Real Falcons ‘fans’ need to thank Coach Mularkey
110801 Flowery Branch - Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey signals to the offense while players run through the first padded practice at training camp in Flowery Branch on Monday, August 1, 2011. Curtis Compton ccompton@ajc.com
FLOWERY BRANCH – Real Falcons ‘fans’ need to step up and send thank you cards to new Jacksonville coach Mike Mularkey.
What he was able to achieve in his four years of unprecedented success in franchise history should be recognized. He doesn’t deserve having some rocks thrown at him on his way out of town.
Some of you, before disrespecting Mularkey, need to reflect and look at his unit’s accomplishments.
The Falcons had to build the offense from scratch, starting with a rookie quarterback, a rookie left tackle, a free agent running back and a new right guard.
The offense was the backbone of the teams that went 11-7, 9-7, 13-3 and 10-6 and made three trips to the playoffs. The good folks of Cleveland and Buffalo would throw parades if they could average double-digit wins.
Here’s more to reflect on about how the unit performed under Coach Mularkey:
New Jacksonville coach Mike Mularkey.
–Ryan tied Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino for most wins over his first three seasons in the NFL.
–Michael Turner rushed for more than 1,300 yards in three seasons and went to two Pro Bowls.
–Roddy White led the league in receptions with 115 in 2010 and has gone to four straight Pro Bowls.
–Tony Gonzalez continued his march to Canton, Ohio.
–Turner broke the franchise record, in just four seasons, for most rushing touchdowns with 50.
–Ryan broke the single-season passing record with 4,177 yards.
–Ryan became just the second quarterback in franchise history to pass for more than 4,000 yards in a season.
–Ryan also set a franchise mark for 300-yard passing games in a season with six.
–The offensive line even started to get recognition as right tackle Tyson Clabo went to the Pro Bowl after the 2010 season.
–The line was a finalist in 2010 for John Madden’s “Most Valuable Protector’s Award” which goes to the top unit in the league.
There’s plenty more, but you get the point.
Some Falcons “fans” have a history of blasting the play caller. They didn’t like Dan Reeves’ offense (too conservative), then Greg Knapp’s attack (lack of structure) and now Mularkey’s (too conservative) unwarranted attacks. Bobby Petrino was here long enough and there were several other distractions.
Here’s the deal on playing calling. All of the plays will work if executed properly and everybody wins their battles. There are no bad plays.
You can’t blame the coordinator when your top receiver drops 14 passes (Roddy White last year). You can’t blame the coordinator when your line can’t get a big enough push to get six inches. You can’t blame the coordinator when the line can’t give the quarterback time enough to throw deep passes. (Ryan had to launch early on those two strikes against Houston to open the game.)
Those are not bad plays calls. That’s a failure to execute. But second-guessing the play caller is the easiest thing for fans to do.
Pro coaches spend so much time getting ready that there are rarely any just absolutely bad calls. You’ll
Former Falcons offensive coordiantor Mike Mularkey and quarterback Matt Ryan opened the game against the Bears in the no-huddle attack. (CURTIS COMPTON/AJC).
never see a goal-line defense on a third-and-long. (I mentioned that to Brian VanGorder and he said, “I got five kids to feed. Why would I do that?”)
I don’t preach or rant to you all often, so thanks for let me get this off my chest.
Also, I’ve got to wish Coach Mularkey good luck right here like I did in a couple phone messages.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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286 comments Add your comment
SuperFangelo
January 14th, 2012
12:31 am
“Just curious, are any of you fells regular posters on the Atlanta Falcons message boards?”
Meant “fellas”. ^^^
Say what
January 14th, 2012
12:43 am
Hey, I can prove I’m upredictable by driving off the road, but that doesn’t make me smart.
Strategy does not equal throwing out the odd different play. Yeah, he helped get us here, but he was mailing it in big time. Did you see that opening series. Give me a @@##$in break. Same old, same old, in the playoffs! NYG was laughing about it. And that’s on the PLAYERS?
