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Dan Quinn replays Atlanta Falcons' Super Bowl collapse over and over

By The Sports Xchange
Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn speaks to the media during Super Bowl LI Opening Night, at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas on January 30, 2017. The Atlanta Falcons will play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI on Sunday in Houston. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI
Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn speaks to the media during Super Bowl LI Opening Night, at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas on January 30, 2017. The Atlanta Falcons will play the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI on Sunday in Houston. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

INDIANAPOLIS --- Coach Dan Quinn of the Atlanta Falcons, after a flurry of coaching moves, finally had some time to push back from his desk, turn off the film and reflect on his team's collapse in Super LI.

Quinn admits there are some "do-overs" he'd like. He has watched the game "a lot" of times and said it was a case study in NFL game mismanagement.

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"You have to own that," Quinn said. "The calls. The things you can do differently. That's not unlike most Sunday nights for me where I wrestle with all three phases, could there be something different, as a head coach those are the moments that I do have to own."

The Falcons held a 28-3 lead over the New England Patriots before everything that could go wrong did. The team collapsed on several fronts from players not making plays to questionable play calling and the lack of intervention from Quinn to re-direct the play-calling.

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The Falcons ended up losing 34-28 in overtime to the Patriots.

"When they asked me if I watched it, I say 'Yes,'" Quinn said. "I am past it. I am not over it. I don't think I ever will be and that's a good thing."

Quinn is hoping that his young team will grow from the devastating defeat.

"Those kind of experiences propel you to have the kind of offseasons that you like to have," Quinn said. "The analogy that I use for our team is that we are fighters. ... We talk about boxing quite a bit.

"We got our asses knocked down on the canvass."

Quinn looked at his defensive-playing in the second half, too. We played man-to-man defense on 29 snaps and zone defense on 27 snaps.

"Any time that you play 90 plays you're going to get tired," Quinn said. "There is a by product of that, not playing as well on third down."

Quinn was pleased with the eight tackles for losses, five sacks and the defensive touchdown.

What the Falcons do next will determine the future of the franchise.

"You get back up and you go fight again," Quinn said. "That's kind of what this offseason is about for us."

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Quinn has a path that he'd like to take the 2017 Falcons on, but clearly the soul-searching has been deep.

"There are consequences good and bad when you make plays and when you don't," Quinn said. "Owning those decisions."

Quinn has replayed all of the scenarios.

"What I can tell you is that being in that experience and battling for it at the highest level, you can't duplicate that," Quinn said. "We actually had on the job training and there is something that you totally gain from that. We'll be stronger for it.

"It's tough and painful to go through when you have a difficult loss. It doesn't define us. We have got a team that's totally on the rise. We are going to battle like crazy this offseason to become even better moving forward."

Quinn has a plan to make sure the team doesn't have a Super Bowl hangover.

"You've got to learn to get past it," Quinn said. "I didn't say that you have to get over it. You do have to get past it."

--Falcons coach Dan Quinn, who took over calling the defensive plays during the Kansas City game last season, believes that first-time defensive coordinator Marquand Manual will be just fine in his new position.

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"Marquand has been someone that's been a very trusted aid to me for a long time," Quinn said Wednesday at the NFL scouting combine.

Former defensive coordinator Richard Smith left to become San Diego's linebackers coach after the season. Manuel will call the defensive signals.

"We are very connected in terms of scheme and the attitude (with which) we'd like to play," Quinn said. "He's well equipped for that, and I'm very excited for him and this opportunity."

Quinn doesn't believe that Manuel's lack of NFL experience calling defenses will be a factor.

"I don't think there's anything like when any of us took a job, you don't have any experience doing that," Quinn said. "There is some on the job training that for sure goes on. I didn't have any head coaching experience before I took the job and I've learned some things along the way. Even in my first time calling plays way back at Hofstra. You learn and you grow."

Quinn said he had two goals in mind after taking over the defensive play-calling duties.

"I wanted to make sure that we could improve with our communication," Quinn said. "I think we did that. The second thing was could we improve our ability to create turnovers. Those were two of the things that were at the front of my thinking. I thought if I could really emphasize that with the defensive unit that could be a spot that we could improve upon."

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Quinn called the plays when he was the defensive coordinator for Seattle.

"There wasn't a time that I was so disconnected from the defense that I wasn't in tune to the calls," Quinn said. "I felt that was something that I needed to do to help our team at that time. That's (why) I decided to do that.

"Moving forward, Marquand will call it. I'll be involved like I always am. I'll be involved a lot. The connection that he and I have is strong. I'm excited to see him do his thing."

--Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones is still contemplating having offseason surgery on his foot that slowed him last season.

"He's going to visit with the docs again coming up next week," Falcons coach Dan Quinn said on Wednesday. "We'll make a determination after that. It hasn't been determined when or if (he'll have surgery) at this point. But it's something that he is definitely going to consider."

--Falcons longtime defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux will be allowed to become an unrestricted free agent after 12 years of service, Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said Wednesday.

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"Just the fact that end of the year, we had the same three captains," Falcons coach Dan Quinn said. "That was a sign of respect and how we feel about Babs. He was one of those guys who played lost of roles. Those are roster decisions that are never easy."

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