Gästebuch » The Atlanta Falcons may be on the lookout for new coordin

ators a week from now Youth Grady Jarrett Jersey , and a new name might need to enter the realm of possibility on the offensive side of the ball. Let’s now consider former Patriots offensive coordinator and Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis. Schefter says in the piece that Weis is expected to garner interest from the league despite several years away from football. Weis’s connections to the Falcons coaching staff coupled with the team’s expected need for a new offensive coordinator makes this an intriguing prospect. SB Nation’s Steven Godfrey made note about not being super-excited about the idea of Weis being the guy for the vacancy on Twitter, which got this writer’s wheels turning. As it turns out, Weis might actually be the most likely person for the job not named Darrell Bevell. Weis has a direct connection to Falcons head coach Dan Quinn. Quinn and Weis worked together under Will Muschamp at Florida. Weis and Quinn were both with the Gators in 2011, where the former was the OC and the latter the DC. Soon after that season, Weis went up to Kansas to be the Jayhawks’ head coach from 2012-2014, while Quinn’s path, of course, led him through Seattle to Atlanta. Muschamp said the two worked well on that staff congruently. Weis also hyped up Quinn being a head coach way back in 2014.So the two very much have a relationship with each other. That might’ve been part of what inspired the Falcons to hire Weis’ son, Charlie Weis Jr., in 2017 as an offensive assistant. The younger Weis is a highly-regarded up-and-comer around the game who inspired one of the more eye-opening stories to be told about a coach in quite some time. It involves the evaluation of Weis by NFL legend Gil Brandt (per Bleacher Report). Long story short, he compared the younger Weis to Bill Belichick. The B/R story also notes Weis Jr. came handpicked with Steve Sarkisian from Alabama, with Sark allowed to take one Bama assistant with him.So you have to think about this next quote carefully when you think of that Brandt anecdote, knowing Weis Jr. left Atlanta after the 2017 season to join Lane Kiffin at FAU as his OC. This matches how highly Quinn spoke of the former assistant last season. If Quinn really thought highly of Weis Jr., and has a natural connection with Weis from their days at Florida, perhaps Atlanta should consider a reunion. The elder Weis, of course, was the offensive coordinator of those early-00s Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots teams and a look at the Pats system back in the day shows it might not be a bad fit for what the Falcons like to do with its personnel. You know the offense well; it has been the bread and butter of Tom Brady’s career. The Patriots’ “Erhardt-Perkins offensive system,” as it’s called, might not be the worst transition for Atlanta with its personnel. New England has a similar offensive line makeup to the Falcons now; Joe Thuney, a Patriots guard, was a Falcons target in that draft class. This leads us to another Weis link to Atlanta Stitched Terrell McClain Jersey , as he and general manager Thomas Dimitroff were both Belichick guys who would up elsewhere due to their time with the Patriots. Dimitroff offered some praise for his old coworker in 2010 when offering thoughts about the Panthers drafting Jimmy Clausen. Atlanta needs an offensive coordinator with experience, and if Weis really is interested in the gig, he might have a legitimate shot with all of his connections. Bevell is probably the odds-on favorite to land the job right now should it come available, but what if that’s a smokescreen? Does this news of Weis being interested in returning to the pro level and the expectation that Atlanta will change out the OC spot all link to each other?Quinn might be interested in having his old Florida companion (and Dimitroff his old Pats colleague) return to run the offense, which could also, hypothetically, spark Charlie Jr. to return to Atlanta in a higher capacity (like a positional coach). The team would get its accomplished veteran mind, and Matt Ryan would work with a guy who’s worked with Brady. If Weis Jr. did come along, that would bring an exciting young offensive mind back in house. As you know, those are quite popular these days. Could dad turn the keys over to son one day?Now the caution here is, obviously, if Weis could scheme something to meet the modern demands of what NFL defenses can do. The game has drastically changed since Weis’ heyday with New England, and he’s not had an NFL offense under his control since the turn of the decade. He also struggled mightily at Kansas, though that might have more to do with it being the Kansas job, which has seen few successes over the last few years.Maybe his stop in Kansas City would be more telling? That Chiefs team he was the OC of found success running the ball and made Matt Cassel look like a decent starting quarterback. It wasn’t the best of units, but it absolutely shouldn’t be overlooked, considering the talent on the roster and the production. Not to play connect-the-dots too much, but the GM of the Chiefs