Atlanta Falcons hire Dirk Koetter to offensive coordinator
role - NFL News Update
The Atlanta Falcons have started the rebuilding phase for the 2012 National Football League (NFL) regular season after they were knocked out of the playoff wildcard round by the New York Giants.
Falcons, who lost both their offensive coordinator, Mike Mularkey, and defensive coordinator, Brian VanGorder, who moved on to new jobs after the Falcons were knocked out, have announced on Sunday, January 15, that Dirk Koetter will be taking over the role
of offensive coordinator at the franchise.
Koetter, who was the offensive coordinator at the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the franchise after Mularkey left the Falcons to become the head coach with the Jaguars.
Atlanta's coach, Mike Smith, welcomed the new addition to his coaching staff in a statement on the franchise’s official website and seemed excited by the prospect of working with Koetter in the new season.
“I am very pleased to add Coach Koetter as our offensive coordinator”, head coach, Mike Smith, said.
“Dirk is a veteran offensive coach who will bring years of NFL experience as an offensive coordinator as well as 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. 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”.
The Falcons had a good regular season, qualifying for the second time in three years for the playoff rounds, but as before, failed to progress beyond the first game in the postseason.
In 2010, Falcons qualified directly to the division rounds after winning the National Football Conference (NFC) South championship, but were overcome easily by the Green Bay Packers who went on to lift the Super Bowl championship.
The Falcons were 10-6 in 2011, but came up short all the time against some of the better teams in the league. That case was evident in their 24-2 playoff defeat against the New York Giants.
The Falcons' offence was completely shut-out and they failed to score a single touchdown, with their only points coming from a safety, earlier in the game.
Falcons’ fans will not be too excited to hear the news however, since Koetter coached the Jaguars' offence, and the Jacksonville-based franchise ranked near the bottom of the National Football League (NFL) offensive rankings.
Jaguars had a weak 2011 season as their first round rookie quarterback, Blaine Gabbert, failed to show his talent in the professional league, passing for only 12 touchdowns while throwing 11 interceptions.
With Brian VanGorder moving to Auburn University to take up the role of defensive coordinator, the Falcons will now turn their attention to the vacant defensive coordinator spot.
The Falcons may well stick to taking on Jacksonville Jaguars' cast offs in the coaching role as the name of ex-Jaguars' head coach, Jack Del Rio, has been rumoured to be in the running for the defensive coordinator role.
Tags: