Dan Quinn won't be making a change at offensive coordinator next season.
Quinn announced Thursday that Steve Sarkisian will return for the 2018 season.
"Placing blame on one person would be wrong in this instance," Quinn said. "...If this was about one person, that decision would've already been made."
Sarkisian has been the punching bag in Atlanta, taking the brunt of the blame from fans and pundits across the country for the Falcons' woes this past season.
With Kyle Shanahan at the OC helm in 2016, quarterback Matt Ryan won the MVP, the Falcons averaged 415.8 yards per game (second in the NFL) and Atlanta made the Super Bowl.
Under Sarkisian in 2017, numbers across the board dropped. Ryan's passer rating went from 117.1 to 91.4. The team averaged 51 yards fewer per game. The Falcons lost in the Divisional Round, largely because of their inability to move the ball on the Philadelphia Eagles and punch in a winning touchdown despite having a first-and-goal from the Eagles' 9-yard line at the end of the game.
Quinn, though, said repeatedly this season the criticism of Sarkisian has been unfair. On Saturday, Quinn told reporters: "There's a lot of things that Sark has brought to our team that we really like in terms of, that could take a long time to go through the different spots. So it's easy to place blame all onto one person. That's a shared responsibility when we don't achieve at the level that we would like to."
Sarkisian will get the opportunity to get the Falcons' offense back to that level in 2018.
