Falcons Critics 'Don't Know Football!' Coach Dean Pees Fires Back

Falcons coordinator Dean Pees on strategy in a late-game loss to the Saints: "I don't know who the heck thinks we ... played soft coverage in the fourth quarter. The (critic) doesn't know anything about football."

Dean Pees finds himself in an odd spot. The defensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons was right in the middle of his team's almost-win in Week 1, what became a 27-26 loss to New Orleans that came late for the Saints due to their clutch play ...

And, according to some observers, due to Pees dialing it back from the pressure he'd used to earlier success in the game.

But, Pees now responds: "I don't know who the heck thinks we ... played soft coverage in the fourth quarter. The (critic) doesn't know anything about football."

It can certainly be argued that the Falcons won early with coordinator Pees using pressure concepts to bother Saints QB Jameis Winston with four sacks - a huge step up from a year ago, when Atlanta's 18 sacks marked an NFL low.

So what changed late?

Did Winston and Michael Thomas - with his two TD catches - simply outplay Atlanta?

Did the Falcons, right up and down the roster and right up and down the coaching staff, gag? 

Did Pees goof by rolling into a sort of "prevent defense'' because he had a lead?

The 73-year-old defensive wizard adamantly denies that, explaining, rather, that there were a handful of blown assignments late.

While the media and the fan base may be smarter than ever about the intricacies of football, we've always tended to give the "in-the-arena'' performer the benefit of the doubt. Speaking only personally, having covered the NFL for 40 years: If we're in a room with Dean Pees (and we've been in a lot of rooms with a lot of people on his level) ... we usually don't do much arguing.

We lean more toward listening and learning.

That doesn't make Pees right. But maybe a techno study does.

Per The Athletic: “Atlanta blitzed on a higher percentage of drop-backs in the fourth quarter (35.7 percent) than it did in either the first (28.6 percent) or second quarters (12.5 percent), according to TruMedia. The Falcons blitzed 44.4 percent of the time in the third quarter.''

That doesn't sound like Pees, up 26-10 entering the fourth quarter, "went conservative'' or "called off the dogs'' or "got soft.''

It seems to us, more simply, Pees' Falcons just "got

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