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Could Very Well Be Mel Tucker


freebird310

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According to a report from NFL.com, the top candidate for the open Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator job is Jacksonville Jaguars DC Mel Tucker:

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Jason La Canfora

I expect Falcons to make overtures to Mel Tucker in their defensive coordinator search. Jags and Vikes interested in Tucker

Tucker, a 40-year old who got his start in the college ranks, has been the Jaguars defensive coordinator for the last three seasons.

In 2011, Jacksonville ranked 8th in passing yardage allowed and 9th in rushing yardage allowed under Tucker.

He took over as the interim head coach when the Jaguars fired Jack Del Rio towards the end of last season and interviewed for the full-time job before Jacksonville hired former Atlanta Falcons OC Mike Mularkey instead.

Mularkey is reportedly interested in keeping the in-demand Tucker, who also interviewed for the Minnesota Vikings DC position last week.

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With La Canfora reporting it, I don't believe it. Not with Blank saying the things he said in the presser. Spags and Nolan are still out there.

I dont know man, Smitty is enamored with all things Jag ....would not surprise me one bit, but he's a good coach MM prolly trying to keep him, so if Jax wants him just be a lateral move I guess .....

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With La Canfora reporting it, I don't believe it. Not with Blank saying the things he said in the presser. Spags and Nolan are still out there.

So could these names just be posturing by the Falcons FO, so that the big names (Spags, Nolan) aren't as likely to take us to the cleaners or hold us hostage waiting for a decision?

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from what I've seen of Mel Tucker, I could definitely live with this hire. He plays aggressive style of defense - unlike Smitty...

Actually, the style of defense and coverages is pretty much the same. Tucker just got better results than BVG.

And just because a defense is employs primary zone coverage doesn't mean it's not aggressive.

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Didn't Mularkey put up over 40 points on this guy?

It was their JV squad D (due to injuries). They totally dominated the Ravens earlier in the season. It was truly an impressive defensive performance. The defense won the game for them in-spite of a terrible offensive showing.

Edited by O-TownFalcon
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Actually, the style of defense and coverages is pretty much the same. Tucker just got better results than BVG.

And just because a defense is employs primary zone coverage doesn't mean it's not aggressive.

it does mean its not aggressive if Mike Smith has anything to do with it.

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it does mean its not aggressive if Mike Smith has anything to do with it.

Smitty's defense is aggressive too, always has been. What you see on Sunday that makes them look passive is a lack of an effective pass rush, poor angles, and tackling once the ball is caught, and not contesting receivers off the LOS enough. The mindset was always aggressive, but the results were meh...

Tucker's defense, while being almost exactly the same in design and mindest, was the 180 of all of that because he got better execution out of his players.

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It was their JV squad D (due to injuries). They totally dominated the Ravens earlier in the season. It was truly an impressive defensive performance. The defense won the game for them in-spite of a terrible offensive showing.

Indeed .....true dat if we had their defense this year, things been alot different for us ......

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I'd say Spags, Nolan, then Tucker. I am tired of this infatuation of everything Jaguars. They have never won anything. Go mooch off of a winner at least. I do like Tucker, but I don't think he should be the top of the list.

I'm with you regarding the musical chairs game we seem to play with JAX; even their fans are annoyed with it.

I'm cool with Tucker, but I cannot believe we're even thinking about Koetter for OC. I will be very disappointed if we bring him on board.

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Smitty's defense is aggressive too, always has been. What you see on Sunday that makes them look passive is a lack of an effective pass rush, poor angles, and tackling once the ball is caught, and not contesting receivers off the LOS enough. The mindset was always aggressive, but the results were meh...

Tucker's defense, while being almost exactly the same in design and mindest, was the 180 of all of that because he got better execution out of his players.

this is hilarious!

What you see is not aggressive - but they are aggressive in their "minds".... blink.png

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this is hilarious!

What you see is not aggressive - but they are aggressive in their "minds".... blink.png

Guess you're not getting what I'm saying. There is not a defensive coach in the world that doesn't have an aggressive defensive mindset. It's just that there are different ways to go about being aggressive. Most fans think aggression means blitzing when that couldn't be farther from the truth. There are many teams that are aggressive and only rush 4, but the aggressive mindset comes from the coaching -- the way Zimmer has his defensive backs press receivers even in zone coverage, or the way Lovie Smith has every defender rally to the ball and go for the strip and when they pick the ball up, they look to score.

Mike Smith's defenses have always sported that aggressive mindset, it's just that the subtle nuances that you get or don't get from the position coaches that shore up fundamentals like tackling was missing. When you go back and look at the play that Hakeem Nicks broke, it was Decoud taking a poor angle, then getting caught flat-footed allowed that to happen. That's fundamentals. It's little things like that that plagued this defense the whole season -- not properly reading and handing off patterns in zone, poor technique on tackles that allowed guys to fall forward for a 1st down, I saw a brilliant T/T stunt called against the Saints on a third down, and do you know what happened? Both tackled bumped into one another and fell down.

I could go on and on... but the point stands, the defense was not as passive as you think. There were aggressive calls being made, it's just that too often things broke down at a fundamental level at the worst possible times.

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