upgrades in linebackers Brooks Reed, Justin Durant, O’Brien Schofield and defensive end Adrian Clayborn. But all come with question marks.
Reed hasn’t been much of a pass-rusher. Durant has been injury prone. Schofield has a balky knee, and Clayborn is trying to revive his once promising career.
The Falcons drafted Clemson’s all-time sackmaster Vic Beasley with the eighth overall pick and added LSU cornerback Jalen Collins in the draft. The Falcons hope Beasley can spark the pass-rush and that second-year defensive lineman Ra’Shede Hageman can make a huge jump in his level of play.
The second issue was reshaping the roster to fit the new schemes. That was an ongoing process over the offseason and will continue.
The Falcons parted ways with several key veterans including running back Steven Jackson, linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, defensive tackle Corey Peters, wide receiver Harry Douglas, left tackle Sam Baker and left guard Justin Blalock.
Powering up the rushing attack was the third issue.
With Jackson out of the picture, the Falcons are determined to run the ball more in new offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan’s outside-zone blocking scheme. They drafted running back Devonta Freeman in the fourth round of the 2014 draft and then selected Tevin Coleman in the third round of the 2015 draft.
That will be one of the more interesting battles of training camp. Shanahan and running backs coach Bobby Turner are not afraid to latch their wagon to a rookie. In 2012 while with the Washington Redskins, they went with rookie Alfred Morris, a little known sixth-round pick out of Florida Atlantic.
Morris, who’s had three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, rushed for 1,613 yards as a rookie. That total was the third most by a rookie in NFL history behind Eric Dickerson (1,808 in 1983) and Duluth’s George Rogers (1,674 in 1981).
Former general manager Bill Polian, who’s set to be inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August, also mentioned undrafted rookie Terron Ward as a dark-horse candidate.
Finding quarterback Matt Ryan a serviceable pass-catching tight end was issue No. 4.
The Falcons elected not to go after a top-tier tight end in free agency, as two-time Pro Bowler Julius Thomas signed a five-year, $46 million deal with Jacksonville.
The Falcons elected to revamp the position by signing free agents Jacob Tamme and Tony Moeaki on March 19. Tamme signed a two-year, $2.1 million deal and received a $400,000 signing bonus. Moeaki received a no-frills one-year, $745,000 contract. They also re-signed Mickey Shuler and undrafted rookie Beau Gardner.
Last year’s starter Levine Toilolo is now considered more of a blocking tight end.
The fifth and sixth issues of adding pass-rushers in free agency and the draft were addressed by the additions of Reed, Clayborn and Beasley after a failed run at former Georgia Tech star Derrick Morgan (23 career sacks). He remained with Tennessee. The team also re-signed defensive end Kroy Biermann.
The seventh issue was to fix the offensive line.
The Falcons released former starters left tackle Sam Baker and left guard Justin Blalock over the offseason.
Fixing the line is an ongoing project because of injuries and the offseason signings of guard Mike Person, tackle Tyler Polumbus and guard Chris Chester.
Projected starters in left tackle Jake Matthews (foot), center Joe Hawley (knee), Jon Asamoah (ankle) are all coming back from injuries.
In addition to improving the rushing attack, the Falcons must protect Ryan better. He was sacked 31 times last season, which was down from 44 in 2013.
Those seven issues will help determine how far the Falcons will go in Quinn’s first season.
Another challenge not on Quinn’s to-do list is winning the locker room. He needs the veterans on his side.
“So much is done in the locker room that’s not done with the head coach present, that you need that buy-in from the veteran players to help the first-year head coach implement his philosophy and his values,” Hughes said.
Only twice in the history of the franchise has a first-year coach come in and posted a winning season. In 2004 under Jim Mora, the Falcons finished 11-5, reaching the NFC Championship game. In 2008 under Mike Smith, with a rookie quarterback, the team finished 11-5, but was eliminated in the wild-card round by Arizona.
The next best rookie showing in team history was by Leeman Bennett in 1977. His first team went 7-7.
What will Quinn’s record be?
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