Dan Quinn is the luckiest Atlanta Falcons of them all
By Ross Terrell
Dan Quinn may be the luckiest man in the Atlanta Falcons organization.
That’s one of the few positives to come from a potentially shortened and unprecedented Atlanta Falcons season.
The Atlanta Falcons started 1-7 last year and going into the bye week, just about every Falcons fan in Atlanta and across the country was calling for Quinn’s job. We know with this roster, there was no excuse to be on the verge of back to back losing seasons – especially after signing Julio Jones to a fat deal in the offseason.
But Arthur Blank gave Quinn a vote of confidence after the team finished 6-2 to end the year and ripped off four straight wins, with one coming against the eventual NFC Champion 49ers.
That’s great, but Quinn knows, as does everyone else, he was only guaranteed one more shot at this. And if this season went downhill, he could find himself as a mid-season casualty. In fact, his coaching seat might be the hottest in the NFL.
Hence why Quinn is a lucky guy. This current uncertainty around how and if the season will be played just bought him at least one more year. Knowing Blank’s generosity in handing out contracts and giving this head coach another year, there’s no way Blank will blame Quinn if the team struggles this season. And truly, how could you?
They are counting on rookies at key positions, there is no preseason, fans might not even be allowed at games, and some key players could end up sidelined due to COVID-19. That’s asking Quinn and his staff to overcome a lot. And we’ve seen from experience how he performs when there’s too much on his plate. Just look at last year when he tried to call the defensive plays and be the head coach on game day.
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So somewhere, through all of this DQ is smiling knowing he gets a mulligan this year to try to work things out and see if he still has what it takes to lead this team. And if anyone can find something positive through this pandemic, it’s him because it bought him at least one more year as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons… for better or for worse.