The Falcons didn’t wait long to begin the process of finding Jimmy Lake’s successor. After firing the defensive coordinator on Saturday, the organization has already penciled Lou Anarumo in for an interview this week, according to NFL Network’s Colleen Wolfe.
Anarumo was the Bengals defensive coordinator but was fired once Cincinnati’s season ended. The veteran coach oversaw a defense that finished 25th in points (25.5) and total yards (348.3) allowed per game. It was a bad defense in every aspect outside of takeaways, notching 25, good for seventh in the league.
The Falcons defense took a step back under Jimmy Lake. Ryan Nielsen fielded an average defense with subpar talent, while Lake fielded a subpar defense with average talent. There’s no excuse for how poor Atlanta’s defense performed this season, and a microcosm of that was Morris’ explanation for Bryce Young and the Panthers having career afternoons in Week 18 — miscommunication.
We are in the final game of the season, and miscommunications are still present? That’s a coaching issue. While Lou Anarumo oversaw a pretty bad Bengals defense himself, the talent in Cincinnati wasn’t great. When Anarumo had the Jimmys and Joes, he fielded some pretty good units.
Just think back to the Bengals’ Super Bowl run. While Joe Burrow gets a lot of credit for wielding his team to the top of the mountain, it was Anarumo’s defense that stifled not only Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs’ electric offense but also the No. 1 seeded Titans, who had one of the league’s most prolific offenses in football in 2021.
All this to say, it doesn’t matter who the Falcons defensive coordinator is (as long as it’s not Jimmy Lake). The defense will be a weakness until the talent improves. The NFL has always been about the Jimmys and Joes.
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