Those lucky Falcons: Mike Mularkey goes to Jacksonville
Double M leaves! Touchdown! (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
The Jacksonville Jaguars, for reasons unclear, have hired Mike Mularkey as head coach. That means the Atlanta Falcons lucked out. They’ve been spared having to fire him as offensive coordinator.
The belief here was that Double M, as he’s known, wasn’t going to be retained, but that’s not to say the decision would have been painless. The Falcons won a lot of (regular-season) games with Mularkey overseeing the offense, and it’s never easy to break a winning pattern even if you know the pattern needs breaking.
Moot point now, though. Mularkey is gone, same as defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder. The Falcons have two key hires to make this offseason, and the offensive position is surely the more important. In the end, offensive failings undid this talented aggregation. The Falcons need to find a man who could make these glittering pieces more of a whole.
Mike Martz is a name that keeps surfacing, but I might look first to Rick Neuheisel, who was just fired as UCLA’s head coach but who’s an offensive man by trade and who worked as coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. That’s just a first look, though. There are a handful of good men out there whose addition would constitute an upgrade.
The Falcons, I say again, lucked out. A staleness had come over this coaching staff. That’s inevitable after four years together, and now the team gets to change on both offense and defense without having to fire anybody. Auburn and Jacksonville came calling at the right time, Jacksonville especially. Time now for Smitty and Thomas Dimitroff to make the most of this opportunity. Time to hire even better coordinators.
By Mark Bradley
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465 comments Add your comment
ColaJacket
January 11th, 2012
9:43 am
Jack Del Rio for DC
OC – Hire a guy that has been very influential in Matt Ryan’s career. Has a reputation for wide open offenses. Steve Logan
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
9:43 am
Mularkey is not a huge loss and not a particularly great head coaching hire, but the problems on the Falcons are still more personnel-related than coaching-related in my opinion.
jb
January 11th, 2012
9:44 am
O’Brian, I must agree!
Treeofwoe
January 11th, 2012
9:45 am
Yean I don’t see Philbin moving laterally. He’d only leave for an HC job imo.
falcon nut
January 11th, 2012
9:46 am
Don’t matter who we bring in..we got to have the right players to get the job done.
rollo lawson
January 11th, 2012
9:46 am
Mike Martz + ridiculous blocking schemes + inferior oline talent = Beat up/Gun shy/Crippled Jay Cutler
Mike Martz + ridiculous blocking schemes + inferior oline talent = Beat up/Gun shy/Crippled Matt Ryan
No thanks.
O'Brien
January 11th, 2012
9:47 am
Why would the Packers OC leave GB for ATL? GB won a SB last year, and could be playing for another one this year.
Plus, keep in mind that if the Falcons struggle next year, Smitty will be on the hot seat. And if he goes, a new HC might want different coordinators, so I dont think an OC would make a lateral move to come to ATL.
Along those lines though, does the GB QB coach have enough experience where he is capable of making the jump to OC?
willdave
January 11th, 2012
9:47 am
Mark Bradley, to understand the hiring of Mike Mularkey as Jacksonville’s new head coach, you have to remember that the Jaguars are struggling to achieve the success that we have enjoyed over these past four seasons and now take for granted. What the Falcons have achieved, four straight winning regular seasons, would be a vast improvement over what Jacksonville has endured over these past few years. Thus, the Jaguars would be thrilled if Mularkey could bring that type of success to their organization.
Meanwhile, the Falcons and their fans have set their sights much higher, starting with a win in the playoffs. Anything less than that is now seen as an utter failure in Atlanta. Thus, we have a poor impression of Mularkey for not being able to achieve that here.
Congratulations and best wishes to Mike Mularkey.
Falcons4Eva
January 11th, 2012
9:47 am
Message to Arthur Blank:
Send some one to Oregon and offer Chip Kelly ANYTHING he wants to come here to call the offense.
He is perhaps the ONLY one that can match Play for Play with Sean Payton. Granted, I know it will perhaps take a quarterback that is mobile to do it…therefore….
