THE DC SEARCH: Spagnuolo, Nolan are of interest
Former St. Louis Coach Steve Spagnuolo had a great defense in New York. (Seth Perlman / Associated Press)
The top two candidates for the vacant defensive coordinator position are Steve Spagnuolo and Mike Nolan.
Despite revamping the secondary and trying to bolster the pass rush, the Falcons struggled to improve their pass defense. Since 2008, they’ve ranked 21st (2008, 220.4), 28th (2009, 241.9), 22nd (2010, 226.6) and 20th (2011, 236.6).
“Moving forward, this defense needs to continue its growth and evolution as a passionate and fiery defense, one that is going to fly to the football, disrupt, be opportunistic and capitalized on opportunities to turn the game around; flip the game in critical situations,” Dimitroff said. “We’ll look for a coordinator who will [aid] Coach Smith and his approach to putting that type of aggressive defense on the field.”
Having previous ties to Smith is not a prerequisite.
“Obviously, that coordinator is going to work hand-and-hand with Mike Smith in helping to create a very aggressive defense,” Dimitroff said. “Our hope is that we will, in the very near future, land that individual who we think is very appropriate with his approach to helping this defense grow.”
Among the hot names being mentioned for defensive coordinator in coaches’ agent circles are former St. Louis coach Steve Spagnuolo and Mike Nolan. Former Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio and Smith have worked together in the past, but a reunion is not likely.
The Falcons could get into a bidding war for Spagnuolo, who’s also being courted by the Philadelphia Eagles. He was an assistant coach for the Eagles from 1999-2006.
Spagnuolo is especially attractive to the Falcons because his defenses have performed well in the playoffs. When Spagnuolo was coordinator for the New York Giants, his defense stopped the 18-0 New England Patriots and sacked Tom Brady five times in Super Bowl XLII.
Nolan is considered a 3-4 coach. But Smith’s respect him from their days together in Baltimore runs deep. They could likely mold the principles of Nolan’s 3-4 with Smith’s 4-3 if necessary.
When the team does hire new coordinators, team owner Arthur Blank expects them bring a new set of eyes and expertise to the team.
“Their ability . . . to be totally objective, cold-hearted and unemotional about the young men that we have on the roster [should be an asset],” Blank said. “[We’ll] bring in some folks that will be able to give us maybe some new perspective, maybe some different perspective not only on team questions, but on player issues that we may have as well.”
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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251 comments Add your comment
Ronald Millsaps
January 17th, 2012
5:25 pm
Steve, maybe if you dropped the childish, vulgar internet jargon you’d learn some football. Flacco and Ryan came out the same year: 2008, and Baltimore hardly has won because of the guy. He throws an awesome deep ball at times and does deserve credit for airing it out like no other, but he just isn’t that good. He’s barely better than another overly-hyped quarterback: Mark Sanchez.
Speaking of which, the media acts like Rex Ryan and the Jets owe the former USC QB an apology for showing a bias toward Peyton Manning and that doing so somehow will stifle his career. They owe Sanchez no apology, and he’s arguably not 1% the QB Manning is. Furthermore, does having job competition hurt a QB? Well, Jon Kitna took his job lightly until Cincinnati drafted Carson Palmer; Drew Brees took his lightly until San Diego drafted Philip Rivers.
So, the Braves opted to give a decent fraction of each hemisphere for a year’s rental of Mark Teixeira but won’t even attempta long-term deal with Michael Bourn? How foolish! Frank Wren has done well here, but this move is foolish. Blowing the lead in September that the team blew was pretty foolish also.
Random idea: Trade Craig Kimbrel. His market value is stratospheric, and his performance in big games his terrestrial.