Dan Quinn called it “totally unacceptable.” He used those words several times. But what, someone asked, did they mean? Will his Falcons, having lost six games in succession and the sixth by a numbing 38-0, put different players on the field next week? Will different coaches call different plays?
Said Quinn: “Everything counts. (We want to be) smart, tough and (to) finish.”
What does “totally unacceptable” mean? From Quinn’s answer, we still don’t know. On his worst day as a head coach, he recycled the bromides we’ve heard since he took the job. Through seven games, the happy talk had happy results. But if you hadn’t known this team was once 6-1, you wouldn’t have guessed from anything since.
Said Arthur Blank, who owns the team: “I don’t even know what to say.”
That’s not his job, though. That’s the coach’s. After six consecutive losses, Quinn’s players need more than slogans. They need to hear something tactical, something that will maximize what resources they have. This is no longer a team in a downturn. This is a team that has come undone.
Players and coaches were jawing at each other Sunday. Frustrated Falcons were being flagged for one silly foul after another. In the first half, Quinn gathered his men on the sideline and vented. Didn’t help. Words failed. This goes beyond words.
A good quarterback has gone unaccountably bad. Matt Ryan made two more turnovers Sunday, although the game was gone by then. This game was gone after eight minutes, gone after Robert Alford was penalized in coverage and then stopped running as Carolina’s Ted Ginn Jr. fled for a touchdown. Bad play, worse effort. Totally unacceptable. Was Alford benched?
Nope. He stayed in the game and committed another penalty.
The Falcons yielded 260 yards and 21 points in the first quarter. Quinn’s defense looked as wretched as Kyle Shanahan’s offense. On Sunday, the team that had barely been scoring didn’t score at all. That hadn’t happened since Dec. 5, 2004. But those Falcons, under rookie coach Jim Mora, played for the NFC title.
There was a time, believe it or not, when the playoffs were all but a given for these Falcons. Of the 72 teams that started 5-0 since the NFL and AFL merged, only six missed the playoffs. No team has ever started 5-0 and finished with a losing record. On Sunday, the Falcons fell to 6-7.
Asked how a team goes from 6-1 to 6-7, Ryan said: “You play poorly. We’ve done it differently throughout different times of the season, but today was about as bad as we can play.”
We can debate just how much talent Quinn inherited – though the talent was sufficient to win six of the first seven games – but lately his men appear poorly deployed. Quinn’s defense was touched for gains of 44 or more yards on each of the first three series Sunday. Shanahan’s offense has managed a first-half touchdown in only two of the past seven games. Totally unacceptable. So what, at this late date, can be done?
Near October’s end, Quinn had a case for being the NFL’s coach of the year: He had taken a 6-10 team and was surely bound for postseason. Today it’s hard to know what to make of him. The offensive line remains a shambles, but we figured that could happen. More concerning is that the defense hasn’t generated a pass rush, which is Quinn’s forte.
“We know we’re better than that,” cornerback Desmond Trufant said, but how do they know? Because they were once 6-1?
“We’ve got to learn from our mistakes,” Trufant said. “The coaches do a great job of showing us what the other team is going to do.” But if those players can’t complete their assignments, who cares? Isn’t that what coaching is – getting guys to do as they’re taught?
Not so long ago, the Falcons were sure they’d hired the right man. Even as his team has fallen to pieces, Quinn remains bright-eyed and intense. Today, though, we wonder if those eyes don’t bear a resemblance to a deer in the headlights. Forgive me for mixing sports, but he reminds me of Fredi Gonzalez during the Braves’ Epic Collapse of 2011, which kind of fits. Because this collapse is epic, too.
About the Author