Whomever has the right to select Robert Griffin III, offer them – Matt Ryan and Michael Turner and our 2014 1st round draft.
Then we can compete with the Saints, Packers and dare I say it…the Panthers! !
Hire Chip Kelly…Oregon Ducks coach! ! !
IceBIRDcold
January 11th, 2012
9:47 am
Vangorder………………NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! If it were not for him we would have gotten blanked in a PLAYOFF game.
jb
January 11th, 2012
9:48 am
get Philbin the $$$$
All I'm Saying Is....
January 11th, 2012
9:48 am
The top 5 teams in Total Offense during the regular season per NFL.com were:
1) New Orleans Saints
2) New England Patriots
3) Green Bay Packers
4) Philadelphia Eagles
5) Detroit Lions
Like I typed, getting an OC or second in command or QB Coach from one of those teams makes the most sense especially one from NO since Drew Brees’ arm is no stronger than Matt Ryan. (Good suggestion, jb!)
LET’S GO FALCONS!
rollo lawson
January 11th, 2012
9:49 am
Ask Roddy how he feels about Hue Jackson. He would do a double flip.
steve-o
January 11th, 2012
9:49 am
Those lucky Falcons indeed. Still, I get the feeling that the Falcons will never be a true contender with Mike Smith as head coach. I couldn’t stand Mularkey’s play-calling, but I get the sense that his conservatism was a reflection of his head coach. After all, Smith said yesterday that the team’’s offensive strategy will continue to be run-first. Don’t look for any innovation with Smith at the helm!
rollo lawson
January 11th, 2012
9:50 am
Didn’t Philbin just lose his son? Coaching is the last thing on this man’s mind.
O'Brien
January 11th, 2012
9:50 am
Najeh,
TD’s moves have not worked out, so I think he does deserve some of the blame. And I can’t believe he talked about how Dunta played well, and how our defense was aggressive. What?
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
9:50 am
” I don’t understand how the Mora/Vick Falcons were able to win a playoff game…this group seems more stable and talented top to bottom. ”
Some day, Falcons fans will give Vick the credit he deserves for accomplishing what he accomplished here, and in his words “overcoming coaching”. Some day. I don’t have much hope that this will happen any time soon.
All I'm Saying Is....
January 11th, 2012
9:51 am
Only thing Falcons lack in terms of players on Offense are more with breakaway speed. We have been told that Harry Douglas is our guy in terms of receivers but I don’t think so. Jacquizz [sp.] was a good pickup but we need more.
LET’S GO FALCONS!
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
9:51 am
“TD’s moves have not worked out, so I think he does deserve some of the blame. And I can’t believe he talked about how Dunta played well, and how our defense was aggressive. What?”
Yeah, he has clearly graduated with honors from the Patriots’ school of only feeding bullsh-t to the media. I didn’t get anything substantive out of that interview at all.
mrsbanks
January 11th, 2012
9:51 am
Dunta “Don’t Tackle” Robinson should be next….
Falcons4Eva
January 11th, 2012
9:53 am
@ Najeh Davenpoop….
would you not concede that if Sean Payton or Mike McCarthy had this very same roster…would we not have scored more than 2 freaking points in the playoffs? …..
Would we not have score more than 12 against the Bears in week 1.
Would we not have scored more than 13 against the Bucs?
Would we not have scored more than 14 against the Packers
Would we not have scored more than 10 against the Texans
Would we not have scored more than 16 against the Saints
Point being…we should have scored more and won more games if the coach and his coordinators had called a better play calls during those games than what they did. I know that the players has to execute the play….but the fact of the matter is….why do you send a 215 QB for in to the non-hole for less than one yard and not SPREAD the line out…Both calls did not spread the line with wide gaps…plus NO one was in the back field for one.
Just plain stupid.
All I'm Saying Is....
