Swap Meet: Falcons, Jaguars Exchange Offensive Coordinators

Here’s a question for Atlanta Falcons fans. How do you improve an offense that was shutout in the playoffs? By hiring the offensive coordinator of the leagues’ last-ranked offense, that’s how.

Or at least that seems to be the reasoning of Atlanta’s management. After “losing” offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Falcons hired the Jaguars former offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter to replace him.

The Jaguars were dead last in offense last season under Koetter averaging 15.2 points and only 259.3 yards-per-game. It seems that if Koetter were such a good hire then the Jaguars would have retained him like they retained their defensive coordinator Mel Tucker but what do they know?

At least Mularkey was somewhat of an upgrade over what the Jaguars had last season, I just don’t see how Koetter is the answer to Atlanta’s offensive woes. I do see how he got hired though.

Koetter was more a hire of familiarity than a move to improve the team. Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith and General Manager Thomas Dimitroff must be really bad at evaluating coaching talent if the only people they can seem to hire are people who have worked in some capacity with Smith.

In the end, this questionable coaching hire could lead to Smith and Dimitroff’s downfall. With both Brian Van Gorder and Mularkey leaving over the past week, the Falcons had a chance to really upgrade their coaching staff and move the team forward in the next few years. Hiring Koetter kills any chance of the Falcons breaking their playoff-loss streak any time soon, no matter who they hire as defensive coordinator.

That is assuming the Falcons make it back to the playoffs. They didn’t exactly charge their way into the post season this year and with teams like the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys set to improve the Falcons may be on the outside looking in next year.

Either way Falcons fans shouldn’t expect much if any improvement from their beloved Falcons next season. There were plenty of deserving coaching prospects out there who would have made a great fit for the Falcons but Atlanta’s management has shown that it is satisfied with the team’s mediocre play.

And although filling the vacancies at both coordinator spots with solid candidates was important, the offensive coordinator hiring was the one where the Falcons needed to make the biggest splash and Atlanta has failed miserably. So miserable to the point where it really doesn’t matter who they hire to coach their defense now.

Let’s just hope that once they do name their new defensive coordinator, his credentials don’t too closely resemble their new offensive coordinator’s resume. If so then we can be sure that Smith has worked with him before and he probably coached the worst defense in the league last year. I’m just saying…

Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Blogger for The Sport Mentalist and also writes for both The Penalty Flag and Outside The Redzone. He can be contacted at RHall_TPFB@Yahoo.com. Follow him on Twitter @Sportmentalist.