at that time? Scott Pioli, current assistant GM for the Falcons and another Patriots alum. Weis was part of the Chiefs draft that saw guard Jon Asamoah taken, who later ended up with the Falcons. He also oversaw the drafting of Tony Moeaki, who was a Falcon in 2015. There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence that links Weis to Atlanta. We’re purely speculating with the connections and potential vacancy Marcus Green Atlanta Falcons Jersey , so take all of this for what you will. It would meet exactly what the Atlanta front office typically does, though: hire people they have a working relationship with and meet exactly what the focus of the moment is. Consider the Sark hire just two years ago when the team wanted to keep the Shanny playbook intact, or when the team moved Raheem Morris, Quinn’s old companion, to offense to help the receiving group. OL coach Chris Morgan was a former Seattle guy, as was Marquand Manuel, the current defensive coordinator. Dimitroff hired his old Pats colleague Pioli back in 2014 as his assistant GM, too.Veteran minds and leadership might be the soup du jour this offseason, so watch for Weis.One final note: Weis was just around the team last fall, paying a visit to see his son in action. Could this become a regular sight on Sundays next fall? Indianapolis provided the blueprint to fixing an offensive line quickly, and Atlanta followed it almost to a tee." />Skip to main contentclockmenumore-arrownoyesHorizontal - WhiteThe Falcoholican Atlanta Falcons communityLog In or Sign UpLog InSign UpFanpostsFanshotsLibraryFalconsOddsAboutMastheadCommunity GuidelinesStubHubMoreAll 322 blogs on Horizontal - WhiteFanposts Fanshots Library FalcFans Podcast on The FalcoholicContact The FalcoholicFalcons StoriesScheduleRosterStatsYahoo Falcons NewsYahoo Falcons Team PageYahoo Falcons ReportYahoo Falcons Depth ChartYahoo Falcons TransactionsYahoo Falcons PhotosOdds About Masthead Community Guidelines StubHub ✕Can the Falcons emulate the Colts’ 2018 offensive line revamp?New,24commentsIndianapolis provided the blueprint to fixing an offensive line quickly, and Atlanta followed it almost to a tee.EDTShareTweetShareShareCan the Falcons emulate the Colts’ 2018 offensive line revamp?Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsThe Atlanta Falcons went into the 2019 offseason looking to improve their offensive line. We all expected changes to be made when Dan Quinn told the media that he’s comfortable with left tackle (Jake Matthews) and center (Alex Mack) and that beyond that “you scrub every bit of it.” However, I don’t think many people expected to see the kind of overhaul Atlanta has followed through with in regard to the unit.Matthews and Mack are the last two starters standing on the line from the start of last season, when the Falcons trotted out Matthews, Andy Levitre, Mack, Brandon Fusco, and Ryan Schraeder from left to right. Wes Schweitzer and Ben Garland would start plenty of games at the guard positions as well, while right tackle Ty Sambrailo would take over for the struggling Schraeder from Week 12 on.Levitre, Fusco 2019 Marcus Green Jersey , Schraeder, and Garland are no longer on the roster. Sambrailo has received an extension to continue serving as the team’s swing tackle with an opportunity to win the starting right tackle job, and Schweitzer figures to be a depth piece in 2019.Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimitroff prioritized the offensive line in the free agency period, when they extended Sambrailo and then signed James Carpenter and Jamon Brown to presumably fill the starting guard spots. The duo then doubled down on improving the offensive line by selecting OG Chris Lindstrom and OT Kaleb McGary in the first round of the draft, thus completing a drastic revamp of the unit.There is very recent precedent for this kind of offensive line revamp, and it likely influenced Quinn and Dimitroff into making some of the decisions they made over the past few months. Look back to the 2018 offseason, and you’ll find the Indianapolis Colts engineered one of the best offensive line rebuild projects in NFL history. The hope is that Atlanta will be able to emulate some of the results we saw up in Indianapolis this past season.The Colts had one of the worst offensive lines in the NFL in 2017, when they trotted out a unit of subpar talent and oft-injured starters. Anthony Castonzo was excellent at the left tackle position and started all 16 games. Jeremy Vujnovich was a durable left guard who didn’t miss a single snap. Beyond that it was a revolving door featuring four different starters at the center position (one of whom was Mike Person), five different starters at right guard, and a right tackle tag team of Denzelle Good and Joe Haeg (each of whom also made at least one start at right guard).Injuries played a big part in the collapse of Indy’s offensive line as demonstrated by that revolving door of starters, but pretty much everyone not named Castonzo was subpar. Vujnovich graded out with a horrendous 50.0 overall PFF grade, Ryan Kelly (who was the original starter at C and played in seven games) had a 59.4 grade, Jack