January 11th, 2012
9:54 am
Najeh: Agree with you 100%. Vick never received the credit he deserved (people skate over the fact that he led a team into legendary Lambeau and won against a Super Bowl Champion QB) and was always blamed for defeats despite the fact that his offensive line was 10 times worse than the one Ryan has. Until Matt Ryan wins playoff games, he will not measure up. He’s Matty “Ice Cold During Crunch Time” Ryan for now.
LET’S GO FALCONS!
Tumbledown
January 11th, 2012
9:54 am
This is just pure speculation as I have heard no reports or suggestions from anyone regarding this thought. Is there a possibility that Mike Smith could step down as head coach given his health scare in December? I read something where both the DC and OC were told following the Saints’ loss in December that they could entertain other offers. That game followed Smith’s medical issue. Urban Meyer stepped down (eventually) following his health scare at Florida. Again, this is just a thought.
mountain_jim
January 11th, 2012
9:57 am
O’Brien – I agree that the TD interview where he said the defense was ‘aggressive’and that Dunta played well really ticked me off – if he really believes that, and if Smith really does intend to keep the Mularkey style of offense and current defense, then I might have to consider switching (after 38 years) my interest over to Panthers – I now live in NC, would save money on the NFL Ticket, and can watch a real passer with a real oline and with an aggressive passing offense go to work.
The Falcons oline is terrible, dline is weak for where it was drafted, and that’s on TD. I hope he realizes it before he and Smith are gone and its start over time again.
All I'm Saying Is....
January 11th, 2012
9:57 am
Mike Smith is not going anywhere so save your fingers the typing and your brain the speculation, Tumbledown. Even Dan Reeves kept going after a full on heart attack.
LET’S GO FALCONS!
jb
January 11th, 2012
9:57 am
Yes, Philbin did just lose his son..died in ice River etc. But life goes on…Joe will move forward for his family.
FALCONEDDY
January 11th, 2012
9:58 am
Well all you football gurus got what you wanted. Both coordinators of the team averaging double digit wins for a franchise that averages double digit losses are gone. I sure hope it works out. Most times situations like these end in “be careful what you ask for”.
ATl Sports
January 11th, 2012
9:58 am
VANGORDER WAS SURELY GONE. SMITH IS DOING HIM A FAVOR BY LETTING IT LOOK AS IF HE LEFT ON HIS OWN. HE WILL BE AT AUBURN 2-3 YEARS AND WILL BE GONE FROM THERE. IF I WAS A KID ON DEFENSE THINKING ABOUT AUBURN I WOULD LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE! A LOT OF QUESTION MARKS!!!! THIS WILL BE GOOD FOR THE FALCONS. LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING WHAT THE FALCONS DO.
Bubba Mutt
January 11th, 2012
9:59 am
Falcons4Eva “Arthur Blank is a screwed business man first and foremost”, uh, on the key board the c & the h aren’t even close…you did mean shrewed not screwed…glad you’re not near us in the club level, bet you only watch the cheerleaders
Falcons4Eva
January 11th, 2012
10:00 am
The boldest move the Falcons could make would be to trade Matt Ryan to whomever has the pick to get RG3. (perhaps Matt Ryan, Michael Turner and a 2nd rounder in 2014).
Then go get Chip Kelly from Oregon Ducks (offer him whatever amount of $$$) it takes to be our new OC.
Then and only then will we be able to REUNITE the VICK fans back into the family. Plus we would be moving in the new age of offensive dominated football. Plus Chip Kelly is the only one on this planet that can match play calls with Sean Payton and Mike McMcarthey…
Gwinnett Fred
January 11th, 2012
10:02 am
Good news for the Falcons, bad news for all Fantasy Football owners that have MJD on their team!
Falcons4Eva
January 11th, 2012
10:02 am
@ Bubba Mutt…
LOL…yeah. Got me on that misspelling….
and yes. I do love me some Falcons cheerleaders!
wakeupbroz
January 11th, 2012
10:03 am
Hiring anyone for reasons other than their knowledge is totally ludicrous. Examples of this are all over the NFL from years past.
crazy
January 11th, 2012
10:03 am
Vick screwed the falcons…He deserves nothing.
