Close- Covered Bears for seven seasons at Chicago Tribune
- Also worked at Chicago Sun-Times, Fresno Bee
- Honorable mention, Football Writers Association of America for enterprise writing, 2002
Falcons primed to make another run in 2017 behind MVP Matt Ryan
Alan Branch. The Patriots grabbed the momentum with a touchdown and two-point conversion immediately after the turnover, closing the gap to 28-20.
On the next drive, Ryan again was sacked on a second-and-11 run play from the Patriots' 23-yard line. That set up a third-and-23 play from the 35, and then a holding call on left tackle Jake Matthews pushed the Falcons out of field goal range.
"The thought is to get as many yards as you can,'' Shanahan said of not running while in field goal range. "And we were right there on the fringe. It was by no means an easy field goal. From what I remember, we ran in on first-and-10 and lost yards. Got into second-and-11, so we try to get a pass to get us back into a manageable third down, closer to the field goal, and we took a sack. Taking a sack ... got us into a third-and-20, so we threw a quick pass trying to get back into field goal range, which we did. But there was a holding call on the play. And when you get a holding call on third-and-20, it goes back that far. We were way out of field goal range. We tried our best to get back in but couldn't get it done.''
Shanahan was then asked about the fine line between being aggressive with the pass and being mindful of clock management.
"It's not really the run-pass ratio that I look at,'' Shanahan said. "It's you stay on the field, and you run your offense. When went three-and-out two times, which was huge. I think we had second-and-1 on both of those. To not convert on second-and-1 and then third, it was tough. That's why we let them get back into the game.''
It's unclear how the Falcons plan to address the offensive coordinator position once Shanahan officially leaves. The Falcons also are likely to lose quarterback coach Matt LaFleur, who is expected to be interviewed by the Los Angeles Rams. Offensive line coach Chris Morgan said it's only natural to want to take the next step and become an offensive coordinator. Wide receivers coach Raheem Morris believed he was capable of calling plays on offense or defense when he was the head coach at Tampa Bay.
Falcons coach Dan Quinn said last week that the offensive system is "100 percent'' in place, which would indicate that he wants to keep Shanahan's scheme even if Shanahan is not around.
Asked if he could confirm that Shanahan was set to leave the Falcons, Quinn said simply, "It's not my story to tell.''