SuperFangelo
January 14th, 2012
12:55 am
“And that’s on the PLAYERS?”
I’m gonna tell you something: We weren’t gonna beat the Giants no matter what the play-calling was. Falcons are soft, Giants are hard. Giants had an attitude. Falcons had nothing except a defense that hung in there for as long as it could. Giants had a D-line that the Falcons O-line couldn’t handle. Couldn’t run-block ‘em, couldn’t pass block ‘em. Couldn’t even push for a few inches more than once. What else are ya gonna do?
Say what
January 14th, 2012
1:06 am
“What else are ya gonna do?”
apparently, nothing but pray, lol
SuperFangelo
January 14th, 2012
1:10 am
“apparently, nothing but pray, lol”
I’m with you on that! Good night, friend.
Say what
January 14th, 2012
1:11 am
I’m gonna tell you something (lol), you cannot push a few inches when the defense is packed in there. It’s stupid.
Say what
January 14th, 2012
1:12 am
gnight, SuperFan. Let’s see this commitment from the organization!
SuperFangelo
January 14th, 2012
1:18 am
“Let’s see this commitment from the organization!”
We better, or we’ll be having this same conversation a year from now, lol! G’night.
waynester
January 14th, 2012
7:50 am
DOL
I appreciate loyalty. I appreciate passion. You demonstrated some of both in this column. We all do things worthy of criticism– and while not all of the heat directed at the OC is warranted(nor that directed at you) some was valid. Yes, we have some pure “haters” on here but most of us read you daily out of love–for the team and (in my case, at least) for sports journalism. I like the fire, though. Hope we’ll see more op-ed from you in future….
native falcon
January 14th, 2012
8:39 am
I thank Mularkey for all he did for the falcons, except in 2 areas, he was always allergic to the screen pass and he could never get us over the hump at playoffs and sorry third, Mr Gadget, where were all the trick plays, he did somein the early part of the falcons, but guess he got bored. Hope he does well in Jax, except against us.
Ws
January 14th, 2012
8:58 am
I think alot of the time we have blamed MM. I think that MIke Smith had his hands tied. I see MM and BVG be scapegoats . Mike Smith getting a pass. With new coaches, it will show who was problem if Smitty doesn’t change.
lombardi
January 14th, 2012
9:15 am
When you break his tenure into 2 parts, ‘08+’09 and ‘10+’11 you see 2 very different coaches, (and 2 very different teams attitude wise).
If I recall, MR2s first play from scrimmage in the regular season as a rookie was a 25yd pass completion down the middle. That’s balls. The birds beat Chicago here in the closing minutes of a thriller w/ Ryan throwing a strike deep down the sideline. That’s confidence. We beat the Chargers, the Packers and the Vikings on their own turf in ‘08. I also remember the game at Philly where we looked bad in the first 1/2 – we didn’t come back to win but I was impressed in the 2nd 1/2 by the team – esp the O – trying to fight back. That was exciting and commendable.
‘09 was disappointing for a number of reasons incl. Matt’s turf toe bug but they still looked like they were basically progressing both talent and attitude wise.
But from ‘10 thru this year we went into serious retrograde and nowhere more noticeably than with the most predictable, old book O most of us – incl You DOL – can remember.
TD said the Debacle in the Dome was an aberration. I’d challenge that by saying this year’s results would reinforce the reality of the results of that game – and that the 13-3 season was the real aberration. And this yrs. 10-7 isn’t any better as we beat just one team (in 5 chances) that made it to the playoffs while for the most part, getting blown out by the heavyweights. I’ don’t think too many on this blog or others that say MM is solely to blame. The whole team top-down, was horrendous. He was just one major gear in a failed mechanism.
I’ll give MM a “good luck” at his new gig and I’ll give him an “A” for the first 2 yrs. here – but for his last 2 years – “Incomplete”.
Blove
January 14th, 2012
9:41 am
Man I see even yall beat writers are Garbage ! Like one commented earlier ! If all you had to do was draw up a play and the players execute . Then you don’t need OC’s or DC’s Just look at the Saints there are plenty off weaknesses on the D , but because we have a good DC . He’s know how to get the most out them.