All I'm Saying Is....
January 11th, 2012
10:04 am
And, nobody asked but the top 5 teams in terms of Total Defense during the regular season per NFL.com were:
1) Pittsburgh Steelers
2) Houston Texans
3) Baltimore Ravens
4) San Francisco 49ers
5) NY Jets
I say source your next Defensive Coordinator from one of those teams. Steelers head man Dick Lebeau ain’t going anywhere but his second in command ought to know that and have an itch to be in charge. And someone up in New Yawk is probably ready to jump ship and leave that Loudmouth Ryan behind.
LET’S GO FALCONS!
Tumbledown
January 11th, 2012
10:04 am
All I’m Saying Is . . . Nice reference to Dan Reeves. While I cannot save my fingers from its efforts, I will remove such speculation from my brain. Thanks!
Walker, Texas Ranger
January 11th, 2012
10:04 am
Bellick and Spags. Brian B is not going to get a HC job becasue he is not being mentioned. If he wants to be HC again, he will need to prvoe it as a OC. Hire Spags before the Giants can get him back.
FALCONEDDY
January 11th, 2012
10:04 am
@falcons4eva
Mike Mccarthy, not Sean Peyton are looking for a job, so what is your point.
This staff has averaged double digit wins. This front office has made us respectable and at the very least made us not look like the crack heads that ran the Falcons the first 40 years are gone. If we hadn’t whiffed on the Baker and Jerry 1st round picks we’d still be calling Dimitroff a great hire. Sometimes luck goes bad.
@Mountain Jim
Pull for the Panthers. No one here cares who you pull for. I’d check that Matt Ryan record against your new favorite team before I got too excited though. I can’t remember who is their can’t miss QB, Cam Newton or Josh Freeman one year earlier.
I
Anti-TeaBagger
January 11th, 2012
10:04 am
All I’m Saying Is…. , your perspective and judgement is warped. Vick got ALL THE ATTENTION AND ACCOLADES ANYONE COULD GET… until he f’ed up this franchise (for a few years) and his own career and life in general. It’s time for you Vickas to start taking responsibility and seeing things for what they are… and stop playing the race angle… it’s tired!
JSS
January 11th, 2012
10:06 am
@ Davenpoop…
Co-sign…
What game was this person watching?
“Spread out?” They stayed tight and shifted, then tried to get the MIC LB to commit by using motion back across the formation (of course he didn’t)…
Walker, Texas Ranger
January 11th, 2012
10:08 am
Roddy did nothing under Stu, he would not be very happy
bob
January 11th, 2012
10:08 am
Agree with the hire the head coach who got fired after being the star assistant.The OC to hire is Tom Cable and he should bring M. Lynch with him. Turner gets dumped, 2 upgrades. Second choice is Haley. On D, Spags is the obvious answer-his exotic blitzes that would make Spoon a star. Del Rio is not a bad 2nd choice, so long as he’ll put in some press coverage.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 11th, 2012
10:08 am
“would you not concede that if Sean Payton or Mike McCarthy had this very same roster…would we not have scored more than 2 freaking points in the playoffs? …..”
I am not putting all the blame on either personnel or coaching. I just think if I had to split the responsibility for the offensive failings this year, more of it would go on personnel than coaching. I just don’t see the Falcons’ offensive players making dumb mistakes or playing undisciplined, which are the usual hallmarks of a poorly coached team. Contrast the Falcons with a team like the Bucs, who shot themselves in the foot with turnovers all season, had all types of miscommunication in the passing game when it came to blitz pickups and hot routes, and were near the top of the league in penalties. That is what a poorly coached team looks like.
Sean Payton is probably the best offensive coach in the league, and Mularkey is not in the top 10, so he would almost certainly get more out of any group of players in the league than Mularkey would.
