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FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- In September, Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian told the media he preferred calling plays from the sideline because it allowed for better communication. His philosophy changed quickly, even if it wasn't by choice. During the Falcons' bye in Week 5, head coach Dan Quinn decided it was best to put Sarkisian upstairs in the coaching box for communication purposes and to have a better overall view of things. Sarkisian was upstairs for Sunday's 20-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins, a game in which the Falcons jumped out to a 17-0 lead but didn't score after halftime.  If Sarkisian had a choice about where he'd spend games, he certainly wasn't going to cause a commotion about it -- not as a first-time NFL coordinator trying to find his way with an offense that thrived under former coordinator Kyle Shanahan last season.
"I thought it went really well," Sarkisian said of being up in the box in Week 6. "It's something we analyzed a lot coming out of the bye. This was one idea Dan had coming out of the bye. You know, we were all for it. "I thought the line of communication was really good. We were efficient, which is probably the most important thing. Efficient for us is a few seconds here and there, but those few seconds matter a lot to a quarterback getting to the line of scrimmage. Our whole job as a coaching staff -- and mine as a coordinator -- is to put our players in the best position to be successful. And if going up, getting the play to Matt [Ryan] two, three, four seconds a little quicker enables him and our entire offense to be successful, [I'm] all for it." Sarkisian mentioned putting the players in the best position to be successful. For Quinn, it's putting his coaches in the best spot to succeed. That's why Quinn experimented during the preseason with having both Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel -- also in that role for the first time in the NFL -- up in the box and down on the field. Manuel's preference is to be on the field. He said there is a "collective agreement" that won't change moving forward or when the Falcons (3-2) visit the New England Patriots on Sunday night for a Super Bowl rematch. "That's why I went to the box in the preseason: to make sure we understood that we can get everything done that needs to be done downstairs," Manuel said. "Downstairs, it's the game from the standpoint of being able to connect with the players, make adjustments -- everything I could do upstairs, but now I can touch them. I'm not passing a message. It's different on defense because it's more guys that I'm interacting with."  What about being able to see it all from upstairs? Manuel, who played nine NFL seasons at safety for six teams, has his own way of dissecting the big picture.
"You can see it downstairs, too, if you know what you're looking at," Manuel said. "If you watch me, I stand 20 yards back. Everyone else stands at the ball. I don't. I see everything from where I'm standing. "Nine years, the game has slowed down. You add the coaching, that's 16. And I did it for four in the [coaching] box. So I've done it at every level. You're able to do it downstairs, understand how fast it needs to happen, know where to go and not get involved with anything else that's going on. It's awesome. When you've been around the game long enough, you should be able to see it clearly." Manuel also has a clear understanding of Quinn's expectations after Quinn took the playcalling duties away from Manuel's predecessor, Richard Smith, last season. Quinn has already praised Manuel for developing a broader range of defensive calls in the red zone. Now it's a matter of Manuel getting his defenders to tackle better, be more gap-sound against the run and play with more discipline when it comes to penalties as the Falcons prepare to face a player Manuel called the "best to ever do it" at the quarterback position, New England's Tom Brady. As for Sarkisian, he has the challenge of getting what was a feared offense back on track after it stumbled through the first five games. He contends that he has a good feel for his personnel. Players such as Ryan and All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones continue to vouch for Sarkisian, with Ryan going as far as saying that the players need to step up and make plays because Sarkisian is doing a good job. Maybe facing a Patriots defense that ranks last in the league in yards allowed per game (440.7 per game) and passing yards allowed per game (324.8) and that ranks 30th in points allowed per game (26.5) will help quiet some of the external doubts about Sarkisian's playcalling ability. Sarkisian, a head coach in college at USC and Washington, was asked what he has learned about preparing for NFL defenses. "I think the biggest thing about this league here is that it's very personnel-driven in the NFL," he said. "Whether how we assess defenses [or] how defenses assess us when we put a certain personnel grouping on the field, how defenses try to match that personnel grouping. "I think a lot of times in college football, you try to get your best 11 players on the field, and then you respond through scheme on what opponents are giving you. In the National Football League, people are trying to match what you're doing. ... I think that's a little bit of a shift. I'm not saying it's harder or easier, but that's just the nature of this league."
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