Falcoholinks: All the Falcons news you need for New Year’s Day

The Atlanta Falcons had quite a busy finish to 2018, with the coaching carousel in full swing.

We welcome you into 2019 with a fresh set of links, mainly circling around the coaching decisions that were made Monday and the news and reactions that sprung up post hence.

There’s plenty to link into for this major conversation, so join us, won’t you?

Forget eating black-eyed peas for good luck. Have a hearty helping of links!

Coaching Changes

The Falcons parted ways with all three of their coordinators as Black Monday got going around the league.

Offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel and special teams coach Keith Armstrong all will be elsewhere as 2019 begins.

Be sure to check out editor-in-chief Dave Choate’s eloquent thoughts on the day that was and why it went the way it did.

New Possibilities

Dan Quinn will be taking over the defense as its new coordinator, which should excite you. Though he’s going to have even more responsibility on game day, a time when his flaws as a head coach tend to exemplify themselves.

D.W. laid out a convincing case for why the team needs to hire a game management specialist to aid the team in knowing what to do in situational moments. It’s a move the team is going to need to make going forward now that Quinn has more to focus on.

Coordinating a new OC

The Sark vacancy still needs to be filled. With Atlanta being one of the more attractive offensive coordinator openings in the NFL because of the talent on that side of the ball, they’ll have a number of interested parties for the job.

Former Seahawks and Vikings OC Darrell Bevell has been a name to float around the conversation for some time now, and it looks like he’s going to get an interview. ESPN has him pegged as the favorite for the gig.

On the other hand, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says it’s former Falcons OC and just-fired Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter who has the upper hand in the hunt.

The guy atop many a Falcoholic’s list is Gary Kubiak, and he also has been linked to the job. The Super Bowl-winning former Broncos coach has ties to the system and QBs coach Greg Knapp and would be a home-run hire.

Be sure to follow The Falcoholic’s coaching tracker to stay up to date with what’s what in the coaching search, and read over Matt Chambers’ look at other possibilities of recently-fired coaches.

Bucs Business

If you’d like one last look at the 2018 season, we’ve got some thoughts on the Buccaneers win Sunday. Allen Strk has his analysis of how the game went, Dave has his weekly recap and D.W. has his offensive and defensive players of the game to look at.

So those are the first set of links for you as 2019 gets underway. We’ve got plenty to parse through here in Falconland, so buckle up. Thanks for linking in with us.