Atlanta’s biggest off-season acquisition came in the form of Dan Quinn. Quinn was the Seattle Seahawks defensive coordinator and now has replaced Mike Smith in Atlanta as head coach. Quinn helped to design one of the most dominant defenses in NFL history and is asked to do the same in Atlanta. The interesting part about this is that Quinn is literally building this defense from scratch. He’s a great motivator and there is no reason for anyone in the locker room to not buy into Quinn’s beliefs.
Other defensive wizards in the league got new head coaching jobs: Rex Ryan in Buffalo, Todd Bowles in New York (Jets) — but Quinn has what those two don’t have: a quarterback. Matt Ryan is the Falcons all time passing leader and now thirty years old, still has prime years left in him. Ryan has proven to be a tougher quarterback in years prior but he lacks a running game to balance out the offense. The Falcons are putting their trust in two young backs behind Ryan. Davonte Freeman did not receive the number of carries many thought he would, but that is said to change this season. The Falcons are also putting a lot of stock into their third-round pick out of Indiana, Tevin Coleman. Coleman is a sprinter who can’t really create on his own without a line in front of him. . . there is no line in front of him. So expect Freeman, who is more of a traditional back to take 70% of the carries this season.
This offensive line has the potential to change it’s rotation at least six or seven times this year. Four of their starters from last year needed some kind of off-season surgery and none of them helped to establish a decent ground attack or average pass protection last season. It looks like second year man Jake Matthews will start at left tackle by default, and he had a tough go-round in his rookie year.
As much as they want to establish a running game in Atlanta, it’s going to be tough with that offensive line. This is an offense that may have to use it’s passing attack as it’s running game and pick up three or four yards on slants and quick fades in order to move the chains. Matt Ryan can handle the job as he has a quick enough release and great vision to do so. Veteran wide receiver Roddy White has lost a step, but even when he had some speed on him, he was never afraid to go over the middle. His transition from being the number one guy to the number two guy – has been an easy one with no complaining from his part. Julio Jones is their big play guy, with a rare combination of strength, speed and size. Jones is typically the wide receiver you created in Madden and threw the ball to over and over again. Because of this offensive line though, the “deep ball” may have limited opportunities. Devin Hester looked the best he ever did as a wide receiver last year, but he’s a one trick pony that will run down the sidelines deep and that’s all. East Carolina rookie Justin Hardy is one who might fit in well as the slot receiver – he’s a great route runner with good hands.
Defensively, the Falcons were horrendous last season, so for head coach Dan Quinn, improving it should be easy – reaching his standards will be a harder task. It was no surprise the Falcons went in a defensive direction in the first round of the draft as they selected Clemson linebacker Vic Beasley. Beasley fits Quinn’s defensive scheme perfectly because he’s a linebacker who can line up as a defensive end when called upon. He has great speed, who can be worked as an Aldon Smith clone, minus the strength and minus off-the-field headaches.
The Falcons went defense last year with Ra’Shede Hageman, who played exactly how most scouts predicted. Hageman can look dominant one second and disappear the next. If the Falcons can find out what makes this guy tick, he can quite possibly be the biggest reason for a Falcons turn-around on defense. Aside from the youth, the veterans on the front line are very capable handling the work load. Paul Soliai, Johathan Babineaux and Adrian Clayborn have been around the block a few times but each are capable of impacting a game.
At linebacker, free agent Brooks Reed is expected to be the alpha-male of the group with the versatile rookie Vic Beasley pitching in. Linebacker is a thin spot for this defensive unit.
Dan Quinn’s new secondary is far from the “Legion of Boom” but at least corner back Desmond Trufant is a nice piece to build around. Now in his third season, Trufant has pretty much learned “on the fly” when it comes to covering a team’s best receiver. Trufant will have help on the other side with the inexperienced second-round pick out of LSU Jalen Collins. Collins has the size at corner desired by Quinn (6’1″, 203) and although he only had ten starts at LSU, the fact that he had to beat out other guys at a defensively rich school at LSU says something. The size and tenacity is there in Collins, and he is paired up with one of the NFL’s best defensive minds in Quinn, so his development will come along.
Quinn will bring a lot of aggressiveness to a defense that was pitiful last season. The Atlanta defense will be a blitz happy bunch that won’t climb into the top five – but top twenty is definitely realistic. Top fifteen isn’t even a stretch considering the competition they face for the most part this year will make this unit look better than they are.
Predicted Record: 9-7
Predicted Pro Bowlers: Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Paul Soliai, Ra’Shede Hageman
G.W. Gras
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