Prior to the start of the 2017 season, Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn felt like the NFC South Division was loaded with top-end talent that would make weekly matchups challenging and fun at the very same time, and he was not disappointed.
The New Orleans Saints (11-5) and Carolina Panthers (11-5) finished at the top of the NFC South with the Saints winning the division and getting a home playoff game against the Panthers thanks to a tiebreaker, while the Falcons (10-6) advanced to the Divisional Round after overcoming some midseason lulls.
And Quinn is expecting another challenging year within the NFC South Division in 2018.
“I had a sense that this was going to be a hell of a division all the way back to last offseason,” Quinn said at the 2018 NFL Scouting Combine. “I sense that again. It’s the quarterback play. It’s the toughness of the defenses. It’s the way guys feature them. I said it when we played New Orleans, ‘If you like running backs, this is going to be your kind of game,’ and we weren’t even talking about Drew Brees and Matt Ryan at that time. How crazy is that?
“It’s a hell of a division, and one that you know every week, when you’re playing these division games, you know it’s going to be a battle. It’s one of the really cool things about being in a division like that. You better bring it, and that’s going to be that way again in ’18.”
When Quinn is preparing for a game within the NFC South Division, he loves watching and breaking down individual matchups and finding ways for his talent-laden lineup to exploit gaps in opposing defenses while working to take away the strengths of the opponents.
“When you see guys battle at all spots, deep down as a coach, you really appreciate those,” Quinn said. “Some of them don’t show up on a stat sheet. Some of them are at offensive tackle and defensive end. Some are at wideout and corner. Some are at quarterback against a certain coverage or a certain scheme.
“Those moments, as a player, are a lot of fun. This division is loaded with matchups. It’s linebackers on running backs. It’s corners on receivers, so it’s pretty cool to see those, and you better have your eye out to say, ‘In this game, how are we going to deal with this player and make sure he doesn’t affect the game in such a way that we don’t have control over that?’”
Tight end Austin Hooper is one of those players Quinn will look to for extended productivity in 2018.
During his second season out of Stanford University, Hooper finished the year third on the Falcons with 49 catches for 526 yards and three touchdowns. The three receiving scores were tied for the second-most on the team.
“We’re really pumped about what Austin can do,” Quinn said. “He played a good snap count this year, I believe, with 49 catches. He’s got athleticism. He’s a good matchup getting on the safeties, and kind of the fun thing about being one of the features in our offense is there’s a number of guys that are real weapons.
“He comes through in all occasions for us. We love what he stands for as a ballplayer, as a man, and he’s a real important piece to what we do.”
