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Dan Quinn: Live (And Die) By The Ball

By John Buhler

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One of Atlanta Falcons Head Coach Dan Quinn’s major points of emphasis for getting this defensive unit turned around is to constantly attack the football, always looking for a takeaway to win the turnover battle.  Last night, the Falcons lost the turnover battle 3-0 to the New York Jets and ultimately the preseason game 30-22 despite an initial 14-0 Falcons lead.

According to LB O’Brien Schofield, Coach Quinn has the ball prominently featured in the classroom for his players to see.  It’s all about possessing the football in Dan Quinn’s system, where the offense has to protect it and the defense must try to take it away on every snap.  Schofield is familiar with Quinn’s mantra from their time together with the Seattle Seahawks the last few seasons.

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In Dan Quinn’s post-game press conference, he didn’t seem too down on the team as a whole but was obviously miffed about the lack of ball security illustrated by the offense and the defense’s inability to get after it in the second half.  Dan Quinn literally puts the football on a pedestal in the Falcons’ war room, so I get his frustrations 100%.

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    • The first team in all three phases played an excellent ball game.  None of the starting units needed to capitalize on Jets turnovers to impact the football game.  Matt Ryan has thrown one incompletion this preseason, Devin Hester nearly took a punt to the house, and the front seven of the Atlanta Falcons played a convincingly strong game up front.

    It was when the backups came in that change the momentum of the game entirely.  Neither backup QB TJ Yates or Sean Renfree played well, the running game outside of Jerome Smith was non-existent, and both tackling and pass protection fell to the wayside for the Atlanta Falcons in the second half.

    While I half expected Yates (or Renfree) to throw a dumb interception in the middle of the field, the two fumbles lost by the Atlanta Falcons were extremely costly.  The botched handoff between Renfree and Smith allowed Safety Rontez Miles to scoop and score for the Jets.  And TE DJ Tialavea’s fumble caused by LB Joe Mays was especially bad given that allowed New York to line up in victory formation and seal the Falcons fate after being recovered by the Jets.

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    The Atlanta Falcons had two favorable opportunities to take the ball away from the Jets but failed to capitalize on either.  Dezmen Southward let a pick-six slip right through is finger tips on a poorly placed pass by Jets QB Bryce Petty in the end zone.  Stansly Maponga on the same drive stripped Bryce Petty of the football but the Falcons were not able to recover the loose ball.  That drive ended in a Nick Folk field goal to give the Jets a 16-14 lead heading into halftime and New York never looked back.

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    I feel that had the Atlanta Falcons second unit defense forced either potential turnover that Atlanta would have carried the momentum into the second half with a slim 14-13 lead.  Blaming the defense not forcing a takeaway in the red zone is just proof that Dan Quinn is implementing a culture change with this team.  Under the latter years Mike Smith, I assumed anytime opponent got the ball inside the Falcons’ 30-yard line that the other team would come away with at least 3 points on that drive.

    Though the defense had their opportunities to step up and make a play when the reserves were in, it was the offense that let the team down.  I get the mixing and matching on the offensive line as well as holding out running backs not fully healthy in the preseason, but too many three-and-outs and three costly turnovers did the Falcons in last night.  Dan Quinn’s Atlanta Falcons will live (and die) by the ball in 2015.  Win the turnover battle to win the game.

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