Chop Buster
January 14th, 2012
10:18 am
Thank him for what? You out your monkey a$$ mind DLed!
CT Falcons Fan
January 14th, 2012
10:20 am
I’m confused, I thought the beat writer was supposed to REPORT on the team. Aren’t op-ed pieces like this more in Bradley and Shultz’s job descriptions? Just another example of an “insider” who gets too close to the subjects he’s supposed to objectively cover. My favorite rationale for Mularkey was “Tony Gonzales continued his march to Canton.” Good grief–he was a HOFer befoer he set foot in ATL. To somehow credit Mularkey with”continuing” that is absurd. But…par for the course with AJC.
And at least we dont’ get stupid song lyrics like the Braves’ beat writer subjects us to.
Mack
January 14th, 2012
10:39 am
“Bobby Petrino was here long enough and there were several other distractions”
did you mean was not?
“Here’s the deal on playing calling. All of the plays will work if executed properly and everybody wins their battles. There are no bad plays.”
playing calling?
IMO, this the dumbest statement I have ever read. Yet, almost all of you are ignoring it.
“I don’t preach or rant to you all often, so thanks for let me get this off my chest.”
I think he meant letting here.
“I’ve got to wish Coach Mularkey good luck right here like I did in a couple phone messages”
well, go ahead wish him good luck…
Did you really go to college? I didn’t. I usually overlook these little mistakes. But the headline had me mad before I ever read the article. I absolutely dispise this real “fan” claptrap. With the abysmal record this team has over it 46 year existence they should be(are?) happy any kind of fan would follow them. This article was written by “professional”. This was not a post written by a real “Fan”. Not only was it poorly written. It includes flawed football knowledge and conflicting statements. Was the OL good or bad because of MM? I’m confused…
I expect better from a “professional”.
Thank all that is good for your comments because without those I would not waste my time reading anything but injury reports from this “professional”.
old man
January 14th, 2012
10:41 am
I’m OK with MM leaving, and his play calling was not the best, but he was ham strung with personnel. He was ham strung by MR because the defense never had to spy #2 because of his lack of any running threat, or modify coverage to account for him extending the play. And with MT, you could forget about screen passes, down-field routes out of the backfield, or any running play which tried to turn the edge of your run defense.
On the whole, I think MT is more one-dimensional than MR, by a lot. And it’s easier to find a diamond in the rough RB than a QB. Snelling and Quizz could come in give us options MT did not, or provide a decoy, when they came in the defense was always alerted that something was up.
You need a RB who is more versatile, to play most of your downs, to allow your OC the ability to be unpredictable in play calling.
Honestly, Antone Smith is the closest to having all the skillsets you need–speed, evasivness, tackle-breaking, pass catching, route-running. Quizz has some of that. Snelling has more toughness, less speed. I’m not saying Smith should start. Overall, he may not excel in any one area to be an NFL back. But he has a more uniform and even set of skills.
The problem is that we can’t afford–cap money or draft picks–to get the kind of RB we need.
So we have a QB and a RB who both tend not to be multi-dimensional in their skill sets. You end up with a predictable set of player selection, formations, and play calling. MT is more one-dimensional than MR, and more easily replaced, so I think that is a much bigger problem for us.
old man
January 14th, 2012
10:48 am
I should say MT is more one dimensional than MR and is more easily replaced than MR, so if we are going to focus on replacing one it ought to be MT.
But based on what we have to work with, we need to draft and sign O-Line first, and probably go with more of a committee of RBs–MT, Snelling, Quizz, Smith, Muhelli. Bringing in someone to replace MT as feature back is just not realistic, based on the resources we have.