One thing about the personnel issues: while I agree that the Falcons would benefit (like many other teams have) from running more spread sets, it’s quite possible that more of those Turner short yardage runs would have worked in the second half of the season if Mughelli didn’t get hurt.
drew
January 11th, 2012
10:09 am
Yes…the departure of Mularky and Van Gorder is certainly serendipitous. And I’m satisfied that we can and will find better coordinators. But we still have personnel issues that need to be addressed.
Dimitroff’s draft and FA acquisitions have been spotty at best. And since we traded away the best of our draft for Julio, we need to be active in the offseason. I say put Turner, Abraham, Edwards, Robinson, Baker, etc., hell even Ryan, on the market, and see what we can get…OL, DL, draft picks, etc. The O-line obviously needs help.
Matt Ryan is a good QB. Matt Ryan also has good trade value. Like some other posters here, I think we’re seeing now that there is a ceiling on his progress due to the lack of arm strength, pocket presence, and the inability to move in the pocket and extend plays (plays that don’t end in a throw-away!). When Ryan is flushed out of the pocket, you rarely see good things happen. All of the elite QB’s have the ability to make something happen when the pocket crumbles…Ryan has not shown that he can do that. You can do something about the arm strength (it’s called the weight room!), but you can’t teach pocket awareness, pocket coolness, and improvisation…you either have it or you don’t. He’s good…but without those intangibles, I don’t see him ever being elite. We might take a step back by trading him, but in the long run, I think we’ll be better off.
brad
January 11th, 2012
10:10 am
Hugh jackson and Mike Singletary!!!
mountain_jim
January 11th, 2012
10:10 am
I wanted Mularkey gone after last year – so yes I am happy.
But I have a lot less respect and trust for TD and Smith after all the BS they have spewed during this season of failures to play with the best teams, and with the poor drafting of TD of late, this team may be on the down-swing regardless of who coaches it.
Just a different play on the NO 4th down in OT could have changed this season so much – that’s on Smith/Mularkey. They never did adjust to a bad oline and get more creative on 4th downs.
Falcons4Eva
January 11th, 2012
10:11 am
And Finally…..
On the subject of cleaning house….Thomas Dimitroff deserves to be mentioned as having a hand in the falling back of the Falcons…..
He did not address the offensive line woes….
He missed badly on Ray Edwards, by not signing Charles Johnson of the Panthers…(FYI Charles Johnson line: 30 solo tackles 10 assisted tackles 9.0 sacks).
He drafted Peria Jerry – a gawd awful bust.
He drafted Sam Baker – who had injury issues coming into that draft. Add insult to injury, he traded UP to get Sam Baker and gave up an additional draft choice).
Over paid for Dunta Robinson.
And there have been more less than stellar signings by Thomas. So he to need to look into the mirror at the Falcons short comings…
miked706
January 11th, 2012
10:11 am
? Why has EVERY news source reported that Mike Mularkey is the the new head coach at Jacksonville, but when you go to the Falcons website they haven’t posted anything? I am starting to worry about this orginization. What are they trying to wait to there end of the year press conference to surprise everyone even though the world already knows. ha ha
PMC
January 11th, 2012
10:11 am
Najeh, I was in Vick’s corner until 2007 anyway. His problems here were similar. Bad fit at coordinator and an offensive line that wasn’t built to protect him. I still think he would be a lot better if he worked harder, but I’m not shocked Reid was able to get so much out of him last year.
Vick was the most talented player probably in the history of the franchise. He did beat the Packers in Lambeau when that meant something and they tied Pittsburg that year on an excellent 4th Q comeback led by him.
The whole Vick thing to me is a shame. I felt almost the same way after that game Sunday (basically stuck) until I found out we would have some new coaching next year.
For all people say about Vick, 2003 was one of the worst years ever for Falcons fans, and 2007 with Harrington and Leftwich was probably worse.
DAMON
January 11th, 2012
10:12 am
Bring back June Jones
……shoot and chunk