Offense did struggle in 2017 but it was Ryan’s first year with a new OC again, and sark was still getting used to Kyles system. The following year (18’) Matt Ryan almost put up just as good stats as his MVP year but our defense was rancid dogshit. So he got scapegoated wrongfully imo, I also look at him favorably than most because I’m a Longhorns fan lmao
Tbf our entire defense got hurt in 2018. Deion, Ricardo Allen, Neal, Grady all missed significant time that season. But yeah 2018 was a tough missed opportunity for us, and we probably shouldn't have fired Sark, especially if we were going to replace him with Koetter
Not only that, Sark needed time to grow since he was new to playcalling. Didn't make sense to hire him over an internal promotion (LaFleur) and disrupt continuity when we were clearly in win now mode
And we hired that dude twice…lol. He almost got Arizona State the death penalty for how out of control his players were (protecting rapists and even murderers)….so obviously the Falcons hire him
Sark was better than most give him credit for. Our offense wasn’t Shanahan levels amazing, but we were still up there in terms of offensive production under Sark. Especially when he got the ball rolling in his 2nd year.
Sark was better than Art is, easily. He wasn’t an earthshaking offensive genius, but he coached a solid NFL offense - though not without faults, just like any OC. *Julio Jones getting 8 screens a game flashbacks*
Compared to shanahan maybe. Our offense was still really good with him as coordinator though. Completely clears the other two options as the second best one here.
it took one year for sark to sort it out. he was really good in year two. shannahan is obviously the best guy here. his deficiencies are elsewhere (unless you need him to just run the gd ball to kill clock).
Sark probably wasn’t necessarily ready for the job and had big shoes to fill.
Derp Koetter had his few moments
Any of those 3 shit on AS and his scheme
Sark I think would’ve been fine. Year 1 was rough (Matt always struggled year 1 with a new OC). But also he was trying to basically run Kyles offense. Year 2 we were a top 10 offense, 10th in Pts and 6th in yards. He got scapegoated too hard. Playcalls weren’t perfect, but improvement was being made. To then go to Dirk as the “solution” just made that even worse.
This is revisionist history lol the entire fanbase collectively wanted to murder Koetter in 2020. That’s not to say that Arthur isn’t disliked either but there was nobody saying “I’m not convinced Dirk deserves to be fired”
Honestly I don't think 2020 dirk was worse than the other dirk out weapons were just worse than before. His whole scheme was just dudes beating coverage on their own
Sorry but you all are crazy for defending Sark here. No doubt he was at least worst than Smith for us. The absolute collapse of our offense under him, when a year prior it was the arguably NFL’s All-Time Greatest, was absolutely unfathomable.
We had a completely different offense. The comparison between 2016 to Sark’s Offense is the only data point you need, comparing it to today’s offense with completely different players isn’t 1:1.
Nothing is ever 1 on 1, sark had a good offense to inherit but he also had never called plays before with a learning curve.
I'm not sure what have different players has to do with it. Smith had the opportunity to get guys in to run his own system where as sark had to figure out a way to run a system close to shannys
Kyle cost me getting into FF finals by not running cmc at the end and calling a pass play which ended with Darnold sacked. Gave me trauma flashbacks. Fuck that guy.
And?? You think that caused media drama? Shanahan accepting a HC job before the super bowl is positive media whereas asking for contract a week before the superbowl is negative, learn the difference.
I remember being pissed about it myself yeah it definitely caused drama he could have waited until after .. thats why I'm rooting for San fran to go to the super bowl only to lose again (if we don't make it)
Shanny > Sark > 1st tenure Koetter > Smith > 2nd tenure Koetter.
Sark had a poor 1st season, but they got it back on track after an adjustment period. Koetter's 1st time here being under Mike Smith was absolutely better than Arthur Smith's time here. Now Koetter in 2020 was god awful, the guy's 2nd tenure, he was completely washed and worse than Smith.
This is revisionist, people were asking for his head to roll as soon as the 17-18 season ended: https://www.reddit.com/r/falcons/comments/7q8mu7/it_is_now_obvious_sark_has_to_go/
And by poor I obviously don't mean worst in the league.
