Maurice Jones | Atlanta Falcons Tickets

Falcons Hire Koetter From Jags to Head Offense

The Falcons announced the hire on Sunday. ESPN first reported the move.

Mularkey, whose Falcons offense was shut out in a 24-2 playoff loss to the New York Giants last week, was introduced as Jacksonville’s coach on Wednesday. He hired former Falcons quarterbacks coach Bob Bratkowski to be his offensive coordinator.

The Falcons hired Koetter despite the Jaguars ranking last in the league in total offense and yards passing in 2011. Koetter’s offense ranked 29th with its average of 15.2 points per game.

Koetter was hired as Jacksonville’s offensive coordinator in 2007. He worked with Falcons coach Mike Smith for one year. Smith was the Jaguars’ defensive coordinator before he became Atlanta’s head coach in 2008.

Smith said Koetter will bring “a fresh set of ideas to our offense.”

“He is bright, he understands the intricacies of the vertical passing game, but he also wants to be able to run the football which is very important in the NFL,” Smith said. “I look forward to working with Dirk and have tremendous confidence that he will be a great addition to our team and our coaching staff.”

Smith has emphasized a run-first philosophy with Atlanta.

After the Jaguars fired Jack Del Rio this season, interim coach Mel Tucker assigned Koetter the additional role of quarterbacks coach for the final five games of the season.

Jacksonville rookie quarterback Blaine Gabbert and Luke McCown combined for 12 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions. The Jaguars’ strength was their running game. Maurice Jones-Drew led the NFL with 1,606 yards rushing.

The Falcons lost both coordinators after the season. The team is still looking to replace defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, who moved back to the college ranks to head Auburn’s defense.

Koetter, 52, was a combined 66-44 as the head coach at Boise State (1998 to 2000) and Arizona State (2001-06).

With Atlanta, Koetter inherits an offense blessed with established starters such as quarterback Matt Ryan, running back Michael Turner, tight end Tony Gonzalez and receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones. With the exception of Jones, who was a breakout rookie in 2011, all those playmakers, plus fullback Ovie Mughelli, have been Pro Bowl selections.

Despite the wealth of talent, the offense was a disappointment as the team suffered its third straight playoff loss in its four years with Smith.

As part of their 2011 draft-day trade with Cleveland to move up in the first round and make Jones the No. 6 overall pick, the Falcons sent the Browns their 2012 first- and fourth-round picks.

That trade leaves the Falcons fewer draft picks this year to address problem areas on the offense, including on the offensive line.

A phone message was left seeking comment from Koetter.

Michael Turner, Falcons Back, Still Shoulders Load

“I’m from Chicago,” Turner said with a grin. “I’ve played in some weather before. Finesse? Give me a break.”

The Falcons (10-6) have been nothing close to a finesse team in the four years Turner has played in Atlanta, including this season, when the team mixed into its scheme the fascinating and fast rookie wide receiver Julio Jones. There were assumptions that the Falcons were going to change their identity as a one-cut, downhill-run team when they acquired Jones, an all-American from Alabama, but Turner is still the 247-pound billboard of the Falcons’ offense.

Despite dealing with a groin strain, Turner carried the ball 301 times this season, second in the league to Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew (343). Because of Turner, who rushed for 1,340 yards this season, the Falcons have a varied offense that does not have to put every game in the hands of quarterback Matt Ryan.

“To me that has been the most misrepresented statement about us, that we lost our identity,” said Thomas Dimitroff, Atlanta’s general manager, who signed Turner to a six-year contract in 2008. “I started hearing that earlier in the season. We never lost our identity. We are based around a strong running game. We have always talked about working down the middle of the field. When we acquired Julio, we never had plans to go away from having Michael run the rock.”

Turner, who averaged 4.5 yards per carry this season, has run the ball more than 300 times in three of the four seasons he has been in Atlanta. Only Tennessee’s Chris Johnson (5,645) and Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson (5,411) have more rushing yards in the last four seasons than Turner (5,281).

When Turner went five consecutive games without a 100-yard game in the second half of this season, some theorized that he was wearing down and that maybe the Falcons needed to develop a more fancy offense. Turner is 29 and spent four years in San Diego (2004 to 2007) as a backup to LaDainian Tomlinson. Punishing blows make a short shelf life for an running back, and this is Turner’s eighth season.

“I’m not wearing down,” he said. “We just lost some of our chemistry there for a few games. It fell off a little bit; hopefully we have our consistency back.”

