Atlanta Falcons head coach Kevin Stefanski started his first week of OTAs with the organization. While much of the focus was on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and his recovery, Stefanski spoke to Falcons.com reporter Will McFadden on making mistakes and the types of things that go into coaching quarterbacks.
Falcons Head Coach Wants Players to Learn From Mistakes
The Falcons head coach made it clear that if and when you make a mistake, it is important that you learn from it.
“This is the time of the year where you’re going to make a mistake, and then we’re going to learn from it,” Stefanski said. “We’re going to identify the reasons that it was made and we’re going to correct them. So, I think you’re seeing from the, certainly the veterans that have been around, you’re seeing them continue to get better in each rep, get better in each practice.”
Stefanski’s mindset is the kind that the Falcons need at the helm right now. With newly acquired Tua Tagovailoa entering his first year under a new system, and a young quarterback in Penix Jr., mistakes are going to be made behind center. The important thing to remember is that they learn from their mistakes and do not repeat them.
Stefanski on Fine-Tuning Quarterbacks
The Falcons head coach further continued to discuss the type of things he and the coaching staff focus on with their quarterbacks.
“We coach so much on the footwork, because everything comes ground up when you’re talking about technique,” Stefanski said. “A lot of players, how they throw the ball anatomically is how they’ve always thrown it, so you don’t want to get too into the weeds of changing releases and those types of things. Having said that, there are subtle quarter-turn adjustments that I think you can make with technique, and that may be where the toe is pointed when the ball is thrown. It may be how you’re transferring your weight from your back foot. It may be how you finish your throw.”
It sounds like Stefanski does not plan to rebuild his quarterback room from the ground up. The Falcons head coach seems like he is more concerned with fine-tuning the smaller things to help his quarterbacks become more complete. The type of things that can reduce errors with overcomplicating things and completely changing how they approach plays. Oftentimes, when a new coaching staff takes over, quarterbacks tend to regress from having to learn a new system.
Instead of putting too much on his quarterback room, the Falcons head coach is focusing on the little things, and fine-tuning them will likely give Atlanta a far better chance of building consistency without overwhelming young players still trying to develop at the NFL level.
Penix Jr. is Complimentary of New Coaching Staff
Penix Jr. seems to think that so far, the new coaching staff in Atlanta has done a good job of ensuring that the players are all on the same page.
“I feel like for the new coaching staff, they want to come in and make sure that we’re all speaking the same language, we’re all on the same page,” Penix said. “So that when we go out on the field, it’s like, ‘Okay, what did we see?’ I can say what I saw without it being like, ‘Okay, what? For us, it’s like everything from last year is flushed. So, I can’t come and ask the coach, ‘Hey, what is this route,’ and call it a route from last year whenever I’m in a new system.”
Stefanski’s Approach is Not an Overhaul
It is still early in the offseason, but the tone coming out of Atlanta feels noticeably different under the new Falcons head coach. Rather than overhauling everything overnight, the Falcons seem focused on cleaning up smaller details. For quarterbacks like Penix Jr., that type of approach could go a long way toward building consistency in a new system instead of creating panic every time a mistake happens during May practices.
Also Read: NFL quarterbacks have seemingly been a theme of the NFL offseason. Check out what an NFL Hall of Famer had to say about Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.
Main Photo: [Kirby Lee] – Imagn Images
