The Atlanta Falcons' hire of Dirk Koetter should be viewed as a direct attempt to breathe life into Atlanta's mediocre-at-best passing attack, or so says Sports Illustrated's Peter King. And remember Falcons fans - Peter King's analysis is one you can trust. Until he changes it.
I think the Dirk Koetter hire in Atlanta is a nod to the fact that the Falcons wanted to throw the ball downfield more, and to improving their screen game (maybe in 2012 with Jacquizz Rodgers). Koetter's not Mike Martz, but I do think he'll be more open to featuring Julio Jones and getting Matt Ryan to take three or four shots a game deep.
Screen game? Using a third down back? What is this voodoo you speak of?
Come on, Pete: It's not as if there's a blueprint for a minute speed back to bail out a top-level quarterback by stretching defenders and nullifying agressive blitz schemes in Atlanta's own division.
King also dropped a non-committal non-fact that basically said exactly what most Falcons fans think already - that Mike Mularkey was *probably* a dead man walking in Flowery Branch had the Jaguars not come calling:
I think this shouldn't be a sign that Mike Mularkey wasn't a good hire in Jacksonville, because Mularkey is smart and a good quarterback teacher. But as the Falcons offensive coordinator he'd hit a wall with Matt Ryan, and the Falcons needed to make a change, and I believe if he wouldn't have gotten the head-coaching job with the Jags, the Falcons would have strongly considered making a change at the coordinator spot.
For more on Dirk Koetter's hire and every offseason move by the Falcons, go to The Falcoholic.