After another upset win, it’s worth wondering if Dan Quinn has saved his job

[Goober Pyle]

https://theathletic.com/1462936/2019/12/15/schultz-after-another-upset-win-its-worth-wondering-if-dan-quinn-has-saved-his-job/

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — When the Falcons stumbled and bumbled and dragged themselves through the first half of the season with a 1-7 record, head coach Dan Quinn’s firing appeared imminent. New Orleans waited for them on the other side of bye, and Quinn was close enough to his personal finish line that there was a debate in the executive suite about the best timing for his official exit.

It’s futile to guess about the future now. When the Falcons rallied from a 19-10 deficit to defeat San Francisco 29-22 on Sunday, it was their second road upset of a double-digit favorite in the past six weeks — the other stunning win coming in New Orleans — and raised them to 4-2 since the 1-7 start.

When Quinn entered the locker room with music blaring after the game, he shouted to his players, “Nuts and guts!”

It fit. Regardless of where anybody stands in the debate about Quinn’s future, it’s undeniable his players have exhibited both of late. They have put themselves in position to go 6-2 in the second half if they can close with wins over Jacksonville and Tampa Bay, even if they won’t make the playoffs and their final record will still tip to the left.

It’s now worth asking: Did Dan Quinn just save his job?

“I don’t know,” said Ricardo Allen, a team captain who has been firmly in Quinn’s corner. “I hope so. I know I want him to be here. But it ain’t got nothing to do with me. All I can do is try to lead these boys and help him however I can. I pray that he’s here, but that decision isn’t going to be made by me or any player.”

That decision will be made by owner Arthur Blank. He was decidedly leaning toward making a change at midseason. Had the Falcons been blown out at New Orleans, as most expected, Quinn might have been gone the following week. But they beat the Saints 26-9 as 13½-point underdogs. Then came a 29-3 win at Carolina.

Any discussions of the scheduling of a firing news conference were tabled.

I approached Blank about Quinn after last week’s win second win over Carolina. Blank said he wasn’t leaning in any one direction about his coach.

“We’ve got games left. Let’s see how this plays out,” he told me.

As usual, Blank attended Quinn’s postgame news conference Sunday. He left immediately after congratulating his coach, not pausing where he might be stopped for comment. Predicting anything at this point, whether it’s how the Falcons finish or whether that finish impacts Quinn’s future, is futile.

But Blank’s demeanor throughout this difficult season has been a stark contrast from 2014, sources told The Athletic. The Falcons went 4-12 in 2013, then started 2-6 the following season, sealing the fate of then-head coach Mike Smith. It was soon after when Blank retained a search firm for a new coach, word of which leaked out before the Falcons still mathematically had a chance to win the NFC South in a down season for the division. (Carolina went to the playoffs with a 7-8-1 record.)

Blank has been urged in the background to not rush into a firing until seeing how players respond down the stretch and whether Quinn’s coaching staff shuffle improves things. Evidence of improvement is clear. Whether that’s enough to save Quinn remains uncertain. But those closest to Blank reaffirmed to The Athleticthat he has struggled with this decision emotionally, not just because Quinn is a likable guy but because it wasn’t long ago when the coach was being celebrated for nearly leading the Falcons to a Super Bowl title in only his second season in 2016.

After Quinn’s news conference, I asked him off stage if it appears to him that his players are trying to save his job.

“You’d have to ask those guys,” he said. “But it’s really cool. I’m proud to be a part of it.”

What did Sunday’s win mean to him?

“It means a lot. It means a lot to all of us,” he said. “We’re all fighting for our football lives. I **** sure appreciate it.”

San Francisco has been a significantly better team than Atlanta all season. The 49ers, coached by former Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, entered the game as the NFC’s No. 1 seed. But for most of Sunday, it was difficult to tell the difference between the 11-2 team and the 4-9 team.

Even when trailing 19-10 with 10 minutes left, the Falcons never looked out of it. They drove 75 yards to a touchdown to make it a two-point game. Later, with 1:48 left and trailing 22-17, Matt Ryan drove the offense 70 yards for a touchdown. A 25-yard pass to Julio Jones moved them to the Niners’ 25.

