The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Quinn is looking to find answers to Falcons’ defensive struggles
When the Falcons begin to practice in earnest today in Phoenix for Sunday’s game against the Cardinals, there’s a chance coach/defensive coordinator Dan Quinn will simplify the team’s defensive plan, and no, he is not inclined to give up defen- sive play-calling.
Quinn took o ver the defense in the offseason after letting go of coordinator Marquand Manuel – and offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian and special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong – and with a 1-4 record there’s a siren and a sign in the rearview mir- ror that says, “Changes not working.”
While he made his bones as a defensive coach, mostly working with linemen and later in the college and NFL ranks as a coordina- tor, Quinn has struggled to push the right buttons through the season’s first month. Or, a whole lot of players are underperform- ing. Or both.
Numbers are not always everything, but these are outlandish: The Falcons rank next to last in the NFL in points allowed (30.4 per game), tied for next to last in third downs allowed (56.5%) and 23rd in total offense allowed (378.2 yards per game).
The third-down defense more than anything has to be fixed because that’s the down where football games most often live or die.
With several talented players, the Falcons’ slow start is perplexing on many levels, and not just on defense. But those third-down statis- tics are numbing. In Sunday’s 53-32 loss at Houston, the Texans converted 10 of 13 third-down plays into first downs or touchdowns. Often in the second half, the Falcons were nowhere near opposing receivers or running backs, and there was next to no pass rush all day. Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson was hit only once and was not sacked after he was pum- meled in the Texans’ first four games.
So, when the Falcons dove into work for an especially intense Monday of meet- ings, they dove in on third downs.
It’s an old refrain in sports when things are going poorly, but maybe the Falcons need to simplify. It may also help to pressure the passer with more than three rushers.
“W h en you get down to it, sometimes you have too many calls or too many things and how do you want to deny the ball?” Quinn said on a Monday teleconference from Phoenix. “We spent a good bit of time (Monday) together as a defense.
“We went through a fivegame collection on some certain topics, and that was one of them and the calls we’ll make and practice that over and over again so our consistency can be right on those.”
Part of the reason Quinn decided – before the season – to spend the week in Phoenix after the Houston game and before the Car- dinals game was to foster team bonding.
“The key is the right call at the right time is usually where it’s at,” he said. “That’s what I think, as a team, certainly on third downs, that we can improve upon.
“... That’s what (Monday) was really about. We got together, we didn’t make it about just one game ... we put the whole thing together, and it was a difficult day for us.”
But there are so many problems on defense – the Falcons have five sacks, firsttime starting cornerback Isaiah Oliver has struggled mightily and was benched in favor of rookie Kendall Shef- field, outside containment against the run is remark- ably erratic, and ... those third downs! – that going back to basics may be just about a mandatory default move.
Quinn is not about to surrender defensive play-calling in a reverse move of 2016, when he took it from former defensive coordina- tor Richard Smith at roughly midseason.
“Trust me on that one; my ego is never as big as the team, and I will always do what’s best for that,” he said. “At this time, I don’t think that’s where I’m at.”