Dan Quinn is "so fired up" to be the Atlanta Falcons coach.
Those were the first words the new leader said Tuesday in a news conference just two days after losing in the Super Bowl as the defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks.
Quinn repeated an apparent mantra that he wants the Falcons to play aggressive, "fast and physical."
"For us to play that style, we won't have 1,000 different defenses," he said. "What we will do is not necessarily what we play (but) is how we play it. That style will be real clear to come across in terms of the style and the attitude that we play. We'll try to best feature the players that we have, and that's one of the real things I'm looking forward to getting started with now is to better learn these guys here, and so we can now best feature them in the best way."
The fast and physical refrain reminds us of Mike Smith's focus on bringing toughness to the team last summer. However, we believe that during the last two seasons in Seattle, Quinn has displayed the type of character traits, play-calling and moxie to make the necessary transformations in Atlanta.
"The biggest thing for us is affecting the quarterback, and that may be the hits on him, the times we can move him off the spot. The third-down sacks are critical ones, 'cause that's getting off the field. For us, the biggest thing is affecting the quarterback, maybe by the way we rush, maybe by the way we pressure, maybe by the way we cover or combination of all of those. But affecting him is the No. 1 thing."
First the coach needs to import some pass rushers to accomplish that goal.
Some other nuggets from Quinn's introductory news conference:
- The 44-year-old said he will be involved in the defensive game planning but has yet to decide whether he will call defensive plays.
- Quinn announced Kyle Shanahan as his offensive coordinator, praising the former Browns OC as "unique" and tough to face as a defensive coordinator.
- The Falcons also announced Richard Smith as his defensive coordinator, Raheem Morris as assistant head coach and defensive passing game coordinator and Keith Armstrong as special teams coordinator.
- Owner Arthur Blank announced that general manager Thomas Dimitroff has final say over free agency and draft picks. Scott Pioli still reports to Dimitroff. Quinn will have final say over the 53-man roster.
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