On second-and-goal from the 5, Ryan appeared to hit Austin Hooper for the go-ahead score with five seconds left. But the touchdown was nullified by replay officials, who ruled Hooper dropped the ball. (It didn’t look that way.)

On the next play, Ryan connected with Jones. On-field officials ruled he was stopped just before the goal line. But this time, the Falcons were awarded the touchdown after replay showed the ball breaking the plane of the end zone.

Regardless of how those final two plays swung, the Falcons were going to be deserving of credit for their performance. The defense, in particular, has improved significantly since assistant Raheem Morris was shifted to a quasi-defensive coordinator role. Shanahan’s offense basically was limited to one touchdown drive because the 49ers’ other touchdown was set up by a fumble by punt returner Kenjon Barner on the Falcons’ 1.

So what should we take from all this?

“Records aren’t indicative of what a team is made of,” Hooper said. “We have a lot of fight, we have a lot of grit, we got a lot of talent on this team. Just because we messed it up in the past doesn’t mean we have to mess it up all the way.”

Allen stood alone in front of his locker after speaking to a group of reporters. He was the one who always addressed the media after defeats and now feels the most gratified by the rebound.

“This shows that we’re fighters, and we’ll fight for Coach Q no matter what the situation is,” he told The Athletic. “We didn’t start the way we wanted to. We understand we may be fighting for nothing. We may not be playing for the playoffs or anything. But we’re fighting for our names, we’re playing for who we are, we’re playing for Quinn. This may not be the year that we wanted, but we’re never going to back down. We’re fighting now.”

Too late to save a season. But maybe not a coach.

 

 

[Goober Pyle]

“Nuts and guts!”

Love it!

[Pacific_Falcon]

Good win but please no. 2 overachieving games does not a good HC make.

[kiwifalcon]

Yeah you just gotta keep fighting I’ll commend the players for that.

I still hate the fact this team shows it’s metal when there’s basically no chance of making the playoffs going back to the bye week.

But you are seeing signs especially from maligned parts of the team.DBs have improved out of sight.Pass Rush has improved markedly aswell.

I mean at the end of the day whoever has the team they no at least there’s plenty of talent on it.

[Atl Falcon]

Rico make you love him .... talking about high character 

[WhiskeyBruh]

To be honest, I say leave it all in place. Let them sort it out. Fall flat again, then we talk restructure.

[⚡Slumerican⚡]

This team is just bi-polar.. Idk what itll take to fix it, but some consistency would be nice.. Probably going to lose a few good players this offseason, enjoy these W's while we can.. The future definitely isn't a bright one

[KRUNKuno]

Meh.  It was a good win but it was the same inconsistent bs that we’ve been seeing from this team for far too long.  

[ltstorm2]

I've been on the Fire Dan Quinn train. I'm conflicted. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed with some of our latest wins. Is it possible that Quinn bit off more than he could chew as the HC and DC and then man enough to swallow his pride? Will that be a lesson learned and help us be more consistent? I don't believe in momentum between seasons but I do believe keeping our coaching staff intact could be better than blowing the whole thing up and having to start over again. Arthur has a difficult choice ahead of him. 

[Colin_Pernett]

Dan Quinn has a winning record in his time in Atlanta. I don’t get where the narrative that he’s been terrible here comes from. If it’s one 8 game stretch where we were terrible, I get it. But if that’s enough to sink him, an 8 game stretch to end the year that’s as good as the first have was bad should be enough to save him

[Geaux_Falcons]

I believe Quinn has earned at least 1 more year. The schedule hasn't been the easiest and statistically, has been one of the hardest all year. This team has had some tough losses earlier in the year. Early injuries (Keanu, Lindstrom) didn't make it any easier.

Seems Quinn just bit off more than he can handle early on with coaching duties, but he's certainly made the necessary adjustments to put the train back on the tracks. After the bye, who really thought we would beat the Saints & 49ers?! Both were huge road wins. Had we been in the playoff hunt, those would have been games we would have needed without a doubt.