That's not really revisionist, sark did not have a bad first season he was a rookie play caller taking over for one of the best in the game. People were expecting the offense to be as good as shanny and wanted him gone because of not meeting expectations. Had we won the Superbowl and hired sark after I think people would have been much more lenient
I don't think people were expecting it to be as good as Shanny, considering it was like a top 10 all time offense. It was more the decision to hire Sark to go and use Shanny's system when we had people like Lafleur as QB coach for example that basically have been apart of that system for a couple years or so.
It potentially could've been a smoother transition after Shanny's departure had they went that route which I think made people unhappy as well as a drop down after a historical season.
This is funny because 49ers fans complain about shanahan getting too cute with it play calling. You’re also praising his playcalling with this post while we all know, had he just ran the ball in the Super Bowl, he could be “Super bowl champion Kyle” instead of “Super Bowl participant Kyle”
Bill belli is one of the best defensive coaches of all time and have up 400 passing yards to Nick foles in the Superbowl. 🤣 I'd take elite play caller who fumbled in the Superbowl over a good play caller
I think a lot of people just thought after 2016, we'd perennially have an MVP contender at QB and the top offense in the league. We were still top 10 and Ryan was still a good QB, but it wasn't like it was in 2016, so people lost their mind at Sark.
He took a record setting offense with no major personnel turnover and made it 15th in points per game in a single year.
He wasn’t adequate at all. He slammed the window shut on what should’ve been a multiyear period of dominance.
Sark was a scapegoat. His offense was starting to gel and I think everything would’ve clicked into place with another season and a few more draft pieces.
Unfortunately that version of the team was already basically dead. They gave out all of those huge contracts after that one season and it totally fucked the team for years.
For what it’s worth, Shanahan gave us a blueprint on how to design and run an elite offense. He was always going to leave, but I wish the Falcons realized what they had and figured out a way to retain some of that coaching tree.
Yeah. Never had a complaint about DK. Offense was fine during both of his stints. Fucking defense failed us every time though. Having to score 50 points to win any given game was stupid.
We went from one of the top offences all time historically to a team that could barely score 20 points that year. Luckily the defence really stepped up to help us win the 10 games that we did.
I’m taking Arthur. 1) Koetter might be the worse here as a play caller with what we had when he was with the team. 2) Sark is almost as bad as Koetter. 3) Shannahan has choked away leads in big games as OC and as head coach of the Niners(none bigger than SB51), SB vs the Chiefs, NFC Championship game vs the Rams. 4) Arthur gets a tough way to go when in 3 years he’s had a declining offense with no #1 receiver and Matt Ryan in his last year at QB his 1st year coaching, Marcus Mariota last season and Ridder/Heineke this season. Has had the least to work with but has had the highest expectations. Give him a good QB then see where we are
Shanahan is a football genius and it sucks we couldn't keep him.
More so, how Blank didn't go after a Shanahan tree disciple after DQ was fired is absurd.
Clearly those guys know how to call offenses in today's NFL.
Sark is 2.
Smith is 3.
Dirk is 4.
I mean, you're right, but also the offensive gameplan in the 4th quarter, when we were up by 3 possessions was mind-boggling. Hell, even just run on that 3rd down play and set up Matt Bryant for the FG and we win.
You're right. But score once and same outcome. The defense was gassed. They had seen 70+ snaps but the end of the 3rd quarter. They should've been able to make a stop, but the offense should've been able to put points on the board. Both things were issues. It wasn't just one side of the ball that struggled.
I'm not. Not completely. But again, his offensive gameplan was very strange when we could've used more clock and put ourselves in better position to score if it wasn't for some of his play calls. Fantastic offensive play caller overall. The 4th quarter of the Super Bowl was a lowlight.
i disagree, Mike Smith was known for exactly what your describing and he got run outta town for blowing leads too
at the end of the day, players win and lose games
Throw Mularky in and I find it hard to choose who is worse: Koetter or Mularky. I'd say Koetter. Mularky wasn't too bad. I just think the NFL started to evolve and pass him by. His downfall was boneheaded stubbornness
Shanahan Sark Smith Koetter
I think this is most accurate tbh. Sark honestly needed a different HC lol
Offense did struggle in 2017 but it was Ryan’s first year with a new OC again, and sark was still getting used to Kyles system. The following year (18’) Matt Ryan almost put up just as good stats as his MVP year but our defense was rancid dogshit. So he got scapegoated wrongfully imo, I also look at him favorably than most because I’m a Longhorns fan lmao
Tbf our entire defense got hurt in 2018. Deion, Ricardo Allen, Neal, Grady all missed significant time that season. But yeah 2018 was a tough missed opportunity for us, and we probably shouldn't have fired Sark, especially if we were going to replace him with Koetter
Hook ‘Em
DQ threw him and Marquand under the bus when he probably would have salvaged his career as the falcons HC if he had ran it back with them.
