Observations of a Kool-Aid drinker

[Geneaut]

First and foremost this isn't about the merits/demerits of any mindset of Falcon's fans. If you want to discuss the pros or cons of being a kool-aid drinker, or any type of fan start your own thread.

That said I'm fairly content being labeled a kool-aid drinker. I'm usually fairly upbeat and confident about the team since TD took over the front office, and really since AB bought the team. Since the Smiths have been gone I've felt AB is actually doing all he can to put a good product on the field, though the implementation of that may not have always born fruit. That said I'm also willing to note when the team does things I don't agree with so I'm not unaware of their short-comings, but I may not spend a lot of time harping on them.

However, this season and the offseason leading up to it has been odd. I liked a lot of the personnel moves ( with the exception of keeping 44 ).  That said I wasn't a giant fan of changing so much of the coaching staff. I've lived my life under the assumption that except in dire emergencies you should only make one change at a time to minimize disruption to a system, and to also be able to properly identify if the change you made fixed issues. That decision reeked of desperation to me and it was troubling but I was willing to go along and hope for the best.

Now some things I see:

* obvious growing pains of the team adjusting to new coaches/strategies with some issues of identity. Too many cooks in the kitchen with all these former HCs ?

* obvious rust from not playing starters a lot during preseason. 

* Matt's not comfortable in the new/old system yet, or he's really taken a step back mentally and has developed some bad tendencies he usually doesn't display. Has 3 systems in 5 years caught up to him?

* far too many penalties. Not sure if this is related to the whole-scale changes and/or rust or even just plain old coach apathy. I don't like it either way. Is it time to bring Smitty in as a consultant?

* I'm not going to nitpick Quinn's press conferences deeply, but it might be nice if he changed up his typical post game routine a little after a loss. I <think> he's just trying to show he's confident and not panicking but it does sometimes come across as apathetic, or even as if he's not aware of some of the issues we see. At the end of the day, this is Quinn's ship to set right.

All that said I'm not on the 1-15 bus. I think this team can fix some of these issues going forward but I'm really starting to lean far more toward a fan who sees 8-8 as a strong potential outcome.

 

Edited September 24, 2019 by Geneaut

[shc]

Seems like Matt throws a lot of picks the first season with a new coordinator. 

[dothan_birdman]

8-8 is still a disappointment. The cap moves, the players windows as strong performers, the drafts, all are wasted in an 8-8 season. 

While I agree AB is light years better for Falcon fans than the Smiths, and I am pleased with the direction he’s moved things, it’s time for all this effort and money to yield something. Consistently. Or it is time to blow this up and make changes. If penalties and stupid player decisions continue, I tend to say blow it up. 

[Jesus]

2015 - New HC, DC, OC - big start finish 8-8 learning new defense, offense, lots of leftover players who didn't fit system.

2016 - New DC - up and down start 6-4 at bye - catch fire cruise until 4th quarter of Super Bowl. 

2017 - New OC - up and down year with offense struggling at times. 10-6. Lose tough game in playoffs

2018 - First year without coaching changes - Injuries derail everything 7-9

2019 - New DC, OC, ST - newish offensive philosophy, newish defensive philosophy -  1-2

Every year has some sort of major coaching change under DQ. That is worrisome. There has not been a lot of years of stability. Maybe it all comes together but they need to get that to happen soon.

[A Dog Named Brian]

I’m still reserving judgement until the next game or two is done. We’ve always had slow starts (minus 2015) under Quinn. Just wish he would take preseason a little more seriously

[MAD597]

DQ's time is done, 28-3 was the kiss of death for this version of the team and no amount of tweaks will fix that.

Even TD's time is probably coming to an end as he has proved he is terrible at evaluation of talent on the OL and DL which is always our weakness.

This is another lost season and I expect a full cleaning of the house this off season and at least a 50/50 shot TD gets the boot as well.

A lot of players need to go as well #1 starting with Freeman and Beasley, no more giving huge contracts to players that only shown their worth one season.

[Geneaut]

10 minutes ago, A Dog Named Brian said:

I’m still reserving judgement until the next game or two is done. We’ve always had slow starts (minus 2015) under Quinn. Just wish he would take preseason a little more seriously

I'm mostly in this camp. I don't feel like the team can't compete at a high level, but that we aren't for a variety of reasons which I believe can be corrected.

 

The preseason thing bugs me to. A LOT

Edited September 24, 2019 by Geneaut

[E. T.]

