Carlos Monarrez

Detroit Free Press





Congratulations to the Atlanta Falcons, who, despite losing to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI, took a big step forward in reaching the title game for the first time since 1999.

Is it possible for the Falcons to provide a blueprint of success for the Lions to follow because, let’s face it, nothing else has really worked for 60 years.

I’ll break how the Falcons were built using a few key criteria and measure how close the Lions are to that example or how realistic it is for them to match the Falcons in those areas.

Ownership

Falcons: The team is owned by Arthur Blank, a 74-year-old self-made man from ordinary beginnings who made his fortune co-founding Home Depot in 1978. He bought the Falcons in 2002. The team had never had consecutive winnings seasons and two years later the Falcons were playing in the NFC title game. Hey, if the guy who owns a home center doesn’t know how to fix things, no one does. He’s considered an informed, supportive owner who doesn’t meddle.

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Lions: Martha Ford, 91, is the granddaughter of tire magnate Harvey Firestone. Ostensibly, she is the owner of the Lions. But there’s a lot of uncertainty about who actually calls the shots. It could very well be her second-oldest daughter, Sheila, and her husband, Steve Hamp. Either way, Ford has never sweated out a paycheck. She is the antithesis of Blank and the definition of a patrician heiress who has no track record of successfully managing a large business. When the time comes for succession of ownership, if the title of sole owner falls to any of the Ford kids, the only one who has a history of at least being smart enough to know what he doesn’t know and hire Alan Mulally as Ford’s CEO is Bill Ford.

Verdict: Although Ford’s team has gone to the playoffs twice in three years under her stewardship, she is no Blank. She has shaken things up with personnel and cosmetic changes. But the Lions are a long way from being considered an elite, consistent contender.

General manager

Falcons: Thomas Dimitroff was hired as the Falcons’ rookie GM in 2008 after spending most of his six years with the Patriots as their director of college scouting. He made a big splash in his first season. He hired coach Mike Smith, drafted quarterback Matt Ryan with the third overall pick in 2008 and signed free-agent running back Michael Turner, who rushed for 1,699 and went to the Pro Bowl that season.

The Falcons went 11-5 in 2008, they made the playoffs for the first time in four years and the Sporting News named Dimitroff its NFL executive of the year. Dimitroff has hit on more players in the draft than he has missed on and he has won big on draft moves like sending five picks to Cleveland to move up and select Julio Jones. He says he learned the idea of the team-first mentality from the Patriots and believes the GM and coach must have a great partnership to succeed. His team is built around the offense, which often ranks among the top 10. His defense has never ranked better than 12th and is often outside of the top 20.

Lions: Bob Quinn also was hired as a rookie GM. But his experience in the NFL was limited to only working with the Patriots, although it was extensive after he served 16 years in the organization. He lacks Dimitroff’s variety of experience. But he also seems to value a good partnership with his coach, mentioning how the rug between his office and Jim Caldwell’s is worn out from all their conversations. Quinn believes in building the middle class of his roster to improve depth. His only draft so far was a success after he got contributions from just about every pick. Quinn has had two opportunities to fire Caldwell and hire his own coach and has passed both times.

Verdict: Quinn didn’t hit the home run Dimitroff did in his first year. It was more like a solid double with the draft and adding Anquan Boldin and then a mediocre season from Marvin Jones. Trading away Kyle Van Noy doesn’t look good right now and the way he handled his decision to keep Caldwell this year was awkward at best. It’s early to judge Quinn, but for now he has shown promise but certainly hasn’t displayed the chops Dimitroff had right away.

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Coaching

Falcons: Dan Quinn, 46, was the Seattle Seahawks’ defensive coordinator when the Falcons hired him as a rookie head coach in 2015 to shore up their last-place defense. The Falcons’ defense ranked 16th in 2015 and 25th this year, so the improvement was mediocre. Ironically, Quinn’s biggest contribution was improving an already good offense. He added offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who turned the Falcons into the NFL’s most potent offense and turned Ryan and Julio Jones into the NFL’s best QB-receiver combo. Shanahan is expected to become the San Francisco 49ers’ head coach this week.