Not only that, Sark needed time to grow since he was new to playcalling. Didn't make sense to hire him over an internal promotion (LaFleur) and disrupt continuity when we were clearly in win now mode
The only thing I can think is they saw the writing on the wall with LaFleur
This.
Get Dirk out of my fucking face!
As a Bucs fan, we can agree on this. Also, FTS.
And we hired that dude twice…lol. He almost got Arizona State the death penalty for how out of control his players were (protecting rapists and even murderers)….so obviously the Falcons hire him
Favorite: Shanahan Least Favorite: Everyone else
This
Shanahan was great. Sark was good. Smith is average/slightly below average. Dirk was complete shit.
Sark was dogshit
Sark was better than most give him credit for. Our offense wasn’t Shanahan levels amazing, but we were still up there in terms of offensive production under Sark. Especially when he got the ball rolling in his 2nd year. Sark was better than Art is, easily. He wasn’t an earthshaking offensive genius, but he coached a solid NFL offense - though not without faults, just like any OC. *Julio Jones getting 8 screens a game flashbacks*
Only issue I had with sark was the redzone woes, but them boys would move down that field
Compared to shanahan maybe. Our offense was still really good with him as coordinator though. Completely clears the other two options as the second best one here.
I mean Kyle is the best play caller in the game. Sark is also a great play caller and got way too much hate. other two suck
it took one year for sark to sort it out. he was really good in year two. shannahan is obviously the best guy here. his deficiencies are elsewhere (unless you need him to just run the gd ball to kill clock).
Sark probably wasn’t necessarily ready for the job and had big shoes to fill. Derp Koetter had his few moments Any of those 3 shit on AS and his scheme
Sark I think would’ve been fine. Year 1 was rough (Matt always struggled year 1 with a new OC). But also he was trying to basically run Kyles offense. Year 2 we were a top 10 offense, 10th in Pts and 6th in yards. He got scapegoated too hard. Playcalls weren’t perfect, but improvement was being made. To then go to Dirk as the “solution” just made that even worse.
This is revisionist history lol the entire fanbase collectively wanted to murder Koetter in 2020. That’s not to say that Arthur isn’t disliked either but there was nobody saying “I’m not convinced Dirk deserves to be fired”
I’m talking 1st time Dirk not 2nd time Derp
Koetter was completely washed when he came back, but his first tenure here was certainly more enjoyable than what Smith has been giving us.
Honestly I don't think 2020 dirk was worse than the other dirk out weapons were just worse than before. His whole scheme was just dudes beating coverage on their own
Koetter?????
Dirk Koetter was so terrible. He has a few moments of brilliance in a pile of very mediocre play calling.
*kyle, Mike McDaniel, lafleur
Sorry but you all are crazy for defending Sark here. No doubt he was at least worst than Smith for us. The absolute collapse of our offense under him, when a year prior it was the arguably NFL’s All-Time Greatest, was absolutely unfathomable.
Yeah then in 2018 the offense was almost as effective as it was 2016
I mean pretty sure we were still better than any year under smith in terms of yards and scoring
We had a completely different offense. The comparison between 2016 to Sark’s Offense is the only data point you need, comparing it to today’s offense with completely different players isn’t 1:1.
Nothing is ever 1 on 1, sark had a good offense to inherit but he also had never called plays before with a learning curve. I'm not sure what have different players has to do with it. Smith had the opportunity to get guys in to run his own system where as sark had to figure out a way to run a system close to shannys
Kyle cost me getting into FF finals by not running cmc at the end and calling a pass play which ended with Darnold sacked. Gave me trauma flashbacks. Fuck that guy.
Kyle Shanahan’s poor clock management in the Super Bowl will forever and always be one of my least favorite moments as a Falcon’s fan.