Ovie Mughelli, a Pro Bowl fullback in 2010, was placed on injured reserve Oct. 25 with a knee injury and the Falcons lost some traction in their run game. They seemed to reconstitute the running game last Sunday against Tampa Bay, when Turner ran for 172 yards, albeit against a team that lost its last 10 games of the season.

“It was great to see Michael Turner get back on track,” Coach Mike Smith said. “We knew that our run game had been trending down over the last four or five weeks. It was something that we looked at very closely.”

The Falcons put Turner on a routine in which he was not practicing Wednesdays and Thursdays, and he looked fresh against the Bucs. He dashed 81 yards for a score, and defenders tried to avoid head-on collisions on his way down the field.

Turner is the essence of the Falcons because they are designed to be a fourth-quarter team. They want to run the ball and limit possessions, keeping the score down, and to chew up a defense. Atlanta has a veteran field-goal kicker, Matt Bryant, so it can win those low-scoring games.

The running game is so effective that the Falcons are also able to use play-action on first down to fake a run and throw a pass. They patiently poke around with the run, and while other teams might want to show off their playbook, the Falcons will come back to successful rushing plays.

The opponents who have been successful against the Atlanta ground game, like Jacksonville, stay in a base front on defense and do not move around. They want to make Turner cut back abruptly and know how to fit against the Falcons’ blocking so they have two tacklers coming straight to the point of attack.

Turner is the antidote to the Giants’ pass rush because his early-down gains can keep the Falcons out of bad situations, like third-and-7s.

“Things have always worked out for me,” Turner said. “I was never worried this season about being that piece, not being that piece. I’m a guy who waits his turn and tries to be part of the team.”

Falcons Running Back Michael Turner Still Shoulders the Load

“I’m from Chicago,” Turner said with a grin. “I’ve played in some weather before. Finesse? Give me a break.”

The Falcons (10-6) have been nothing close to a finesse team in the four years Turner has played in Atlanta, including this season when the team mixed into its scheme the fascinating and fast rookie wide receiver Julio Jones. There were assumptions that the Falcons were going to change their identity as a one-cut, downhill-run team when they acquired Jones, an all-American from Alabama, but Turner is still the 247-pound billboard of the Falcons’ offense.

Turner carried the ball 301 times this season, second in the league to Jacksonville’s Maurice Jones-Drew (343), and that was with Turner dealing with a groin strain. Because of Turner, who rushed for 1,340 yards this season, the Falcons are a complementary offense that does not have to put every game in the hands of quarterback Matt Ryan.

“To me that has been the most misrepresented statement about us, that we lost our identity,” said Thomas Dimitroff, the Atlanta general manager, who signed Turner to a six-year contract in 2008. “I started hearing that earlier in the season. We never lost our identity. We are based around a strong running game. We have always talked about working down the middle of the field. When we acquired Julio we never had plans to go away from having Michael run the rock.”

When Turner went five consecutive games without a 100-yard game in the second half of this season, there was some theorizing that he was wearing down and maybe the Falcons needed to become a more fanciful offense. Turner is 29 years old and had spent four years in San Diego (2004 to 2007) as a backup to LaDainian Tomlinson. There is an understanding that punishing blows make a short shelf life for an running back, and this is Turner’s eighth season.

“I’m not wearing down,” he said. “We just lost some of our chemistry there for a few games. It fell off a little bit; hopefully we have our consistency back.”

Ovie Mughelli, a Pro Bowl fullback in 2010, was placed on injured reserve Oct. 25 with a knee injury and the Falcons lost some traction in their run game. They seemed to convalesce and reconstituted the running game last Sunday against Tampa Bay, when Turner ran for 172 yards, albeit against a team that lost its last 10 games of the season.

The Falcons put Turner on a routine where he was not practicing Wednesdays and Thursdays, and he looked fresh against the Bucs. He dashed 81 yards for a score, and defenders tried to avoid head-on collisions on his way down the field.

Turner is the essence of the Falcons because they are designed to be a fourth-quarter team. They want to run the ball and limit possessions, keeping the score down, and grind on a defense. Atlanta has a veteran field goal kicker, Matt Bryant, so it can win those low-scoring, fourth-quarter games.

The running game is so effective that the Falcons are not afraid to use play-action on first down where they fake a run and pass. They patiently poke around with the run, and while other teams might want to show off their playbook, the Falcons will come back to successful run plays.

The opponents who have been successful against the Atlanta run game, like Jacksonville, stay in a base front on defense and do not move around. They set a vertical edge to make Turner cut back abruptly and know how to fit against the Falcons’ run plays so they have two tacklers coming downhill at the point of attack. Turner is the antidote to the Giants’ pass rush because his early-down runs can keep the Falcons out of bad situations, like third-and-7s.