Quit drinking Kool-Aid...I'm Diabetic!

It was killing me to drink the Kool-Aid...

I'll believe it when I see the cure...

Make sense?

[Geneaut]

2 minutes ago, E. T. said:

Quit drinking Kool-Aid...I'm Diabetic!

It was killing me to drink the Kool-Aid...

I'll believe it when I see the cure...

Make sense?

I don't drink soda ( kidney stones ). After a while sweet tea gets boring.

[A Dog Named Brian]

5 minutes ago, Geneaut said:

I'm mostly in this camp. I don't feel like the team can't compete at a high level, but that we aren't for a variety of reasons which I believe can be corrected.

 

The preseason thing bugs me to. A LOT

My only other caveat is DQ preaches playing our brand of football. He needs to stick to that and stop playing down to our competition. In my mind, how we played defensively in Philly Week 2 is our brand of football. Why we got away from that in Indy is beyond me. I can’t ignore the flashes of what I think this team can be this year, I also can’t ignore the mistakes. We’ll see what happens, the mistakes made so far are for sure fixable 

[E. T.]

2 minutes ago, Geneaut said:

I don't drink soda ( kidney stones ). After a while sweet tea gets boring.

Lol...Kool-Aid it is my friend.

[KRUNKuno]

I can’t drink off brand kool aid.  I’m always gonna be skeptical.  

This falcons team has no brand.  It has no identity.  Dan Quinn has never had a brand or an identity.  He’s preached the fast and physical kool aid brand, but has given us watered down Tampico for 5 years.

Teams that have no identity will go nowhere.  Right now it seems like we’re going to have to be another high powered offense which would make sense if our HC was an offensive mind.  It seems as if Quinn will once again have to ride the coattails of his offense.

[MAD597]

25 minutes ago, A Dog Named Brian said:

I’m still reserving judgement until the next game or two is done. We’ve always had slow starts (minus 2015) under Quinn. Just wish he would take preseason a little more seriously

Proof is in the pudding, this years team looks worse than any other team under Quinn, and that was before losing Neal.

5 pre season games and 3 regular season games is enough for me to see this team is complete trash and 6-10 is more than likely.

[TheTrue7]

Edited September 24, 2019 by TheTrue7

[Geneaut]

1 hour ago, Jesus said:

2015 - New HC, DC, OC - big start finish 8-8 learning new defense, offense, lots of leftover players who didn't fit system.

2016 - New DC - up and down start 6-4 at bye - catch fire cruise until 4th quarter of Super Bowl. 

2017 - New OC - up and down year with offense struggling at times. 10-6. Lose tough game in playoffs

2018 - First year without coaching changes - Injuries derail everything 7-9

2019 - New DC, OC, ST - newish offensive philosophy, newish defensive philosophy -  1-2

Every year has some sort of major coaching change under DQ. That is worrisome. There has not been a lot of years of stability. Maybe it all comes together but they need to get that to happen soon.

You've hit on something here. When AB hired Quinn he kept mentioning long-term stability but we haven't practiced it with the coaching staff as a whole.

[FalconFanSince1970]

With a couple more AFC losses, the tankers and mocker fockers will be pssing in the Kool-aid. 

[JDaveG]

1 hour ago, shc said:

Seems like Matt throws a lot of picks the first season with a new coordinator. 

I've thought about this a lot.  If you think about what a coordinator does, it's not just calling the plays, or even developing the playbook.  It's also determining how to attack a defense and communicating expectations to players.  It seems the first year with the last few new coordinators, a lot of that is out of sync.  For a time I thought it was normal, especially with Shanahan and the transition to the WCO, which is oddball from the QB perspective in terms of timing, philosophy, objectives, etc.

Now I wonder if it isn't Matt.  If he doesn't need to be on the same page in every little detail to perform his best.  I'm not sure what to make of it, but 2nd year he always does a lot better.  If nothing else, it's an argument for keeping a coordinator for a longer time and not switching things up every year or two.  If Koetter leaves, IMHO we should promote from within.  At this point it can't hurt, because in the past 5 years we've wasted 2 years of Matt's prime, and we may be witnessing the wasting of a 3rd.  Continuity wins in the NFL.  And it could be as simple as Koetter and Knapp not being on the same page, because Knapp primarily communicates the game plan to the QBs.