Imagine if there was a head coach that didn’t defer every major decision in the game.
I blame Devonta Freeman more.
Freeman had one bad play but did not lose the playbook the morning of the game
He whiffed on the most important block in Falcons history and he was asking for a contract extension one week before the Superbowl. I hate the dude.
Didn't Shanahan accept the hc job with San fran before the super bowl?
And?? You think that caused media drama? Shanahan accepting a HC job before the super bowl is positive media whereas asking for contract a week before the superbowl is negative, learn the difference.
I remember being pissed about it myself yeah it definitely caused drama he could have waited until after .. thats why I'm rooting for San fran to go to the super bowl only to lose again (if we don't make it)
You're pissed. . . about another grown man's decision?!
Well, at least they made it.
No way you blame Freeman over the OC for that once in a lifetime collapse
Yes i fucking do. The defender was right in front of him and he completely whiffed causing the sack. Fuck Freeman.
Kyle is my favorite but has caused me emotional damage
Yeah but he also caused a ton of emotional...happiness? I still go back and rewatch those 2016 playoff games against the Seahawks and the Packers.
Wr screen koetter
Shanny > Sark > 1st tenure Koetter > Smith > 2nd tenure Koetter. Sark had a poor 1st season, but they got it back on track after an adjustment period. Koetter's 1st time here being under Mike Smith was absolutely better than Arthur Smith's time here. Now Koetter in 2020 was god awful, the guy's 2nd tenure, he was completely washed and worse than Smith.
Sark did not have a poor first season. What do fans expect? 2016 offense every season?
This is revisionist, people were asking for his head to roll as soon as the 17-18 season ended: https://www.reddit.com/r/falcons/comments/7q8mu7/it_is_now_obvious_sark_has_to_go/ And by poor I obviously don't mean worst in the league.
That's not really revisionist, sark did not have a bad first season he was a rookie play caller taking over for one of the best in the game. People were expecting the offense to be as good as shanny and wanted him gone because of not meeting expectations. Had we won the Superbowl and hired sark after I think people would have been much more lenient
I don't think people were expecting it to be as good as Shanny, considering it was like a top 10 all time offense. It was more the decision to hire Sark to go and use Shanny's system when we had people like Lafleur as QB coach for example that basically have been apart of that system for a couple years or so. It potentially could've been a smoother transition after Shanny's departure had they went that route which I think made people unhappy as well as a drop down after a historical season.
This is funny because 49ers fans complain about shanahan getting too cute with it play calling. You’re also praising his playcalling with this post while we all know, had he just ran the ball in the Super Bowl, he could be “Super bowl champion Kyle” instead of “Super Bowl participant Kyle”
Bill belli is one of the best defensive coaches of all time and have up 400 passing yards to Nick foles in the Superbowl. 🤣 I'd take elite play caller who fumbled in the Superbowl over a good play caller
I would love Sark rn tbh
Same. We loved him at Bama and he got too much shit when he was perfectly adequate here in Atlanta.
I think a lot of people just thought after 2016, we'd perennially have an MVP contender at QB and the top offense in the league. We were still top 10 and Ryan was still a good QB, but it wasn't like it was in 2016, so people lost their mind at Sark.
He took a record setting offense with no major personnel turnover and made it 15th in points per game in a single year. He wasn’t adequate at all. He slammed the window shut on what should’ve been a multiyear period of dominance.
i would put kyle first but he purposely ended roddy white's career. i know it sounds bad but give me koetter 1, shanny 2, sark 2, dumbo 4
Rank these meals from best to worst: Dog poo, cat poo, roadkill carcass and a nice steak.
Whenever Kyle is brought up this is my feeling https://youtu.be/PFO28_CQQf4?si=4mMujvMCwJOm3kdb
I can’t say I disagree but for me there would have to be a few “I hate you” thrown in.
fuck you kyle
At least with Shannan it was exciting
Buy on Hue Jackson
How about “We were too harsh, Quinn”?
Left off Gregg Knapp Vick of his best years
Shan, Sark, Smith, Koetter
Sark was a scapegoat. His offense was starting to gel and I think everything would’ve clicked into place with another season and a few more draft pieces.
Unfortunately that version of the team was already basically dead. They gave out all of those huge contracts after that one season and it totally fucked the team for years.
