Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. That's how the old adage goes, correct?
It continually blows my mind that the Atlanta Falcons repeatedly make the same mistakes week in and week out.
This column is not about Dan Quinn. I've wasted enough time on him. This column will focus on the head-scratching decision-making of his two coordinators, Dirk Koetter and Raheem Morris.
On a day where you are without Julio Jones, you'd think you would try to have long, sustained drives, soaking up some of the clock and featuring your running back Todd Gurley.
Nope. Not the case.
Todd Gurley had four carries for 58 yards (35 of which came on a TD scamper) and seemingly looked his best in years. But that wasn't good enough for Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter.
Entering halftime, Gurley had four rushing attempts. Matt Ryan threw the ball 17 times. How is that possible against a dink-and-dunk team like the Carolina Panthers? It's not as if you were playing the Kansas City Chiefs and you needed to keep up in a shootout.
Gurley would run wild, finishing with 121 yards, an average of 8.6 yards per carry and a touchdown. On 14 attempts! The man should have been north of 20 rushes against a defense that looked like Ole Miss on a Saturday night in Oxford.
Switching gears to the defense.
Raheem Morris. I understand you are undermanned and ill-equipped to stop real passing attacks. And this is no disrespect to Teddy Bridgewater, who just keeps winning. But how do you allow a check-down specialist to dink and dunk to 260 yards and two scores in first half?
You allowed Mike Davis to beat you like he was Christain McCaffrey. You busted on coverage out of the backfield just like you did on Monday night to Aaron Jones. Davis was unaccounted for and strolled into the end zone just like Jones did six days ago.
How is that possible?
I'll tell you how. Because this coaching staff is inept. From the head coach to the offensive coordinator to the defensive coordinator. They don't learn from their mistakes.
And shame on the players, as well. Have some personal pride. This is your craft. A craft in which you are being paid millions to execute. And execution is the furthest thing from reality at this point with this team.
If it didn't happen today, when will it?
The answer is, it won't.