If we release D. Robinson, would that money free up money to get a better RB?
lombardi
January 14th, 2012
10:53 am
@oldman Antone Smith = big yes
Runner-
January 14th, 2012
12:06 pm
lol come on… all I see with those arguments is “Ok, those are all a good sign during the regular season, but what about when it matter?” Bottom line is we have been smoked our past 2 playoff games. This season was not a success by no means, we were an average team at best, we feasted on the crap teams but couldn’t win against the good. Do you think execution is the problem there or is it conservative playcalling against teams we can’t be conservative against? Cmon DOL, Mularkey had to go if the Falcons are to go anywhere
JSS
January 14th, 2012
12:28 pm
There are really “no bad plays,” there are stupid plays and stupid play calls in all reality. I’ve seen people win games in the modern NFL running the single wing (Carolina-vs-Atlanta-2006). There is no way that a team should not be able to stop it after seeing it two plays in a row. It is a “bad play” in most circles, but it was executed and no one could stop it on that day… The Wildcat formation is a Pee-Wee league formation, but for nearly 5 seasons, when run correctly, no one has forced teams to have to pass from it… That is a “bad play” in most quarters, but somehow when executed, it works… There is the difference…
old man
January 14th, 2012
12:30 pm
Lombardi:
When I see Antone Smith pay a full quarter in pre-season (maybe twice in each of the past two pre-seasons), my first thought is, “wow, that looks pretty good, we could build on that.” Then you never see him again. Maybe he stinks. I can just go on what I see. And you know he must get zero reps with the 1st team, so who knows. That would be ironic wouldn’t it–if a couple of guys get dinged up and he has to play, and reels off a couple of 125+ yard games in the regular season. But I suppose these coaches have assessed what he can do and don’t think he is even close to NFL caliber.
old man
January 14th, 2012
12:42 pm
Just looked it up. Smith has one carry over the past two years. And he was activated for 21 games. Twenty one games and only one carry? It’s hard to believe that anyone is THAT bad, especially when they show flashes in pre-season. If he has been fully evaluated by the staff and he only merits one carry in 21 games then you need to cut him and get someone else. If we run 30 times, maybe we need to give it to Quizz and Smith and Snelling about 5 times apiece each game, and give each of them 2 touches in the passing game. If you just throw to them each time, the D will figure it out. For whatever reason, MT is good for only 0 or 1 receptions a game.
I know Smith is a special teams stud but one carry in two years seems a little extreme.
Trottsky
January 14th, 2012
1:11 pm
What a bunch of Malarkey……..also known as BS…..for instance, throwing in Gonzales march to Hall of Fame…..what difference did Malarkey make with that !!! And as for “franchise marks”, if the w’s aren’t there, especially in the playoffs, marks don’t matter…….
Mack
January 14th, 2012
1:39 pm
I remember that game JSS. they didn even have a QB in on a couple 3rd down conversions(if I remember right, I am old:))
“Here’s the deal on playing calling. All of the plays will work if executed properly and everybody wins their battles. There are no bad plays.”
OK so if MM calls MT “up the gut” and the other team reads MT “up the gut” and stops him for a loss. That’s not a bad play it’s poor execution and/or poor play calling? Who carries the blame for this loss of yardage?
I think I see your point JSS. The plays themselves are not bad plays it’s their application that determines their success. Why would you use this sentence in an effort to praise MM? Here’s what I got when I read it. All MM calls were good calls the players just screwed them up. i.e. “here’s the deal on playing calling” First he suggest he will explain play calling but he ends by saying nothing about play calling and saying “there are no bad plays”. Two totally different topics, imo
I don’t like to post negative I love my team but this article really eats my lunch.
Tree Rollins
January 14th, 2012
1:53 pm
Mularkey was a good fit for the first 2 years of Ryan and then he got staedily more predictable and conservative and frankly bored me, the fans and the analysts to death and needed to move on.
Falcon fan
January 14th, 2012
3:37 pm
I’m a Falcon Fan but I also watch alot of Jacksonville games as I live in Waycross Ga. Thanks Mularkey for 4 good years..now I hope you turn Jaguars around.
Thanks D-Led for being 1st class all the time.
tyler
January 14th, 2012
3:57 pm
F off Mulaarkey, good riddance.
78Dawg
January 14th, 2012
4:16 pm
DOL….You are a complete idiot !!!!!