His team still fights for him at the end of the day. Smitty couldn't even get his guys to truly do that for him. Oliver is night & day. Vic looks like the guy Quinn thought he was. I mean his effort on pass rush just seems like a totally different person. OL looks a lot better since Lindstrom returned. A strong draft could really stabilize things for Quinn if he is retained. 

 

[Disco]

Why did the refs reward us with the TD? I guess that 49ers feel very screwed since they were relying on the refs in the whole game. 

[Lowndesfalc]

I don’t really care either way. I just want rest. I do think Q overthought it when he put Raheem as receivers coach. I do understand his thinking that he could teach them how to attack DB’s but Raheem had a good to great reputation as a DB coach. Let people do what they do best and stop over analyzing it. 
 

@ Goober Pyle, thank you for posting the articles from the Athletic. 

[Falcons Fan MVP]

6 hours ago, ⚡Slumerican⚡ said:

This team is just bi-polar.. Idk what itll take to fix it, but some consistency would be nice.. Probably going to lose a few good players this offseason, enjoy these W's while we can.. The future definitely isn't a bright one

Most teams are bipolar but I admit we are to the extreme.

[Falcons Fan MVP]

30 minutes ago, Disco said:

Why did the refs reward us with the TD? I guess that 49ers feel very screwed since they were relying on the refs in the whole game. 

 

4 minutes ago, Lowndesfalc said:

I don’t really care either way. I just want rest. I do think Q overthought it when he put Raheem as receivers coach. I do understand his thinking that he could teach them how to attack DB’s but Raheem had a good to great reputation as a DB coach. Let people do what they do best and stop over analyzing it. 

I think we should have just kept Manuel probably. I do think Koetter is slightly better than Sark.

[JDaveG]

I think whoever decided to hire Koetter ought to face some music.  

And I've been vocal about saying I don't think it was Quinn, but if it was, he's the guy who has to stand up.

Koetter has been holding this offense back all season.  I was in favor of the hiring, and I believed he'd do a good job, so it does me no credit to say so, but he's been awful.  Consistently awful.  Even when he's "good," it's mostly be comparison.  Imagine, if you will, that Kyle Shanahan was coaching our offense against the same team, with the same plays and the same outcome of those plays from the other side. Does anyone think we have to win that in a squeaker?

We have so much more talent than they do, and we're struggling to win in a game when our defense just played their hearts out.  

[TheUsualStuff]

6 hours ago, KRUNKuno said:

Meh.  It was a good win but it was the same inconsistent bs that we’ve been seeing from this team for far too long.  

This all just goes to show that the team has enough individual talent that eventually it rises up and overcomes it's incompetent coaching and positional holes.

That's really all that's happened here.

Matt, Julio, Grady, DJones, and a couple of others are good enough to have those moments where we can beat anybody in the league, but DQ and holes in our talent will keep us inconsistent and underachieving. 

[JDaveG]

22 minutes ago, JDaveG said:

I think whoever decided to hire Koetter ought to face some music.  

And I've been vocal about saying I don't think it was Quinn, but if it was, he's the guy who has to stand up.

Koetter has been holding this offense back all season.  I was in favor of the hiring, and I believed he'd do a good job, so it does me no credit to say so, but he's been awful.  Consistently awful.  Even when he's "good," it's mostly be comparison.  Imagine, if you will, that Kyle Shanahan was coaching our offense against the same team, with the same plays and the same outcome of those plays from the other side. Does anyone think we have to win that in a squeaker?

We have so much more talent than they do, and we're struggling to win in a game when our defense just played their hearts out.  

The more I think about this the more irritated I get.  We had some injuries.  We were missing Calvin.  We had Julio though.

The defense had Takk and Trufant out.  And the defense kept stepping up.  In spite of having stops called off by stupid flags.  In spite of the offense being "meh" most of the game.  The defense played like champions with 2 of its best players out of the game.  And this offense, with Lindstrom back, with Julio and Gage and Free and Hill playing the way he did and Ollison pounding the rock -- this offense was hampered by coaching.  It's infuriating.  A better team blows the Niners' doors off in this game the way our defense played.  We nearly got chumped by the refs and had to settle for winning a squeaker.