[Geneaut]

35 minutes ago, JDaveG said:

I've thought about this a lot.  If you think about what a coordinator does, it's not just calling the plays, or even developing the playbook.  It's also determining how to attack a defense and communicating expectations to players.  It seems the first year with the last few new coordinators, a lot of that is out of sync.  For a time I thought it was normal, especially with Shanahan and the transition to the WCO, which is oddball from the QB perspective in terms of timing, philosophy, objectives, etc.

Now I wonder if it isn't Matt.  If he doesn't need to be on the same page in every little detail to perform his best.  I'm not sure what to make of it, but 2nd year he always does a lot better.  If nothing else, it's an argument for keeping a coordinator for a longer time and not switching things up every year or two.  If Koetter leaves, IMHO we should promote from within.  At this point it can't hurt, because in the past 5 years we've wasted 2 years of Matt's prime, and we may be witnessing the wasting of a 3rd.  Continuity wins in the NFL.  And it could be as simple as Koetter and Knapp not being on the same page, because Knapp primarily communicates the game plan to the QBs.

I was hoping keeping Knapp would ease the transition.

Matt needs a good to great game next week.

[vel]

3 hours ago, Jesus said:

2015 - New HC, DC, OC - big start finish 8-8 learning new defense, offense, lots of leftover players who didn't fit system.

2016 - New DC - up and down start 6-4 at bye - catch fire cruise until 4th quarter of Super Bowl. 

2017 - New OC - up and down year with offense struggling at times. 10-6. Lose tough game in playoffs

2018 - First year without coaching changes - Injuries derail everything 7-9

2019 - New DC, OC, ST - newish offensive philosophy, newish defensive philosophy -  1-2

Every year has some sort of major coaching change under DQ. That is worrisome. There has not been a lot of years of stability. Maybe it all comes together but they need to get that to happen soon.

2016 wasn't a new DC. Richard Smith was the DC until DQ took over playcalling midseason. 

Can't blame him for 2017. Kyle was gone. They were always going to lose him. Moving on from Smith at that time was smart as well since he was essentially replaced. 

So we're really talking about every other year. 2017 and now 2019. 

[shc]

3 hours ago, Jesus said:

Every year has some sort of major coaching change under DQ. That is worrisome. There has not been a lot of years of stability. Maybe it all comes together but they need to get that to happen soon.

It’s almost like he applies the same philosophy of roster turnover to coaches. 

[Flying Falcon]

3 hours ago, E. T. said:

Quit drinking Kool-Aid...I'm Diabetic!

It was killing me to drink the Kool-Aid...

I'll believe it when I see the cure...

Make sense?

[Lethal]

3 hours ago, A Dog Named Brian said:

My only other caveat is DQ preaches playing our brand of football. He needs to stick to that and stop playing down to our competition. In my mind, how we played defensively in Philly Week 2 is our brand of football. Why we got away from that in Indy is beyond me. I can’t ignore the flashes of what I think this team can be this year, I also can’t ignore the mistakes. We’ll see what happens, the mistakes made so far are for sure fixable 

This is my question to you, and whomever else.  What exactly IS "our brand of football"?  Truly.  We all know what DQ preaches and the cliches he uses, but the product on the field tells a different story.  Who are the Falcons?  What is their brand of football?  What is their identity?

If you ask me, we have none...and therein lies a huge issue.

[Jesus]

11 minutes ago, vel said:

2016 wasn't a new DC. Richard Smith was the DC until DQ took over playcalling midseason. 

Can't blame him for 2017. Kyle was gone. They were always going to lose him. Moving on from Smith at that time was smart as well since he was essentially replaced. 

So we're really talking about every other year. 2017 and now 2019. 

I just had the wrong year. I meant 2017. 

 

5 minutes ago, shc said:

It’s almost like he applies the same philosophy of roster turnover to coaches. 

The only way Kyle was ever going to leave Atlanta was as a head coach. Turnover happens when coaches get poached. DQ does have an issue though with creating a stable environment. The key roster sure hasn't changed.

[⚡Slumerican⚡]

I dont believe we have the same play book that Kyle had here.. He pulled the ol switch out on us when he left.. He left us with some bull poopie

[⚡Slumerican⚡]

2 minutes ago, athell said:

This is my question to you, and whomever else.  What exactly IS "our brand of football"?  Truly.  We all know what DQ preaches and the cliches he uses, but the product on the field tells a different story.  Who are the Falcons?  What is their brand of football?  What is their identity?

If you ask me, we have none...and therein lies a huge issue.

Quinn and TD both sat there at the end of last season and said we're going to be knowm for physical and nasty.. But I think they ment abused and pathetic