Atlanta Falcons: Steve Sarkisian does not equal Kyle Shanahan
One does not simply replace a Kyle Shanahan with a Steve Sarkisian and expect everything to be the same.
While the Falcons will reportedly keep the framework of Shanahan’s offense in place, there is no doubt things are going to look different in 2017 with Sarkisian in charge.
And it’s not all about X’s and O’s, either. Coordinating an offense is just as much about getting into the flow of a game and seeing what opposing defenses are doing. Then attacking those weaknesses, on the fly. This is the aspect of coaching that separates the good from the great.
In his entire career, Sarkisian spent exactly one season coaching at the NFL level. He was the quarterback coach for the Oakland Raiders in 2004 before heading to USC. We have no idea what kind of game plan he’s going to devise or if he’ll be able to help the Falcons come close to achieving what they were able to do last year with Shanahan running things.
In fact, there’s a very real chance Matt Ryan and Co. could suffer a setback similar to the one they suffered in Shanahan’s first year — the setback that had many wondering if Ryan was losing his touch.