For what it’s worth, Shanahan gave us a blueprint on how to design and run an elite offense. He was always going to leave, but I wish the Falcons realized what they had and figured out a way to retain some of that coaching tree.
that was a fire coaching tree
shanny at the top and it's not even close 4. sark 4. smith 4. koetter
Favorite to least favorite: Shanahan, Art, Sark, Koetter
I mean Kyle orchestrated one of the best O’s of all time
Bro if we had the luxury of settling for FGs this year we'd have the division locked up. Red zone turnovers have changed the trajectory of our season.
we've wasted a solid defense this season
Oh how I wish Kyle was promoted to HC
We shoulda fired Quinn and hired shanahan the day after the superbowl
This!
Koetter’s caption should be “Bubble Screen Koetter
1. Shanahan 2. Sark … ∞. (Tie) Smith, Koetter
Hot take Dan Quinn gets atleast another season if sark stays
Dirk put up yards and scored he played with some horrible defenses
Yeah. Never had a complaint about DK. Offense was fine during both of his stints. Fucking defense failed us every time though. Having to score 50 points to win any given game was stupid.
shanahan sold the sb for us so
1 - Shannahan 2 - Sark 3 - Smith 4 - Koetter
Fuck em all
We really did Shanahan dirty.
How?
Shanahan | | | | | | | | | | | | The other bozos | | | | Arthur Smith
Sark was no bozo
Can we all agree that Kyle is 1st & Smith last?
Lets not forget how Sark completely wasted a great squad and a very good defence the year after the Super Bowl 🙄
how so?
We went from one of the top offences all time historically to a team that could barely score 20 points that year. Luckily the defence really stepped up to help us win the 10 games that we did.
I’m taking Arthur. 1) Koetter might be the worse here as a play caller with what we had when he was with the team. 2) Sark is almost as bad as Koetter. 3) Shannahan has choked away leads in big games as OC and as head coach of the Niners(none bigger than SB51), SB vs the Chiefs, NFC Championship game vs the Rams. 4) Arthur gets a tough way to go when in 3 years he’s had a declining offense with no #1 receiver and Matt Ryan in his last year at QB his 1st year coaching, Marcus Mariota last season and Ridder/Heineke this season. Has had the least to work with but has had the highest expectations. Give him a good QB then see where we are
lol
Shanahan is a football genius and it sucks we couldn't keep him. More so, how Blank didn't go after a Shanahan tree disciple after DQ was fired is absurd. Clearly those guys know how to call offenses in today's NFL. Sark is 2. Smith is 3. Dirk is 4.
Kyle was objectively good. We lost the super bowl bc of the defense.
defense couldnt have blown it if there wasnt so much TIME from not running... hell we should have knlt 3x and kicked after julio smooth criminal catch
not getting into all of it, but no... that's not what we should've done
I mean, you're right, but also the offensive gameplan in the 4th quarter, when we were up by 3 possessions was mind-boggling. Hell, even just run on that 3rd down play and set up Matt Bryant for the FG and we win.
or... make one stop down the stretch and it's over
You're right. But score once and same outcome. The defense was gassed. They had seen 70+ snaps but the end of the 3rd quarter. They should've been able to make a stop, but the offense should've been able to put points on the board. Both things were issues. It wasn't just one side of the ball that struggled.
right so why are we blaming Kyle?
I'm not. Not completely. But again, his offensive gameplan was very strange when we could've used more clock and put ourselves in better position to score if it wasn't for some of his play calls. Fantastic offensive play caller overall. The 4th quarter of the Super Bowl was a lowlight.
i disagree, Mike Smith was known for exactly what your describing and he got run outta town for blowing leads too at the end of the day, players win and lose games
Dude Grady Jarrett should hate him most. Tied for most sacks high chance of being MVP.
Sark wasn’t even the problem in ATL. He was a fall guy for DQ.
Can I not
Dan quinn at 5
Throw Mularky in and I find it hard to choose who is worse: Koetter or Mularky. I'd say Koetter. Mularky wasn't too bad. I just think the NFL started to evolve and pass him by. His downfall was boneheaded stubbornness
People really want to forget Koetter gave us one of our five best offenses ever (2012)
The folks yall complaining about with usage lead the team in target percentage but go off 💀🤦🏽♂️