Mewhort had a 57.0 mark in five games started (before going down for the season), while the combination of Good and Haeg at RT/RG was slightly better but with grades of 60.4 and 64.1, however neither of them were anything to write home about either.There are some parallels with the Falcons here, as the Birds featured multiple starters at every position outside of LT and C, with nobody at those at those revolving door positions being particularly good (in fairness, Sambrailo played well in limited time).The result for the Colts was arguably the worst offensive line in football. The unit gave up a league-high 56 sacks, allowing a sack on a league-high 10.33% of passing attempts. They also opened up few holes in the run game, as Indy running backs rushed for a paltry 1.07 yards before contact, which was the third-worst mark in the NFL.It got to the point where star wide receiver T.Y. Hilton called out the unit after a 27-0 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 7 Marcus Green Atlanta Falcons Jersey , saying, “The offensive line just has to play better.”In one offseason, it was all addressed and rebuilt by general manager Chris Ballard, however. Left tackle Castonzo and center Kelly were the only holdovers on the unit going into 2018, with every other starter getting replaced (sound familiar?).Ballard went right to work when free agency hit, signing Mike Glowinski (who was actually added off waivers at the end of the 2017 season) and Matt Slauson to cheap contracts. Then he doubled down in the draft by selecting all-world guard prospect Quenton Nelson with the sixth overall pick and reliable tackle Braden Smith high in the second round (sound familiar?).Nelson was sublime in his rookie season, being voted as a First-Team All-Pro selection at guard. Castonzo was a steady presence in the 11 games he started. Braden Smith showed out at RT as a rookie, even though he was slightly overshadowed by Nelson. Slauson was one of the team’s best pass blockers for the first five games of the season before going down to injury, but Glowinski stepped in and the line didn’t skip a beat. And Kelly showcased better health (playing in 12 games) and a drastic improvement from 2017.It wasn’t all smooth sailing, as the Colts relied on their depth when injury struck, but that depth was readily available because of the additions made in the offseason. Castonzo missed five games, Kelly missed four, Slauson missed 11. The likes of Glowinski and Haeg proved to be invaluable for Indy when it came time to cover those losses.In just one season, through the draft, free agency and Kelly’s bounce-back, the Colts went from having one plus starter on the offensive line (Castonzo) to five plus starters and some very reliable depth.The results on the field were instantly prevalent. The Colts allowed a league-low 18 sacks, and allowed just one sack per 2.86% of pass attempts, which was also a league-low. Indy’s o-line also ranked fourth in the league with 4.83 adjusted line yards per carry, according to Football Outsiders.All of this was a result of Indianapolis investing heavily into its offensive line. Nelson, Kelly, and Castonzo were all first-round selections by the Colts Youth Marcus Green Jersey , and Smith was an early second-round selection. Chris Ballard made a concentrated effort to improve Andrew Luck’s protection, and he was rewarded handsomely for it.So let’s take a look at the parallels between Atlanta’s offensive line going from 2018 into 2019, and Indianapolis’ offensive line going from 2017 into 2018. Atlanta has two holdovers from last season, at left tackle and center, just like Indianapolis. Atlanta added two free agent guards to relative bargain contracts, just like Indianapolis. And Atlanta spent premium draft picks on a left guard (which is the position Lindstrom is likely to play) and right tackle (McGary), just like Indianapolis did.Chris Ballard and the Colts provided the blueprint to revamping an offensive line last offseason, and Thomas Dimitroff, Dan Quinn, and the Falcons have emulated that blueprint almost to a tee.Now, I don’t think it’s fair for us to expect improvement from the offensive line as drastic as what Indianapolis saw last season — I don’t think I’ve ever seen an offensive line improve so definitively in just one offseason. Also, while Lindstrom is a great prospect, he’s not quite as good as Nelson was coming out of college.A good deal of improvement should be expected, however. It’s fair to expect Atlanta’s offensive line to give up fewer than the 42 sacks they conceded last year. It’s fair to expect Atlanta’s offensive line to be better than the ninth-worst run blocking unit according to Football Outsiders’ adjusted line yards per carry statistic. The Colts went from trotting out arguably the worst offensive line in football to arguably the best offensive line in football in just one offseason. One year later, and the Falcons have emulated their strategy. If they can achieve similar results then there is no ceiling for this offensive unit as a whole.Chris Ballard built a bully in Indianapolis, and one year later, the Falcons hope that they’ve done the same in Atlanta.