Can the Quinn “Effect” Change Atlanta Falcons Culture?
By W. M. Lawson
The Atlanta Falcons enter the 2017 season with high expectations and a battered psyche. If Coach Dan Quinn can heal those 2016 wounds, it will be a special moment for Atlanta.
Having stepped away from writing and reality for a short while (vacation is awesome), this writer had time to reflect a little. Truth is that writing daily about a team or sport can force one into minutia. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can be myopic. In many beach-side discussions with friends and family about our beloved Atlanta Falcons, one thing became clearly redundant: It all comes back to Dan Quinn.
That isn’t to say that there aren’t personnel issues and questions that will determine a lot. There are. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t questions about new coaches that could determine success or failure. There definitely are.
But, in a general sense, success or failure in 2017 will be mostly determined by Dan Quinn. Meaning, his ability, or inability, to move this team past last year will drive everything (have you seen his clock?). If Quinn has the juice with this team for them to “buy in” again this year, he will have done something that few have before him.
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Sure, the team says all the right things now. It’s Pre-Season, and everyone is trying to fight for a job or PT. That is to be expected.
But what happens when adversity hits? What happens when they are up 10 going into the 4th Quarter and they look up at the scoreboard and it’s tied with 3 minutes to go?
Does the team trust Quinn? Will the team trust each other not to fold and wilt? Can they use the pain and fire from last year as fuel for this year? Very few teams have ever done that. And that is regardless of sport.
The City of Atlanta has some experience with this, though. One of the reasons the Atlanta Braves from the 1990s was so impressive is that they didn’t let the heartbreak of 1991 keep them from becoming World Champion. That, among other things, helps make that team unique in sports history. Especially, for a city not used to winning championships.
This Atlanta Falcons team is without a single doubt the most athletic, fast, and physical Atlanta Falcons team we have ever seen. They have the tools in the shed to do some work. They have the players to play with anyone and anywhere in the National Football League.
If Dan Quinn has the trust of this team in the most pulse-pounding, heart-wrenching, gut-checking moments, and they respond to the challenge by winning, it will be special.
This season will be special. This team will be special. This coach will be special.
Next: Atlanta Falcons: Will New Coordinators Bring Disruption or Regression?
It doesn’t happen often for a reason. And we’re getting closer by the day to finding out.