Falcons hire an old Panthers coach

[Mr. Scot]

Tim Lewis, formerly of the Panthers, late of the Seahawks, will be hired as Falcons DB coach (multiple sources).

Gamble improved when he was here, but you could make an argument that no one else did.

[Jackofalltrades]

I thought everyone but Lucas improved and the guys loved him.

[pantherclaw]

Tim Lewis is a good position coach, but replaceable.

Seahawks need a lot of help.

[Mr. Scot]

In all honesty, it's kind of hard to judge his work here.

He was coaching when we were at the peak of Trgovac's "bend don't break" philosophy. The team had practically no PI calls his final season, but it was hard to say whether that was good coaching or just passive approach.

[panthers55]

It is really a mixed bag for Lewis. He was a good corner in his playing days with GreenBay and did a very good job as a positions coach and DC for Pittsburgh. He was even being considered for a HC job here and there. Then he goes to the Giants changes his schemes from man to zone and is pretty bad as a DC. He comes here and continues the zone concept and frankly Gamble gets more physical but the defense doesn't really improve.

Here are the numbers-

2008- 16th in pass defense

2007- 17th in pass defense

Compare that to our ranking of 4th in pass defense in 2006. And our current ranking of 4th in 2009. Hard to say he improved us during his stay here.

[frash.exe]

tim lewis was not very good here

gamble was the only one that could cover decent, and harris was the only one that could tackle properly.

immediate improvement was made with the hire of meeks

[Mr. Scot]

One of the first things I remember hearing in one of the minicamps was Ron Meeks yelling during a transition period where the offense and defense were splitting up and going to opposite fields.

He was yelling "Where's Richard Marshall? Where's Richard Marshall? Is he running?"

I marked it in my motes. Told me right up front that 1) he was unafraid to call people out and 2) he wasn't the type to tolerate half-assing your way through OTAs.

Truthfully, all the new position coaches (Milus, Smith, Brian baker especially) fit that profile.

Different from Trgovac and his guys? Outside of Sal Sunseri, probably, but to what degree is hard to quantify.

[panthersphan]

Traitor.

[magnus]

I'm a bit surprised that Milus' units looked as good as they did - granted Gilhamer is a holdover and Meeks gets the lion's share of the credit but Milus was the one I didn't feel good about. Smith, Baker, Meeks seemed like good hires, but Milus was a second rate guy from a second rate team. Baker coached with him but he was top rate. There was no "assistant to the janitor" past. Milus had that.

But it worked.

Lewis was a solid DBs coach. I think people made too much of him having been a DC, in that they expected he'd somehow replace Trgovac. Maybe he left expecting he'd get to be a DC if he left for a place that would allow him to interview, but he won't get another shot anytime soon.

I also think that Lewis got a little bit of a bad rap for the Godfrey/Lucas issues, but he certainly didn't fix them. Lucas went, Marshall quietly became a top DB and we had good safety play most of this year (after Harris came back). Somehow, the unknown with no name and no background took the reins and made the bigger impact.

[Mr. Scot]

I'm a bit surprised that Milus' units looked as good as they did - granted Gilhamer is a holdover and Meeks gets the lion's share of the credit but Milus was the one I didn't feel good about. Smith, Baker, Meeks seemed like good hires, but Milus was a second rate guy from a second rate team. Baker coached with him but he was top rate. There was no "assistant to the janitor" past. Milus had that.

But it worked.

Lewis was a solid DBs coach. I think people made too much of him having been a DC, in that they expected he'd somehow replace Trgovac. Maybe he left expecting he'd get to be a DC if he left for a place that would allow him to interview, but he won't get another shot anytime soon.

I also think that Lewis got a little bit of a bad rap for the Godfrey/Lucas issues, but he certainly didn't fix them. Lucas went, Marshall quietly became a top DB and we had good safety play most of this year (after Harris came back). Somehow, the unknown with no name and no background took the reins and made the bigger impact.

They all gotta start somewhere, I suppose.

Milus was the one I could get the least vibe on at the start of last season. Part of me still wonders if Meeks didn't have some influence there too, given his background is with DBs.

I think I might be the only one who cares that we have separate coaches for safeties and corners. I'd rather have it all under one guy, though I'll grant it's worked okay split before.

[panthers55]

I'm a bit surprised that Milus' units looked as good as they did - granted Gilhamer is a holdover and Meeks gets the lion's share of the credit but Milus was the one I didn't feel good about. Smith, Baker, Meeks seemed like good hires, but Milus was a second rate guy from a second rate team. Baker coached with him but he was top rate. There was no "assistant to the janitor" past. Milus had that.

But it worked.

Lewis was a solid DBs coach. I think people made too much of him having been a DC, in that they expected he'd somehow replace Trgovac. Maybe he left expecting he'd get to be a DC if he left for a place that would allow him to interview, but he won't get another shot anytime soon.

I also think that Lewis got a little bit of a bad rap for the Godfrey/Lucas issues, but he certainly didn't fix them. Lucas went, Marshall quietly became a top DB and we had good safety play most of this year (after Harris came back). Somehow, the unknown with no name and no background took the reins and made the bigger impact.

I think you said it all when you said that most of the success was due to Meeks. He is widely recognized as a great DB coach and obviously Milius benefitted from the association. It seemed clear to me in camp that Meeks was running the show and managing the DBs in drills and practice.

I suspect that as DC he needed someone to manage alot of the details but Meeks seemed to do much of the teaching and direction. Plus it seems to me that Meeks was also able to inject his energy and personality into the team this year. They got off to a rocky start but played with alot of fire and tenacity as the season progressed.

[magnus]

They all gotta start somewhere, I suppose.

Milus was the one I could get the least vibe on at the start of last season. Part of me still wonders if Meeks didn't have some influence there too, given his background is with DBs.

I think I might be the only one who cares that we have separate coaches for safeties and corners. I'd rather have it all under one guy, though I'll grant it's worked okay split before.

Most teams have two DBs coaches, and we obviously have plenty of times before (Ken Flajole was initially hired as the extra DBs guy when Al Reynolds went with JDR). Gilhamer's theoretical "seniority" has apparently made him a standard assistant instead of a third-tier assistant (assistant DBs coach, for instance, or assistant DL coach like Sunseri was), but otherwise it's the same situation.

It's not uncommon for teams to employ 2-3 guys like that, and I'm good with that (a lot more than the OC-passing game coordinator split type thing, or the dual assistant head coach type thing, or the Redskins' assistant HC/associate HC/special assistant to the HC type of trivial hierarchy). I think traditionally our extra coach or two besides Gilhamer have come from interns.

[Mr. Scot]

Most teams have two DBs coaches, and we obviously have plenty of times before (Ken Flajole was initially hired as the extra DBs guy when Al Reynolds went with JDR). Gilhamer's theoretical "seniority" has apparently made him a standard assistant instead of a third-tier assistant (assistant DBs coach, for instance, or assistant DL coach like Sunseri was), but otherwise it's the same situation.

It's not uncommon for teams to employ 2-3 guys like that, and I'm good with that (a lot more than the OC-passing game coordinator split type thing, or the dual assistant head coach type thing, or the Redskins' assistant HC/associate HC/special assistant to the HC type of trivial hierarchy). I think traditionally our extra coach or two besides Gilhamer have come from interns.

Obviously, you don't want to copy much from the Redskins :eek:

I guess I'd just prefer it all under one guy for the sake of continuity / fluidity / integration / other synonyms that basically equate to them all working as a unit. I know it can be done with separate coaches. I just prefer the single coach model.

The guys whose opinions matter see it differently