Falcons offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian didn’t have to dig too deep to find the area where his unit needs to improve during the 2018 season.
Sarkisian said on Wednesday that the Falcons “didn’t score enough points” last year as they went from scoring 33.8 points per game in 2016 to 22.1 points per game in the coordinator’s first season with the team. They added wide receiver Calvin Ridley in the first round of the draft to address that shortcoming, but help may also come from Sarkisian settling further into the job.
Sarkisian said his comfort level this year is “night and day” to where he was at this point last year and suggested that will help the offensive pieces go together in better ways this year.
“I think the biggest thing for me is just overall comfort level,” Sarkisian said, via the team’s website. “When I came in a year ago, it was learning the system that was in place. It was learning the players that were in place. In Year 2, I have a year in the system. Now I can make some of the tweaks that I feel like are needed for this offense to continue to grow. I’ve got a really good understanding of every player -- and the things that they’re really good at, the things that they maybe need to work on, and things that I would be wrong in putting them in position to do.”
The Falcons were 21st in points in Kyle Shanahan’s first year as offensive coordinator before climbing up to the top spot in 2016 and no one in Atlanta would have a problem with history repeating itself.