The Atlanta Falcons defense bears some resemblance to the Seattle Seahawks defense. The comparison isn’t too surprising because Falcons coach Dan Quinn was the defensive coordinator for the Seahawks before coming to Atlanta.
Quinn has guided the Falcons to Sunday’s Super Bowl 51 against the New England Patriots after just two seasons as head coach. He credited Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll for helping him during his career.
“Pete has given me great advice. Someone once asked me, what’s one thing you could take from there. I said I couldn’t take one thing, but it would be a real model of how you could do it,” Quinn told reporters Tuesday. “At the end he said, ‘Hey man, Q, let it rip in your own way.’ And I always remember that topic from him, because I think that is true.”
There are some similarities between the Falcons defense and the Seahawks defense. The emphasis on team speed – Patriots coach Bill Belichick said the Falcons defense is very fast – and Atlanta strong safety Keanu Neal’s role in the defense is very similar to Seattle Kam Chancellor.
Quinn, the Seahawks defense coordinator during their run to back-to-back Super Bowls in 2014 and 2015, has probably adopted some of the schemes and tactics from the Seahawks, but he’s had to adjust to the personnel on the Falcons.
The Seahawks defense has been one of the best in the NFL for the past five seasons. The Falcons defense Betpas is young and a work in progress.
“I never wanted to make Atlanta Seattle East or anything like that, I want to make our own Atlanta and that was really important to me,” Quinn said. “So our own philosophy, our own way, our own style of how we do it.”
— Geoffrey C. Arnold | @geoffreyCarnold
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