The Atlanta Falcons adding Gregg Knapp and shifting passing coordination to Raheem Morris are signs that Steve Sarkisian will be on a short leash in 2018.
Everyone knows that being compared to record-breaking results is often unfair. You step into the director of sales role at your company because the last person killed it and was promoted to Vice President. You take on a teaching assignment when all the especially gifted kids have graduated, the list goes on and on.
Timing is everything and sometimes it isn’t on your side. Enter Steve Sarkisian as the offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons, circa 2017.
Assuming the reins of the NFL’s most potent offense while retaining all the key pieces in terms of personnel had to be daunting. Expectations were extremely high. Those expectations were not met.
Falling a few plays short of a return trip to the Super Bowl in Atlanta would normally be seen as a success…in Atlanta. But not last year. The fan base had been given a taste of the ultimate prize and wanted to have another shot at finishing the job.
When the final second clicked off the clock in Philadelphia, ending the Falcons’ season, someone had to take the bulk of the blame. Rightly or wrongly, the lion’s share fell on Sarkisian. The reality is that the Falcons did drop from the league leader in points scored to around the middle of the pack in the NFL. There was a slight drop in yards gained as well. Changes needed to be made.
Head coach Dan Quinn decided very early after the end of the season that Sarkisian would return for his second year — a move reminiscent of his support for Kyle Shanahan after his struggles in year one. The difference, however, is the moves surrounding the two coaches as we head into year two. While Sarkisian will retain the title of offensive coordinator, he will have a new quarterbacks coach in Greg Knapp.
Knapp is no stranger to Falcons fans having spent a stint there as offensive coordinator in the mid 2000s. He went on to hold that position with two other teams in the NFL as well before spending the last three years as the quarterbacks coach in Denver. Adding someone with that type of experience should be helpful for Sarkisian. But is it meant to only help?
The second domino to fall in the personnel moves was to take Raheem Morris, clearly a staff favorite, who was already coaching the wide receivers and add “passing game coordinator” to his explicit responsibilities.
Why put that in his job title unless you want the word to know that Sarkisian is not running that portion of your offense. Certainly it could just be a way to justify giving a high-profile coach a little bump in salary, but my guess is that the move is more than just window dressing.
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At the end of these moves is a clear signal that Sarkisian is on a very short leash this season. The addition of Calvin Ridley to an already high powered offense will mean even higher expectations for the second-year offensive coordinator. If those expectations are not being met, I’m not sure he will make it to the bye week with his title in tact.