The Brotherhood just drummed two out of the fraternity. Two days after the biggest Super Bowl collapse in the history of humankind, the Falcons booted/reassigned defensive coordinator Richard Smith and D-line coach Bryan Cox, neither of whom seemed up to snuff.
Still, this is a lot of self-imposed turnover for a team that led New England by 25 points with 17 minutes and seven seconds left in regulation. Offensive Kyle Shanahan leaving to coach San Francisco was beyond the Brotherhood’s control; these dismissals were the work of Big Daddy Dan Quinn, who — credit to him — grasped reality and acted to correct it.
To say Smith was a garden-variety defensive coordinator is putting it kindly. In six years as an NFL defensive coordinator, he has never had a season in which his unit ranked above 16th in yards allowed or above 14th in points against. This year’s totals were 25th and 27th. Had these Falcons won the Super Bowl, they’d have done it with the second-lowest-ranked defense ever. The Giants were 27th in total defense in 2011; the Saints were 25th in 2009.
To be fair, the defense did get better over the season's second half. But now come reports — from Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network and Vaughn McClure of ESPN — that Quinn had taken to calling signals during games. (As was, I say while blushing, suggested in this space in early November.) If your defensive coordinator is no longer coordinating, there's no reason to have him around. As for Cox: He was known most for issuing apologies at the NFL combine. The Falcons can do better there, too.
It’s believed that secondary coach Marquand Manuel could be kicked, so to speak, upstairs, which wouldn’t be a bad thing. He has long been seen as a rising star among assistants. No matter who gets the job, the lesson here is that Quinn isn’t settling for second-best — or 25th and 27th. He has a young defense mostly of his choosing. He cannot allow it be tutored by coaches of lesser rank.
It’s not always easy to fill staff positions when you’re a rookie head coach. Do guys join you because they believe you’re the next Belichick or because they happen to need a job? Smith had been fired by the Texans after the 2008 season; he spent the next six years coaching linebackers for Carolina and Denver. Cox was a holdover from the Mike Smith days in Flowery Branch. Now Quinn gets to recalibrate. Recalibration was needed.
We’ll never know if these changes would have occurred had the Falcons stopped the Patriots’ final 2-point conversion. The most grievous Super errors were the two fourth-quarter Matt Ryan sacks on passes that should have been runs, and those had nothing to do with the defense. Still, Tom Brady and Co. amassed 546 yards and 37 first downs against the Falcons. The Pats’ final five possessions — touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown. (With two 2-point conversions interspersed.)
This might sound strange, but I have greater confidence that the Falcons’ defense will continue to improve under Quinn and Whomever than I do regarding the raging offense. Nobody could do a better job than Shanahan just did, the fourth quarter in NRG Stadium notwithstanding. And the hire of Steve Sarkisian to replace him inspires no great faith.
Sarkisian has worked one season in the NFL — as a quarterbacks coach for the Raiders more than a decade ago. He was fired as head coach of USC, one of the plum positions in college football, for issues regarding alcohol. He was set to become Alabama’s offensive coordinator next season but was given a battlefield promotion before the national championship game when Nick Saban decided he’d had enough of the brat Lane Kiffin. Sarkisian’s record as Bama’s OC — 0-1.
The Crimson Tide did score 31 points against Clemson, and Sarkisian did conjure up a late go-ahead touchdown out of nothing — a 15-yard completion on third-and-16, then a fourth-down conversion, then a flea-flicker and finally Jalen Hurts' 30-yard scramble — but the Alabama offense looked disjointed all game. (The Tide punted 10 times.) Even more disquieting is the SB Nation report that Saban, after one whole game, had likewise seen enough of Sarkisian and the two had agreed to part after Signing Day.
Granted, Matt Ryan is more adept at the forward pass than Jalen Hurts. As splendid as Calvin Ridley is, he’s not Julio Jones. Sarkisian will have at his disposal everything a top-shelf coordinator should need at his disposal; I’m just not sure where in his history we find proof that he’s a top-shelf coordinator.
Full disclosure: I’ve been wrong about some of Quinn’s moves before, and he has a right to pick the people he wants. But Shanahan is about the toughest act to follow, and there’ll be a drop-off. The defense can only get better, which it will.
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