Lions: Caldwell, 62, is the opposite of Quinn in some respects. He’s an offensive coach with a reputation as a quarterback whisperer and a veteran who has been a head coach in college and in the NFL. He has taken the Lions to the playoffs twice in three years, yet he has been a regular occupant of the hot seat since his second season. Caldwell’s offenses and defenses have not been anything close to dominant, with the lone exception coming his first season when the Ndamukong Suh-led defense ranked No. 2. You can sometimes best judge a head coach by how desired his assistants are. He replaced Joe Lombardi with Jim Bob Cooter, who has had mixed results. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin has been good but not great.

Verdict: The Dan Quinn era is just starting and has the potential to be something special. Caldwell was hired to fix Matthew Stafford, make the Lions a consistent winner and take them to the Super Bowl. He appears to have accomplished the former but not the latter. His tenure in Detroit is starting to be defined by his combativeness with reporters, his unpopular sideline stoicism and how adept he is at avoiding the swinging ax.

Offense

Falcons: Ryan is a shining example of consistency. He and receiver Jones should have another two or three years of playing together in their primes and separating themselves as the NFL’s best combo. Dimitroff didn’t have to invest big, just a fourth- and third-rounder, to put together a great backfield of Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman. The Falcons love to pass out of the backfield, they use an elaborate and unpredictable scheme to confuse defenses and take advantage of mismatches outside with Jones. They spent $45 million to sign perennial Pro Bowl center Alex Mack to anchor the offensive line and protect Ryan. It’s a well-oiled machine.

Lions: The Lions have Stafford’s big arm, some gadget plays and that’s about it. OK, maybe that’s too harsh. The offensive line is riddled with uncertainty. Marvin Jones was a disappointment after a fast start. Golden Tate is a good No. 2 receiver. Eric Ebron has been slow to develop. And the Lions have been looking for their run game ever since Barry Sanders absconded with it into retirement. The Lions don’t have enough elite playmakers and Stafford doesn’t have the ability, like Aaron Rodgers, to elevate players around him.

Verdict: The Lions are a far, far, far — did I mention far? — way off from being the NFL’s top offense.

Defense

Falcons: Dimitroff admitted he was influenced by the way Caldwell’s old boss, Bill Polian, constructed Super Bowl contenders in Buffalo with dynamic offenses. What Dimitroff didn’t say was that Polian did so while largely ignoring the defense. That’s certainly true this year with the Falcons’ 25th-ranked, no-name defense. They have four rookies logging big minutes in their back seven. They have about-to-turn 37 defensive end Dwight Freeney but finally invested a top-10 pick on outside linebacker Vic Beasley, who rewarded them in 2016 with 15 ½ sacks and an All-Pro season. The Falcons are solid on special teams with one of the best combos in kicker Matt Bryant and punter Matt Bosher.



Lions: The Lions ranked 18th on defense for a second straight year. They have a tradition of good defensive lines and they’ve tried to honor that by mixing young players like Ziggy Ansah with key vets like Haloti Ngata. Injuries took a huge toll on the defense this year, otherwise a healthy Ansah and DeAndre Levy might have made the difference in winning another game or two and possibly a division title. The Lions just can’t seem to get over the hump of going from mediocre to good. Kicker Matt Prater and punter Sam Martin are severely underrated and their special-teams coverage units are excellent.

Verdict: The Lions are ahead of the Falcons on defense. So much for the old “defense wins championships” saying, eh? It seems wrong to say the Lions need to get worse on defense, but, well, that’s the Falcons’ blueprint. Would you be OK trading Ansah for Jordy Nelson?

Overall verdict

The Lions and Falcons don’t bear much of a resemblance to each other, so following Atlanta’s blueprint for success would likely be a fool’s errand for the Lions. Bob Quinn would have to replicate Thomas Dimitroff’s wisdom and wizardry. The Lions’ offense has to get good running backs with mid-round picks and find an elite outside playing-making receiver. And the offense has to become so good that the defense almost doesn’t matter. Lastly, you have to have an owner who has acquired the hard-earned wisdom through the experience of building a billion-dollar business on his or her own to know how to run a football team in a similarly successful fashion.

Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!