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Rick Gosselin: Mora a winning choice for Falcons
Atlanta latest club to pair defense-first coach with franchise QB
11:30 PM CDT on Monday, October 4, 2004
The urge for Rich McKay would have been to hire an offensive-minded head coach. That was the common-sense move as general manager of the Atlanta Falcons.
McKay had a young franchise quarterback, Mike Vick, already in place. The faster the Falcons could accelerate his development, the quicker they could compete for Super Bowls.
So hiring an offensive guru in the Brian Billick-Jon Gruden-Mike Martz mold seemed to have been logical for McKay, who had been on the job with the Falcons less than a month when he began his coaching search in December.
Instead, McKay hired defensive whiz Jim Mora – and now the 4-0 Falcons have matched the fastest start in their history.
McKay wears a Super Bowl ring because Tony Dungy was able to build the NFL's best defense at Tampa Bay. McKay also is from a football family. His father was the long-time coach at Southern Cal and the first coach of the Bucs. He learned the concept "defense wins championships" at an early age.
"When we hired Tony in Tampa, my belief was that, to build a franchise and to build an identity, you needed to build a defense," McKay said. "Our history [in Tampa] was to draft defense, then offense, then defense. ... They never had a plan."
The Bucs also never had a quarterback. Which is why it took seven seasons following Dungy's hire to win their firstSuper Bowl in 2002. Dungy became a casualty along the way, and McKay would leave less than a year later.
The presence of Vick didn't alter McKay's reconstruction philosophy in Atlanta. It enhanced that philosophy.
"We realized we had Michael Vick," McKay said, "and we had to build around him. But we could not win a championship if we're not going to be a tough defense. We didn't have to be No. 1. But we have to play defense.
"So it was easy for me to say let's go for a defensive coach, even though everybody was speculating that we'd go offense because of Michael Vick."
Mora spent the previous five years as the defensive coordinator of the 49ers. McKay said that during the interview process Mora also proposed the best plan for Vick.
Mora was going to bring Greg Knapp with him from San Francisco, where he had been the offensive coordinator. Knapp would implement the West Coast offense, and Vick would be cast in a Steve Young capacity with his unique skills as a runner and passer.
But McKay wasn't breaking new ground in his desire to package a defensive-minded head coach with a franchise quarterback. That formula has become the quickest path to success in today's NFL.
The Patriots have won two Super Bowls this decade with the combination of a defensive head coach (Bill Belichick) and a franchise quarterback (Tom Brady). Perennial playoff contender Tennessee has that combination (Jeff Fisher and Steve McNair), as does Indianapolis (Dungy and Peyton Manning.
Look around the rest of the league. See a trend developing here?
• Atlanta: Mora and Vick.
• Chicago: Lovie Smith and Rex Grossman.
• Cincinnati: Marvin Lewis and Carson Palmer.
• Houston: Dom Capers and David Carr.
• Jacksonville: Jack Del Rio and Byron Leftwich.
• New York Jets: Herman Edwards and Chad Pennington.
• Pittsburgh: Bill Cowher and Ben Roethlisberger.
• San Diego: Marty Schottenheimer and Philip Rivers.
Every quarterback listed above was a first-round draft pick this decade. And all those head coaches built their reputations on the defensive side of the ball.
Mora and Smith were hired this season and inherited young quarterbacks. Del Rio and Lewis were hired a year ago and handpicked quarterbacks in their first drafts.
Edwards inherited his young quarterback, and Capers, Cowher and Schottenheimer drafted theirs.
Defense still wins championships in the NFL. So do franchise quarterbacks. That combination could be the ticket in Atlanta this season. It could be the ticket in a lot of places.
E-mail rgosselin@***BANNED-URL***
Atlanta latest club to pair defense-first coach with franchise QB
11:30 PM CDT on Monday, October 4, 2004
The urge for Rich McKay would have been to hire an offensive-minded head coach. That was the common-sense move as general manager of the Atlanta Falcons.
McKay had a young franchise quarterback, Mike Vick, already in place. The faster the Falcons could accelerate his development, the quicker they could compete for Super Bowls.
So hiring an offensive guru in the Brian Billick-Jon Gruden-Mike Martz mold seemed to have been logical for McKay, who had been on the job with the Falcons less than a month when he began his coaching search in December.
Instead, McKay hired defensive whiz Jim Mora – and now the 4-0 Falcons have matched the fastest start in their history.
McKay wears a Super Bowl ring because Tony Dungy was able to build the NFL's best defense at Tampa Bay. McKay also is from a football family. His father was the long-time coach at Southern Cal and the first coach of the Bucs. He learned the concept "defense wins championships" at an early age.
"When we hired Tony in Tampa, my belief was that, to build a franchise and to build an identity, you needed to build a defense," McKay said. "Our history [in Tampa] was to draft defense, then offense, then defense. ... They never had a plan."
The Bucs also never had a quarterback. Which is why it took seven seasons following Dungy's hire to win their firstSuper Bowl in 2002. Dungy became a casualty along the way, and McKay would leave less than a year later.
The presence of Vick didn't alter McKay's reconstruction philosophy in Atlanta. It enhanced that philosophy.
"We realized we had Michael Vick," McKay said, "and we had to build around him. But we could not win a championship if we're not going to be a tough defense. We didn't have to be No. 1. But we have to play defense.
"So it was easy for me to say let's go for a defensive coach, even though everybody was speculating that we'd go offense because of Michael Vick."
Mora spent the previous five years as the defensive coordinator of the 49ers. McKay said that during the interview process Mora also proposed the best plan for Vick.
Mora was going to bring Greg Knapp with him from San Francisco, where he had been the offensive coordinator. Knapp would implement the West Coast offense, and Vick would be cast in a Steve Young capacity with his unique skills as a runner and passer.
But McKay wasn't breaking new ground in his desire to package a defensive-minded head coach with a franchise quarterback. That formula has become the quickest path to success in today's NFL.
The Patriots have won two Super Bowls this decade with the combination of a defensive head coach (Bill Belichick) and a franchise quarterback (Tom Brady). Perennial playoff contender Tennessee has that combination (Jeff Fisher and Steve McNair), as does Indianapolis (Dungy and Peyton Manning.
Look around the rest of the league. See a trend developing here?
• Atlanta: Mora and Vick.
• Chicago: Lovie Smith and Rex Grossman.
• Cincinnati: Marvin Lewis and Carson Palmer.
• Houston: Dom Capers and David Carr.
• Jacksonville: Jack Del Rio and Byron Leftwich.
• New York Jets: Herman Edwards and Chad Pennington.
• Pittsburgh: Bill Cowher and Ben Roethlisberger.
• San Diego: Marty Schottenheimer and Philip Rivers.
Every quarterback listed above was a first-round draft pick this decade. And all those head coaches built their reputations on the defensive side of the ball.
Mora and Smith were hired this season and inherited young quarterbacks. Del Rio and Lewis were hired a year ago and handpicked quarterbacks in their first drafts.
Edwards inherited his young quarterback, and Capers, Cowher and Schottenheimer drafted theirs.
Defense still wins championships in the NFL. So do franchise quarterbacks. That combination could be the ticket in Atlanta this season. It could be the ticket in a lot of places.
E-mail rgosselin@***BANNED-URL***