Quinn happy with how Oliver responded to coverage miscue
Falcons second-round pick Isaiah Oliver gave up a 27-yard touchdown pass to Gehrig Dieter in the 28-14 exhibition loss to the Chiefs on Friday.
He was in press man-to-man coverage and missed his jam at the line of scrimmage. Dieter jumped outside and veteran quarterback Chad Henne quickly found him for the score.
“You don’t like to see it happen, but the technique on that particular play wasn’t good,” Quinn said. “The analogy I’ll use is not a good one but, don’t touch the stove, it’s hot. OK, maybe I’ll believe you, maybe I won’t. Then he got burned.”
The Falcons believe Oliver, who’s learning a new press technique, will learn from the play.
“He’s another one that we’re really encouraged about, the work that he’s putting him,” Quinn said. “He’s a terrific athlete with balls skills. On that one, I didn’t like the play. But there were other ones in the game that I thought he had a good tackle on special teams and he recovered a good deep ball.
“That’s life on the island, out in the freeway.”
Quinn liked how Oliver responded.
“There was no excuses, which I like. Right away tried to test him like hey, what happened there,” Quinn said. “He didn’t offer any excuse to say what happened, and he responded right away. I don’t like that it happened but, in some instances, you have to have some on the job training and no better place than out on the field, especially in the exhibition season.”
About the Author
Honored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his "long and distinguished reporting in the field of pro football," D. Orlando Ledbetter, Esq. has covered the NFL 28 seasons. A graduate of Howard University, he's a winner of Georgia Sportswriter of the Year and three Associated Press Sports Editor awards.
