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Was hiring Dean Pees a waste of time?


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I am not trashing this guys resume or coaching ability- at all.

We all knew Pees' age when he was brought on as the Defensive coordinator of the Falcons. We all knew he retired twice before.

We all know in 2021 that he used less than half of his playbook. We all know rookies played very little that year too. 

Was the plan post-Pees to hand the baton to an assistant to keep what was started going? If we hire someone from the outside, with a new defensive scheme, was the Dean Pees hiring a waste of time? I don't think any rookies we drafted during that time would be an ill fit in another system, but we all saw this coming, right? 

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I don't think it was a waste of time, mostly due to the fact that Arthur Smith was a first time HC. Pees' experience and familiarity with AS let him just focus on being a HC and the offense. I'd be surprised if we move away from 3-4, but even if we did I don't think it matters too much because like you said, we don't have many scheme specific players that wouldn't be able to transition.

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While it was never flashy, the 2022 defense gave up just 20.1 PPG in the last 9 games of the season. If that were over an entire season, that would've been a top 5 scoring defense in the NFL. The next DC has something to work with. 

If we didn't have a QB throwing shot put for 13 games this past season, this could've been a 9-10 win team. 

Edited by dirtybirds233
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4 minutes ago, Joey563 said:

absolutely not. this is the hardest and most confident i've seen our defense (from top to bottom) play in a very very long time.

Yeah this is the best all around coached team since the Smitty era. Smitty and TD started to have a strained relationship and a crappy two offseasons in 2013 and 2014 which lead to his demise. But those teams were still playing hard. That's good coaching. Just couldn't add the right talent. 

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I get where you're coming from with this post. I loved having Pees here, but I wish he had been able to do a third season here. 

I wouldn't call his time here wasted. He made it work with a totally crap roster. He established something.

I think we'll be able to tell more once we hire a new DC. If we have to run a different scheme with the next DC, then it probably was a bit of a waste.

But like another poster said, it's hard to call him being here a waste because Pees made it so that Arthur Smith didn't really have to think much about the defense, and that must have really helped him out with getting his offense established.

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11 minutes ago, The Don™ said:

Yeah this is the best all around coached team since the Smitty era. Smitty and TD started to have a strained relationship and a crappy two offseasons in 2013 and 2014 which lead to his demise. But those teams were still playing hard. That's good coaching. Just couldn't add the right talent. 

Let me think longer on the Smitty teams.... I almost want to say the best all around since the late 90's 

I'm also trying to remember how our defense played under Wade Phillips...

.....I just relooked, Good call on the Smitty teams...

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59 minutes ago, Joey563 said:

absolutely not. this is the hardest and most confident i've seen our defense (from top to bottom) play in a very very long time.

Agree. The effort has certainly been there. I love the way our young guys are taking ownership to get this defense back to respectability. I think this unit took Pees' speech of "We aren't going to continue to be at the bottom of the league any more!" to heart. 

Was Pees' time here a waste? With the talent level we had on D, you can argue any DC who came in wouldn't have accomplished a lot. At least Pees did school these young guys in what defense is about ~ which contrary to most layman's opinion is NOT stopping an offense cold, but minimizing its scores.

The new DC will find a group with better talent, more toughness and confidence than Pees found when he arrived. Pending the outcome of the draft and FA, our defense should be vastly more competitive than it's been in a decade. And, it WILL include a pass rush! Right?! RIGHT??!!!  I'll see myself out. :ninja:

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2 minutes ago, PokerSteve said:

Agree. The effort has certainly been there. I love the way our young guys are taking ownership to get this defense back to respectability. I think this unit took Pees' speech of "We aren't going to continue to be at the bottom of the league any more!" to heart. 

Was Pees' time here a waste? With the talent level we had on D, you can argue any DC who came in wouldn't have accomplished a lot. At least Pees did school these young guys in what defense is about ~ which contrary to most layman's opinion is NOT stopping an offense cold, but minimizing its scores.

The new DC will find a group with better talent, more toughness and confidence than Pees found when he arrived. Pending the outcome of the draft and FA, our defense should be vastly more competitive than it's been in a decade. And, it WILL include a pass rush! Right?! I'll see myself out. :ninja:

He definitely met his goal of building a new culture.

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I would say NO to the question. He did a great job, considering what they handicapped him with. You really need to evaluate the focus of the draft and financial situation the Falcons were trying to dig out of. When you go from throwing games away in the second half to being in all but one game through the 4th quarter in 2022, he deserves.high praise.

Especially when the first draft picks in 2021 and 22 were offensive positions and not defensive. 

 

Edited by RookieBird
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Good thread, good discussion... 

Heck, Pees actually taught A Lot of us some of the nuances of what a defense is supposed to do... I remember being ready to spit fire about our third down defense not getting off the field when Pees came in and explained that it was less about 3rd down defense and more about the first 2 downs; that it wasn't about stopping drives as much as it was about stopping points, etc... 

I swear, by the time he was done, even though we hadn't forced a punt and the opponent had scored every drive, I still thought we had done a pretty good job on D... 

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48 minutes ago, RookieBird said:

I would say NO to the question. He did a great job, considering what they handicapped him with. You really need to evaluate the focus of the draft and financial situation the Falcons were trying to dig out of. When you go from throwing games away in the second half to being in all but one game through the 4th quarter in 2022, he deserves.high praise.

Especially when the first draft picks in 2021 and 22 were offensive positions and not defensive. 

 

But that's the thing. I know (as most do), that he did do a great job. 

Real question is.. will we have to start over?

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