I loved the win.  I loved the way we won it.  But thinking about why we had to win it that way just irritates me.

[Disco]

I think that Sark and Koetter are in the same league. Neither Sark or Koetter has fixed the run game and we are heavy focused on forcing the ball down the field instead of playing it smart and short. I do like the play action ,but the protection dosen´t give Ryan an edge to find an open receiver. It is like that this team cannot get out of the shadow of Shannahan. It would be awesome if we could stay on the same path, but obviously it hasn¨t worked.

However, the defense should be the focus point. Are we seeing the true potential now and can we rely on stability next season? I am not convinced yet. And yet again we are going to fix the oline and dline once again with the top picks. The problem has been consistent for many years now. Losing Mack is going to be a tough loss for this oline. I am neither convinced that Wes Schweitzer is the replacement and Carpenter should be send away. 

[Lethal]

8 minutes ago, Disco said:

I think that Sark and Koetter are in the same league. Neither Sark or Koetter has fixed the run game and we are heavy focused on forcing the ball down the field instead of playing it smart and short. I do like the play action ,but the protection dosen´t give Ryan an edge to find an open receiver. It is like that this team cannot get out of the shadow of Shannahan. It would be awesome if we could stay on the same path, but obviously it hasn¨t worked.

However, the defense should be the focus point. Are we seeing the true potential now and can we rely on stability next season? I am not convinced yet. And yet again we are going to fix the oline and dline once again with the top picks. The problem has been consistent for many years now. Losing Mack is going to be a tough loss for this oline. I am neither convinced that Wes Schweitzer is the replacement and Carpenter should be send away. 

Don't insult Sark by putting Koetter in the same sentence...

[Disco]

2 minutes ago, athell said:

Don't insult Sark by putting Koetter in the same sentence...

Ok. Let´s bring back Sark so we can read some more "Fire SARK!!!"-threads. I miss those. 

[Lethal]

4 minutes ago, Disco said:

Ok. Let´s bring back Sark so we can read some more "Fire SARK!!!"-threads. I miss those. 

Didn't say that.  Sark had his own issues.  Koetter has been awful though and has really castrated this offense.  He's been awful.  People hated on Sark and used him as the scapegoat but he wasn't nearly as bad as some think.

I don't want either tbh, we can do better, but Sark's offenses >>>>> this DK offense.

[SoldMySoul]

Let’s see.... Maybe finish 7-9 like last year. Failed bowl after huge difference in the score. Failed playoff appearance.

Next season Quinn is here get ready for “pre season games don’t matter and a garbage first half of the season ruining the rest of the season. Ugh... no thanks!

We beat teams we weren’t supposed to and lost more. If this makes the fan base happy sure keep DQ. We aren’t going anywhere with him.

[Tribal Chief]

Just finished talking to a manager and he reminded me of the way Art Rooney stuck with the Steelers first head coach after a miserable start and I remembered that Tomlin is only their 3rd or 4th head coach ever. I'm starting to get the feeling that the coaching staff won't change. If so nothing needs to change from the changes made during the bye week except as someone else stated in another thread, give Dirk the ability to use his own playbook and plays. 

[KRUNKuno]

1 hour ago, TheUsualStuff said:

This all just goes to show that the team has enough individual talent that eventually it rises up and overcomes it's incompetent coaching and positional holes.

That's really all that's happened here.

Matt, Julio, Grady, DJones, and a couple of others are good enough to have those moments where we can beat anybody in the league, but DQ and holes in our talent will keep us inconsistent and underachieving. 

That’s what I’ve always said when people bring up Quinn’s coaching record.  You’re bound to win games if you have Matt Ryan and Julio Jones no matter how inept your coaching decisions, schemes, etc may be.  If we had a coach that knew how to maximize what we have then just think how far we could go.