The Falcons hired Bob Sutton as a defensive assistant last week. Sutton was recently fired by Kansas City, taking the fall for their season ending just short of the Super Bowl. Kansas City's defense was pretty bad in terms of yards and points allowed, so it wasn't exactly a stunning move. But the Falcons might be making a sound hire here.
One area that Sutton's defenses were very good in was takeaways -- statistically the best in the league over the past four seasons, in fact. They're the only defense to finish in the top 10 in takeaways in all four years, with 6 more than 2nd-place Carolina.
TAKEAWAYS, 2015-2018 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | '15 | '16 | '17 | '18 | Tot |
Kansas City | 29 | 33 | 26 | 27 | 115 |
Carolina | 39 | 27 | 21 | 22 | 109 |
LA Rams | 26 | 18 | 28 | 30 | 102 |
Philadelphia | 26 | 26 | 31 | 17 | 100 |
Arizona | 33 | 28 | 21 | 16 | 98 |
Denver | 27 | 27 | 17 | 27 | 98 |
Buffalo | 25 | 18 | 25 | 27 | 95 |
LA Chargers | 20 | 28 | 27 | 20 | 95 |
Tampa Bay | 23 | 29 | 26 | 17 | 95 |
Washington | 26 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 95 |
Baltimore | 14 | 28 | 34 | 17 | 93 |
New Orleans | 22 | 21 | 25 | 24 | 92 |
NY Giants | 27 | 25 | 19 | 21 | 92 |
Seattle | 22 | 19 | 25 | 26 | 92 |
New England | 21 | 23 | 18 | 28 | 90 |
Pittsburgh | 30 | 23 | 22 | 15 | 90 |
Indianapolis | 25 | 17 | 20 | 26 | 88 |
Minnesota | 22 | 27 | 19 | 20 | 88 |
Houston | 25 | 17 | 16 | 29 | 87 |
Chicago | 17 | 11 | 22 | 36 | 86 |
Oakland | 25 | 30 | 14 | 17 | 86 |
Green Bay | 22 | 25 | 22 | 15 | 84 |
Miami | 16 | 25 | 15 | 28 | 84 |
NY Jets | 30 | 12 | 20 | 20 | 82 |
Jacksonville | 18 | 13 | 33 | 17 | 81 |
Cincinnati | 28 | 20 | 14 | 18 | 80 |
Atlanta | 23 | 22 | 16 | 19 | 80 |
Cleveland | 21 | 13 | 13 | 31 | 78 |
Detroit | 18 | 14 | 32 | 14 | 78 |
Tennessee | 19 | 18 | 21 | 17 | 75 |
Dallas | 11 | 20 | 21 | 20 | 72 |
San Francisco | 12 | 20 | 20 | 7 | 59 |
Atlanta? Well, they weren't as good. Only five teams have had fewer takeaways than the Falcons over those four seasons.
Dan Quinn, who is of course a defensive-minded head coach, said that Sutton is being brought in to help with "Calling the defense, spending the extra time to get that right, and making sure our style and identity come across in the right way. ... Adding someone with Bob's knowledge and experience to assist with clock and game-management strategies will help us be the best version of the Falcons that we can be in 2019."
Quinn should pay particular attention to what Sutton might bring to the table in terms of forcing turnovers. If so, it will be an improve Falcons defense (certainly in fantasy terms) in 2019.
--Andy Richardson