BIG JIM
January 14th, 2012
4:42 pm
D-LED you talk about the good thing MM did that is all well and find let’s talk about things he didn’t do and that was to score point in the playoff to get this team to the next row of the play off you talk abou real fans man real fans got treid of this B.S. with this O.C. Look how the saints use GRAHAM and SPROLES and other player falcons got that same thing with there offense.
BosnianBaller
January 14th, 2012
5:12 pm
Look at the 49ers and how they play against the Saints so you go right ahead and thank Mularkey Bedwetter.
Yo Vince
January 14th, 2012
5:13 pm
DOL, you made a good case for MM. We should acknowledge the facts. I will never miss the runs up the middle on 1st down or the QB keepers that killed us. He has a nice new job now, hope him the best.
Yo Vince
January 14th, 2012
5:15 pm
The Ain’ts are stinkin it up… Ha Choke, Hiramtaint
Birdy
January 14th, 2012
6:16 pm
So DOL,
What happened to my earlier post from today? There was nothing inflammatory.
Keith
January 14th, 2012
7:27 pm
Dled I don’t blame Mularkey for it all and yes he has accomplished many good things and maybe he will be a better HC than a OC, but as someone else pointed out the team seems to level out, Mularkey would not push the envelope, Our offence was not so much conservetive as predictible. this year in the match ups with the Better teams (Playoff calibe teams) the Defenses seem to know EXACTLY what our calls were in each critacl down. So ye sthank you Mike for bringing the Falcons to the level they are at, and thank you Jacksonville for taking Mike, cause after the preformance against the Giants I was scared NOBODY would want to take him!!
Big Ray
January 14th, 2012
8:13 pm
AAAAAAAAAHHHHAAAAAAAAHHHAAAAAAAA! Goodbye Saints! You just got beat by Alex Smith, biatchessss!
Big Ray
January 14th, 2012
8:14 pm
No who dats in the Bay Area!
Big Ray
January 14th, 2012
8:16 pm
Ha! That phony arse trickery wasn’t worth a crap at the end! Breesy got his lunch eaten today!
Later, Aints fans…
Seen dis befo
January 14th, 2012
8:17 pm
NFC West is just too much for New Orleans! Looks like the Falcons aren’t the only team with offensive line woes. On yeah, ROLL TIDE too!
Ws
January 14th, 2012
8:23 pm
WHO DAT BEAT THEM SAINTS—- FORTY-NINERS BEAT THEM SAINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHA , GREAT
Stumpknocker
January 14th, 2012
8:25 pm
Outside of the Who-Dat dome the chicken feet and voo-doo dolls don’t work do they Hiram “Mr Hanky” Saint……….Hiiii di Ho…..and back home you go!
falconsrus
January 14th, 2012
8:36 pm
goat daints
falconsrus
January 14th, 2012
8:38 pm
also “thanks” mularky buh bye
Seen This B4
January 14th, 2012
9:07 pm
crickets chirping….
hiramsaint
January 14th, 2012
9:08 pm
crickets chirping….
Aints again.....
January 14th, 2012
9:10 pm
couldn’t of happened to a nicer city !
Aints again.....
January 14th, 2012
9:12 pm
Seen dis befo
January 14th, 2012
8:17 pm
NFC West is just too much for New Orleans! Looks like the Falcons aren’t the only team with offensive line woes. On yeah, ROLL TIDE too!
Aints again.....
January 14th, 2012
9:13 pm
Some city is having an awful week, Huh ?!
Fred Macmurray
January 14th, 2012
9:23 pm
Go Saints!,, what,, oh,, nevermind
JSS
January 14th, 2012
9:28 pm
“Why would you use this sentence in an effort to praise MM? Here’s what I got when I read it.”
That is why I prefaced it by saying “stupid plays” and “stupid play calls.” It is stupid to call a empty backfield with an unbalanced line, when you have shown that look on tape multiple times… And your QB is not astute enough to see the defense react and call a timeout… Just sayin’