Over the weekend, the Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator, Dean Pees, was very vocal about his frustrations with the negative views the Falcons defense has been getting and they will be “changing the culture” within the organization, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Pees went on to compare the negative talk about the Falcons defense to the likes of a teacher telling a parent that their child is not smart, “You get mad at a teacher telling some kid he’s stupid right? You don’t ever tell somebody that, because pretty soon they start believing it”.
As Pees continued with his “fired up” comments, he pointed out that the Atlanta defense has been in the top 10 just once within the past 20 seasons and judging by his tone, that is something which is unacceptable by his standards and it is time for the team to “change the culture of the defense around this freaking place”. A statement that Jon Chuckery was in agreement with. “I love it, I love it and I’m with it, let’s do. Now, here’s the question, how do you get there, how do you do it?” That was the question Chuckery asked before listing areas in which he believes the Falcons will need to improve in order to make Pees’ statements a reality.
Chuckery began with some defensive statistics to back his beliefs on what the Falcons need to do to improve and to Pees’ point, “change the culture” and up first was their efforts in sacking the quarterback, noting that last season they totaled 18 sacks. “You have to put the quarterback on the ground,” Chuckery said. He would add that when searching past NFL playoff teams that fared well in the sacks department, they typically ended their season around 40. To hear more of Chuckery’s thoughts on how the Falcons can improve the defense, click the link above: