Dan Quinn Defends Steve Sarkisian's Offense After Falcons' Inconsistent Start

Following three straight losses in which the offense has scored a total of 41 points, Atlanta Falcons head coach Dan Quinn is sticking up for offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.

"There's a lot of really good things that Steve does, and I don't want to lose sight of how good a football coach this guy is," Quinn told reporters Thursday (via ESPN's Vaughn McClure). "And I think all of us, when you're going through a time where you're not producing from a points standpoint that you like, there's a lot of factors involved."

The Falcons reached the Super Bowl last year thanks in large part to a historic offense. Their 540 points scored during the regular season tied the 2000 St. Louis Rams for the seventh-highest total in NFL history, and they scored 108 more points in three playoff games. 

Sarkisian was hired as offensive coordinator after Kyle Shanahan took over as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Atlanta's offense is averaging 21.3 points through six games this season, a decrease of 12.7 points from their average in 2016. 

Prior to taking over as Atlanta's offensive coordinator, Sarkisian's only previous NFL experience was as a quarterbacks coach for the Oakland Raiders in 2004.

The 43-year-old spent seven years as a head coach at the University of Washington and USC from 2009-15 and was Alabama's offensive coordinator for last season's College Football Playoff National Championship game against Clemson.