With the Falcons officially eliminated from the playoffs, speculation about the future has started.
“There’s a strong possibility of significant changes to Dan Quinn’s #Falcons staff, including replacing OC Steve Sarkisian,” NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero tweeted Tuesday.
On the broadcast report which aired on the network, which is owned by the NFL’s teams, both coordinators are mentioned as candidates to be terminated.
“At this point Andrew (Siciliano), it sounds like a strong possibility that there will be significant changes to coach Dan Quinn’s coaching staff,” Pelissero said. “Now, owner Arthur Blank has already said that he doesn’t think Quinn is the problem. My understanding is that Dan Quinn, who got a contract extension through 2022 just last summer is absolutely going to be back. But this is a possibility here that he could end up cleaning out both of his coordinators. That’s offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel. I would not be surprised if he overhauls things on both sides of the ball.”
The Falcons, through a team spokesman, elected not to comment about the report and noted that the team, which is 5-9, was focused on the final two weeks of the season.
Sarkisian was hired in 2016 to replace Kyle Shanahan, who helped the Falcons reach Super Bowl LI. He struggled in 2017 and the offense has been statistically better in 2018, but could not carry the team after the defense was decimated with injuries.
Manuel, a former NFL player, took after last season after Quinn took over the play-calling duties from defensive coordinator Richard Smith during the 2016 season. Smith elected to take another job instead of an offered demotion.
So, after the Super Bowl, some thought Quinn was taking a major gamble by going with two first-time NFL coordinator, while being a first-time head coach himself.
In recent weeks, when Quinn has been asked about his coaching staff and some players, he’s repeatedly said, “that’s a Week 17 question,” meaning that he’ll address it after the season.
After the loss to the Ravens on Dec. 2 Blank said that he planned to take a "long view" of the football operation after the season.
“I haven’t lost any faith in coach Quinn or (general manager) Thomas (Dimitroff),” Blank said. “They’ll do the evaluations. They always evaluate at the end of the year. That’s what they do. They do it whether if we are 16-0 or 0-16. That’s what they do. They’ll do that again this year.”
Quinn, who is a team co-builder with general manager Dimitroff, promised a sweeping evaluation of the entire football operation when speaking Dec. 10, the day after the loss to the Packers to drop to the team's record to 4-9.
“From players to staff to everything, we want to make sure that we look at the body of work and get clear, concise evaluations on everybody,” Quinn said. “So, understanding where we are at, it’s not what we want to do, but that’s part of it and we’ll look at that.”
Pelissero said a name to consider as a replacement is Darryl Bevell, the former Seattle coordinator who was in place when they called a pass play on the 1-yard line that loss Super Bowl XLIX. The pass was intercepted by New England’s Malcolm Butler.
Coach Pete Carroll took credit for the call after the game.
“He knows Quinn well from their days together in Seattle,” Pelissero said.
But the riff between Seattle’s defensive players and quarterback Russell Wilson that has come to light started with the Super Bowl call by Bevell.
Bevell likely would be a quarterback coach candidate, with Greg Knapp taking over as the offensive coordinator. If Manuel is released, a person to consider would be assistant head coach/wide receivers Raheem Morris, who has been a head coach (Tampa Bay 2009-11) in the NFL.
Also, there was a mention in the NFL Network report of getting Matt Ryan back on track. Ryan is having a fine season statistically, and when his blocking has held up, he hasn’t been the issue.
Manuel lost four of his top players early in the season, and the defense has improved drastically over the course of the season.
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