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Sunday, November 1, 2020

Atlanta Falcons fires its coach - temporarily closes the nest !

To the city of Atlanta — (this communication [partly reproduced]  has gone viral on social media) !  ..  How fortunate am I that I close this chapter the very same way I opened it — with gratitude. It truly has been my family. My wife Stacey and I will forever be grateful for every single person in this organization who made our lives better and fuller. I will miss so many things, but none more than the men in the locker room.   I can’t thank you enough for making this Jersey boy feel right at home. I hope I represented your team with the grace and character you deserve… .. ..  In Brotherhood,

The news of firing of Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff, who saw their team start 0-5 for the first time since 1997 after a Sunday loss to the Carolina Panthers, was hotly debated.



At a time when we are engrossed in IPL matches at Middle east – the Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined the NFL in 1965 as an expansion team, after the NFL offered then-owner Rankin Smith a franchise to keep him from joining the rival American Football League (AFL). In their 54 years of existence, the Falcons have compiled a record of 375–475–6 (365–461–6 in the regular season and 10–14 in the playoffs), winning division championships in 1980, 1998, 2004, 2010, 2012, and 2016. The Falcons have appeared in two Super Bowls, the first during the 1998 season in Super Bowl XXXIII, where they lost to the Denver Broncos 34–19, and the second was 18 years later, a 34–28 overtime loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LI.

The Falcons' current home field is Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which opened for the 2017 season; the team's headquarters and practice facilities are located at a 50-acre (20 ha) site in Flowery Branch, northeast of Atlanta in Hall County.

Professional football first came to Atlanta in 1962, when the American Football League (AFL) staged two preseason contests, with one featuring the Denver Broncos vs. the Houston Oilers and the second pitting the Dallas Texans against the Oakland Raiders. Two years later, the AFL held another exhibition, this time with the New York Jets taking on the San Diego Chargers.  In 1965, after the Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium (then known simply as Atlanta Stadium) was built, the city of Atlanta felt the time was right to start pursuing professional football

The Falcons have called three stadiums home in their 51 years of existence, and its third home in their history opened in the late summer of 2017. The first was the Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium, sharing with the Atlanta Braves Major League Baseball team until 1991. In 1992, the Georgia Dome was built, and the Falcons played there from its opening to the 2016 season. The Dome has been frequently used for college football, including Georgia State football and college bowl games such as the Peach Bowl. In an effort to replace the aging Georgia Dome and potentially host a future Super Bowl, team owner Arthur Blank proposed a deal with the city of Atlanta to build a new state-of-the-art stadium not far from where the Georgia Dome is located.  

During testing Covid times, recently, the Atlanta Falcons entered the NFL's supplemental intensive protocols. The decision was made by NFL Chief Medical Officer Dr. Allen Sills, in consultation with medical experts, after rookie defensive tackle Marlon Davidson was placed on Atlanta's reserve/COVID-19 list. Due to the NFL's supplemental intensive protocols, the Falcons implemented several changes to the way they conducted business.  "We did have a player who tested positive there from Monday's test that we found out on Tuesday," Sills said in a conference call with reporters. "Obviously, we immediately did what we always do, which is go into contact tracing and identification of any high-risk individuals and removing them as well as the indexed player. We, out of an abundance of caution, began our intensive protocol both in Atlanta and Carolina."

The news is - Covid-19 has forced the Atlanta Falcons to temporarily close the nest. The NFL team shut down its Georgia facility Thursday morning after a member of the organization tested positive for the coronavirus. Citing "an abundance of caution," the Falcons are moving to a virtual operation for at least one day, the team announced on its Twitter account. "This decision was made in consultation with the NFL and medical officials," the organization added on its website, saying also that "the health and safety of our team is our highest priority." The announcement comes three days ahead of the Falcon's scheduled game at the Minnesota Vikings, which is currently slated to kickoff Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The move to virtual followed Tuesday's announcement that defensive tackle Marlon Davidson had been placed on the reserve/COVID list, meaning the team would enter the NFL's supplemental intensive protocols. Davidson is the second Falcon to test positive since the season began, joining fellow rookie A.J. Terrell who was placed on the reserve/COVID list in late September.

Thursday's development further adds to an already tumultuous week for the Falcons, who fired head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff on Monday. At 0-5 on the season, Atlanta is now under the control of interim head coach Raheem Morris, who was promoted following Quinn's departure. Former head coach Dan Quinn was fired by the Falcons on Sunday after six years on the job, two winning seasons and one memorably painful Super Bowl appearance. Atlanta may be done with him, but Quinn isn’t quite done with Atlanta yet. No, he didn’t barricade himself in his office until Falcons security had to escort him out. He simply wanted to thank the city and the Falcons organization for all their support during his time as head coach, and did so with a letter, which you read at the start.


Interesting ! ~ in professional sports, end comes rather abrupt ! even for those who have had a glorious chapter.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

17.10.2020

 

  

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