The room is all yours now, Sark. The Falcons’ offense is running on all 11 cylinders, with an almost cruel efficiency. You’ll never have a better chance to crow and strut than this.
So, how ’bout it? Wouldn’t you like to give one little verbal middle finger to every amateur coach out there who was convinced you couldn’t coordinate a two-person carpool let alone an NFL offense?
Falcons offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian smiled earlier this week and resisted every urge. Very pleasantly he said, “No, not at all.
“I’ve said this before, I’ve been in this business for a long enough time now to know that (criticism) comes with the territory. When things are good, people think you’re better than you are. And when things aren’t going great they probably think you’re worse than you are.
“The challenge as a coach and as a player is not to ride the emotional roller coaster of what’s going on outside the building. ... You trust your process, you trust your work, you believe in yourself and believe in the people you have around you and you do the best job you can do. And that hasn’t changed for me.”
With no experience calling plays in the NFL, Sarkisian was hired a season ago to replace Kyle Shanahan, whose work in 2016 led to the best scoring offense in the league (also one of the best in league history) and an MVP award for quarterback Matt Ryan. The headliner left, and here was Sarkisian sent out to perform the encore – an impossible position. Disappointment came standard with that scenario.
Oh, there were transitional pains. The scoring cooled off dramatically, like a fever breaking (from 33.8 points per game in ’16 to 22.1 in 2017). There grew a nasty habit of seizing up near their goal line, which carried over to the first game of this season when the Falcons scored but one touchdown in five trips inside the “red zone.” With the way that game in Philly ended – just like the one that closed out their previous season – it seemed the Falcons had fully incorporated desperation as a part of the playbook. Both games closed with rather clumsy throws in the vicinity of Julio Jones.
Along the way, Sarkisian became the easy and obvious focus of all discontent.
The Sack Sark Movement did nothing but gain speed to start this season. There was all this growing concern that given the many craftsman’s tools of the Falcons offense, Sarkisian was fashioning a leaky lean-to.
But now look at the numbers. Since that game at Philly, the Falcons are ridiculously proficient in the red zone, with 17 touchdowns in 21 visits inside the 20. They rank fifth in scoring (28.5 points per game), and first in that important, drive-extending chore of third-down conversion percentage (53.3).
More than just stats, those kind of numbers represent for Sarkisian a virtual governor’s reprieve.
Such numbers even creep into nickname territory. Welcome, dare we say, to the age of the Sarknado Offense.
Wow, did he get really smart in these past two months.
There might be other factors at play here, too.
They’ll talk about his mental toughness in the face of a fan base taking up pitchforks and torches. Having lived through an embarrassing dismissal at USC, amid the public airing of his alcoholism, Sarkisian has either had to grow some callouses or get another profession.
“I think he probably has more mental toughness than most with some of the situations he’s been through,” coach Dan Quinn said. “So, for him to really stay the course and stay true to the beliefs and know that from a support standpoint, we have his back - I think that was important.”
“I try to pride myself on (being mentally tough),” Sarkisian said. “In this profession you need to be. If you’re not, it can be really hard. And you have to be mentally tough in-game, because things don’t always go the way you want them to go and you have to persevere. I take pride in it and I’m grateful I have that as one of the qualities I can lean on.”
They’ll talk about perspective.
You know that bit about the worst not being as bad as some may think.
Ryan to this day believes Sarkisian and the Falcons’ offense of 2017 were getting a bad rap, and he wouldn’t mind a little historical rewrite.
When asked what he thought was the most unfair criticism his OC faced last season, the quarterback said, “I still think he did a good job last year – that’s probably the biggest (unfair) knock of anything. People forget we were in the playoffs and we won a playoff game against an excellent defense out there (in Los Angeles) last year with him dialing up the plays. Moreso than anything I think that gets undervalued, the success that we had last year.”
Said Ryan’s backup, the most veteran Matt Schaub: “Sark came in having to acclimate with our offense not totally being his, trying to get to know all the guys in the huddle, in the room, what suits their strengths, where to put guys, how to format things. That can be a challenge. That was something we were just working through. I think we did a great job, all things considered.”
They will talk about faith. In the Falcons’ “brotherhood,” they’re always going to get around to that sooner or later.
“We always believed in Sark, and we’ll continue to believe in Sark,” Jones said.
They’ll give credit to the addition this season of Greg Knapp, a former OC, as quarterback coach. The combination of Knapp upstairs and Sarkisian on the field has become formidable.
There’s Knapp’s hands-on work with the quarterbacks. And there is the power of his presence. “He has a wealth of experience in the league, and he’s a great sounding board for me to bounce things off of,” Sarkisian said.
“I think (Knapp’s) influence has been huge,” Schaub said. “Helping him out with game-planning, calling plays on Sunday with certain looks, what to get to. That knowledge base is invaluable when you get to Sunday. I think it’s something that has really helped Sark and give him a lot of confidence to call a game the way he would like to because he’s got someone keeping him going, giving him the right information on Sunday.”
And they will talk about the growth that just naturally should occur over a year. Familiarity should breed improvement. There’s supposed to be a jump in the second season (see Shanahan as an example). If not, then you’ve got real problems.
“He was in a new position. He had a new crew, and he just had to feel us out and call plays. You can’t just go out there and play Madden,” Jones said. “Football is a rhythm thing, and you got to get your players to go out and play for you and feel confident in situations.”
There were big adjustments – to personnel and personality, play-calling language, the demands of a higher league. And little ones that might never occur to the distant observer. Like getting used to speaking directly with his quarterback in-game, right into his helmet. They don’t do that in college.
“Finding that right rhythm with my communication with Matt in the headset has been good for me,” Sarkisian said.
Rhythm is a big word around the Falcons’ offense now. “Comfort level” is another common working phrase. The dance partners of coordinator and his offense are in harmony at the moment.
You had your chance, Sark. This was the perfect time to get high and mighty and tell the legion of critics what it could do with its “#firesark” hashtags. Because you never know when the offensive tide will go out again in a game – as it inevitably will – and you’ve lost the advantage.
But you have chosen to take the high road.
Probably another good call.
