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Billy Devaney audio interview on rebuilding the Rams


g-dawg

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link to website that has link to DeVaney interview

I figured you guys would enjoy listening to this because you can tell he really likes what Atlanta did in the offseason and coaching selection. Since DeVaney was part of Falcons staff through the coaching hire - he had some insight there as well from the inside.

Regarding Matt Ryan, he said the Falcons and I quote "struck gold" B)

its a good listen......20 minute interview - talks about Falcons mostly around 5 minutes into the interview and speaks about 5 minutes or so about it. (think that's right)....

anyway, good listen - enjoy and tell me what you think!

(by the way, I'm "Falconator" on this clanram.com website - its a good bunch of guys that know football there. Not as many board members and you have to wait longer to see responses - but still its a good messageboard - not many idiots)

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I'm downloading it now. I think the Falcons will be the rebuilding template for many teams in the future. It would be interesting to compare the number of GMs hired from here on out that have a strong scouting background like Dimitroff. Anybody know how many current GMs have the same type of background?

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But, but...I thought the Browns had the right solution? Haha I remember on draft day when everyone, Kiper included, criticized us when we moved back up to draft Baker. They said the Browns did it the right way, selecting the tackle first and then the quarterback. That's why they're on TV and Dimitroff is in the war room.

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Interesting interview. The part about how Atlanta interviewed for the coaching positions starts around 7 min in. Recap:

Atlanta almost didn't hire Smith. They had a list of second interview candidates, and Smith was on the list. Before Dimitroff was hired, they went down and interviewed Smith during the Jags bye-week before their playoffs. Smith was really focused on his team and was it was near the end of the season, so he had a bad interview. They pretty much blew him off at that point, but later when Dimitroff was hired, Dimitroff wanted to talk to him again. So they brought him in again, and this time the season was over and Smith had more time to prepare for the interview. And this time he blew them away in the interview and pretty much won the job.

The interviewer then asked him if he thought the Rams could reproduce what Atlanta did. He went on about how Atlanta struck gold with Ryan and Turner, and how Roddy has stepped up. Overall some interesting inside info on the Smith hiring process.

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This is my problem with this. There is no perfect template.

Last year, i think the browns handled the draft correctly. i think picking up joe thomas at 3 overall(i believe three) and then trading back up for quinn later was the best move.

for us, i think drafting Ryan first and moving back up for Baker was a great move. I'm not the best stat guru, but if anyone could show how the LT's selected after baker performed this year that would help to prove my point about picking up Baker in the first.

All the talk about starting a QB in his first year b/c we've had success with it is a load of crap. We've had success with it b/c of who Matt Ryan is. I gurantee you if Ryan wasn't the QB he is with his intagibles, work ethic, and intelligence, then he would be riding the clipboard behind Redman this season.

I like what we've done by creating a team first atmosphere, good communication from the top to the bottom, let everyone players and coaches alike know exactly what there role is and what is expected of them. I think that's about as far as you can go with our "template" Everything else depends on personell on the roster, available through free agency and the draft. We got very lucky to be able to get matt ryan. If the coin toss had gone differently, we very easily could have been in the midst of 5-11 or 6-10 season without any recognition. The template is different for every set of circumstances.

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This is my problem with this. There is no perfect template.

I couldn't agree more. Nobody could predict that Ryan would have the season he would have, so we were very lucky. That being said, there are elements of the Falcon rebuilding process that could apply to any team that was rebuilding:

1) Hire a GM with a strong scouting background and let him run the draft.

2) Hire a "players" coach whose team would fall on a grenade for, but also has a high level of discipline (unlike Mora Jr.)

3) Hire a coaching staff with deep NFL coaching experience at a high level (as opposed to college coaches)

4) Upgrade the offensive line and bring in an established power back to take the load off of your QB.

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I couldn't agree more. Nobody could predict that Ryan would have the season he would have, so we were very lucky. That being said, there are elements of the Falcon rebuilding process that could apply to any team that was rebuilding:

1) Hire a GM with a strong scouting background and let him run the draft.

2) Hire a "players" coach whose team would fall on a grenade for, but also has a high level of discipline (unlike Mora Jr.)

3) Hire a coaching staff with deep NFL coaching experience at a high level (as opposed to college coaches)

4) Upgrade the offensive line and bring in an established power back to take the load off of your QB.

all good points Stankyfoot.........LOL - Stankyfoot! :lol:

birds till death is right too.........there is no one simple blueprint - if so, everybody would do it - and everybody cannot win...

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Interesting interview. The part about how Atlanta interviewed for the coaching positions starts around 7 min in. Recap:

Atlanta almost didn't hire Smith. They had a list of second interview candidates, and Smith was on the list. Before Dimitroff was hired, they went down and interviewed Smith during the Jags bye-week before their playoffs. Smith was really focused on his team and was it was near the end of the season, so he had a bad interview. They pretty much blew him off at that point, but later when Dimitroff was hired, Dimitroff wanted to talk to him again. So they brought him in again, and this time the season was over and Smith had more time to prepare for the interview. And this time he blew them away in the interview and pretty much won the job.

The interviewer then asked him if he thought the Rams could reproduce what Atlanta did. He went on about how Atlanta struck gold with Ryan and Turner, and how Roddy has stepped up. Overall some interesting inside info on the Smith hiring process.

I love that about Smitty. He seems like the kind of guy to worry about and finish the task at hand without getting easily distracted. I see it over and over again the more I read about him.

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I couldn't agree more. Nobody could predict that Ryan would have the season he would have, so we were very lucky. That being said, there are elements of the Falcon rebuilding process that could apply to any team that was rebuilding:

1) Hire a GM with a strong scouting background and let him run the draft.

2) Hire a "players" coach whose team would fall on a grenade for, but also has a high level of discipline (unlike Mora Jr.)

3) Hire a coaching staff with deep NFL coaching experience at a high level (as opposed to college coaches)

4) Upgrade the offensive line and bring in an established power back to take the load off of your QB.

thank you. This is the same thing as i was thinking, just in a format easier to understand than my rambling. Every team shoulf focus on the running game with a young QB. You then ease the QB into throwing situations. If you have someone special, you can later on in there career run a manning or brady or brees style offense if the QB develops as you had hoped. But a heavy running game and 15-20 attempts is the perfect amount for a young QB(IMO)

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Best line of the interview "they struck gold with the quarterback".

agreed.........it was a good interview......maybe DeVaney can turn the St. Louis Rams franchise around......

I think Falcons are inspiration and beacon of hope to the other downtrodden franchises right now. I guess you would have to say the same of the Dolphins although I like the Falcons chances better for long-term success.....Ravens already had established defensive team and they are old.

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