And the Falcons' New OC is...

[jhay610]

Have to say I am a bit flummoxed by this one.

Don't want to prejudge but surely they will not be printing additional 2012 season tickets on the back of this move.

Smith is really sticking his neck out on this one if it doesn't work, in my opinion. Given their history, it just comes off as Smith making the easy choice, not doing his due diligence, what have you.

Still glad to see MM go but having a hard time feeling the juice with the new guy. He'll certainly have more weapons to work with here than he had in Jacksonville.

Time will tell.

Edited January 15, 2012 by jhay610

[Bawse]

Kind of shocked by this. All they need now is Del Rio as DC for the trifiecta.

Jacksonville North.

[dms269]

This moves makes zero sense. Jacksonville was 32nd in total offense last season. Apparently the guy is known for his passing attack, but Jacksonville has been a horrible offense team for several years. I guess it is wait and see. If we can put up some points then it might be a success. If we struggle to score points and move the ball (I'd like to see more of a passing attack as well), then this will be placed squarely on Smith.

[WraithSentinel]

I figure it would be someone from that staff. Mike Smith better hope this guy is the answer. Both of them will be gone after next season.

[Dnice]

As the Falcon board is down, they hire Mike Nolan as DC......

[AHF]

As the Falcon board is down, they hire Mike Nolan as DC......

Damn. I was hoping we would get Spags.

I'm not excited by these hirings but hope we will see good results. The biggest names aren't always the best targets.

[Admin]

Damn. I was hoping we would get Spags.

I'm not excited by these hirings but hope we will see good results. The biggest names aren't always the best targets.

Mike Nolan is a tremendous hire and an outstanding DC!! There is some question as to whether the Falcons have actually hired him and if they have whether or not there is some draft pick compensation as the Dolphins just confirmed yesterday that Nolan is under contract for 1 more year with the Dolphins and they weren't giving him up until a new head coach is in place and says whether or not he wanted to keep Nolan. However, Nolan is a very good DC who puts in a good 3-4 defense and calls exotic blitzes that confuse even Tom Brady. The problem is that in Miami he hasn't had the secondary or a 2nd quality pass rusher to really make our defense elite, but we were 6th overall in 2010 and I think 5th or so this year in scoring defense and that's with a below average offense and a secondary that couldn't catch a cold let alone make an INT.

[AHF]

Mike Nolan is a tremendous hire and an outstanding DC!! There is some question as to whether the Falcons have actually hired him and if they have whether or not there is some draft pick compensation as the Dolphins just confirmed yesterday that Nolan is under contract for 1 more year with the Dolphins and they weren't giving him up until a new head coach is in place and says whether or not he wanted to keep Nolan. However, Nolan is a very good DC who puts in a good 3-4 defense and calls exotic blitzes that confuse even Tom Brady. The problem is that in Miami he hasn't had the secondary or a 2nd quality pass rusher to really make our defense elite, but we were 6th overall in 2010 and I think 5th or so this year in scoring defense and that's with a below average offense and a secondary that couldn't catch a cold let alone make an INT.

Good to hear from a Dolphins fan! Atlanta doesn't have much in the way of pass rushers either, so it will be interesting to see if they go 3-4 with this move.

[WraithSentinel]

I like the Nolan hire. I heard Spags and the Saints are talking. I think Spags and Sean Peyton have some connections back to their Giants days. The likelyhood of getting him may have been very slim. Hopefully with the Nolan hire we can finally move to a 3-4 Defense.

Edited January 18, 2012 by ThunderHawks

[Admin]

Good to hear from a Dolphins fan! Atlanta doesn't have much in the way of pass rushers either, so it will be interesting to see if they go 3-4 with this move.

Nolan has been successful with only having 1 pass rusher, usually an outside linebacker, so he'll likely find that guy on your roster. The one thing with Nolan is that his defense tends to be a bend but don't break type of defense but that should work well with the Falcons offense and if y'all are playing with a lead he'll pin the ears back and come after the QB big time.

Also, it looks like the Dolphins let Nolan out of his contract due to worries about having to pay him if they kept him now and then the new head coach decided not to keep him, so no draft pick compensation or anything like that will be needed. That's not normal for a non-head coach anyway so the chances were slim but some were talking about it since we were so high on Nolan.

[jy23]

I like the nolan hire but the oc worries me deep down in my spirit....I can't remember the last time the jags had a good offense, maybe that's bc if the quarterback but who knows...hopefully he's a pleasant surprise. Our defense was so vanilla last year, hopefully nolan mixes things up n gets everything possible out of our players

[Bawse]

Glad to see Nolan come here, this was much needed and who i'd hope we'd sign.

Teach us how to play D, swaggtastic

[frosgrim]

In another development the Falcons also canned the O-line coach. This is a very good move as the line was getting worse instead of better. It looks like the Falcons are going to revamp both lines to the extent possible. Clabo may finally be moved to guard where I think he's a better fit. And, maybe, they finally will get rid of McClure (please).

Oh, Nolan= very good hire. A hybrid 3-4 is going to be fun to watch. The Patriots did successfully of that a few years ago

Kuetter= ugh. I'll wait and see as he had nothing to work with in Jax for the past few years. The biggest thing he needs to do is get Ryan to be more of a risk taker.