June Jones, a coach and quarterback best known for developing the run and shoot offense, has died at the age of 73.
Jones, who was born and raised in Portland, spent 1975 and 1976 as the quarterback at Portland State playing for head coach Mouse Davis. With Jones running Davis’s offense, Portland State put up passing numbers the likes of which had rarely been seen in football at any level.
After signing with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent, Jones stuck around for five seasons, mostly as a backup. Jones didn’t put up great passing numbers in the NFL, but during his pro career he became convinced that the run and shoot — an offense with one running back and four wide receivers, which NFL teams had never deployed — could work at the highest level of football.
Following his playing career, Jones became an assistant coach at Hawaii in 1983, spent two years in the USFL and CFL, and then was hired by head coach Jerry Glanville to be the quarterbacks coach of the Houston Oilers in 1987. With the Oilers, Jones coached future Hall of Famer Warren Moon and helped to show what the run and shoot offense could do with an elite quarterback running it.
After two years with the Oilers, Jones left to reunite with Davis, who was then the offensive coordinator on the Lions. Although the run and shoot offense was often criticized in Detroit for not doing enough with future Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders, Jones and Davis helped to show that a great running back could exist within the run and shoot, which was thought of as a pass-first offense.
In 1991, Glanville was head coach of the Falcons and hired Jones to be his offensive coordinator, and after three years Jones was promoted to replace Glanville as the Falcons’ head coach.
Jones took the Falcons to the playoffs in 1995, but in 1996 the Falcons slumped to 3-13, and Jones was fired. The next year Jones was hired as quarterbacks coach of the Chargers, then spent the last 10 games of that season as the Chargers’ interim head coach after Kevin Gilbride was fired.
In 1999, Jones was hired to be head coach at Hawaii and did the best work of his coaching career: The Warriors had gone 0-12 the year before, but in Jones’ first season they went 9-4 for what was, at the time, the biggest single-season improvement for any team in college football history. Jones won several national coach of the year awards. Jones spent nine seasons at Hawaii, becoming the program’s all-time winningest coach, and culminating in the 2007 season when Hawaii went 12-0 before losing in the Sugar Bowl.
In 2008, Jones left Hawaii for SMU, where he never found the same success. He later spent two years as a head coach in the CFL and one year as a head coach in the XFL.
Jones’ legacy in football was developing a pass-first approach that is now commonplace across the sport, from high schools to the NFL. Although few if any football programs at any level still use the term “run and shoot” to describe their offense, virtually every coach in the sport employs some concepts that trace directly to June Jones.
The Falcons got a big win over the 49ers and now their quarterback has been recognized for his performance.
Michael Penix Jr. has been named NFC offensive player of the week.
Penix completed 25-of-34 passes for 213 yards with three touchdowns in the 29-20 victory. That’s good for a 118.9 passer rating, which is his second-highest of the season so far.
It was Penix’s second game in a row with three touchdown passes. He was the only QB in the conference with at least three TD passes and no interceptions with a completion rate of at least 70 percent in Week 7.
This is the first career player of the week award for Penix.
The Falcons will be on the road to face the Buccaneers in Week 8.
It took longer than the Falcons would have hoped, but Michael Penix has now been a starting quarterback for the equivalent of a full season.
Last Sunday’s 29-20 win over the 49ers was his 17th NFL start and Penix had one of his better games in that outing. He was 25-of-34 for 213 yards and three touchdowns as the Falcons moved to 7-10 in his starts.
While that record could be better, Penix’s individual numbers back up the promise the Falcons saw in him coming out of Washington. Penix has thrown for 3,876 yards, 21 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 61.5 percent of his passes. In his five starts this season, Penix has helped the Falcons to 31 points a game, which is tops in the league over that span, and he’s convinced safety Jessie Bates that he’s the right man for the job.
“When No. 9 is out there, this team is a completely different football team and I really truly believe that he is a franchise quarterback. . . . You can sleep good at night when you have Michael Penix playing quarterback for you,” Bates said this week, via the team’s website.
The Falcons are 3-2 since Penix returned from last season’s torn ACL and a win over the Buccaneers this weekend would leave them at 4-4 on the season. It would also have them in first place in the NFC South if the Panthers lose to the Packers on Thursday night, which would be a good step toward convincing others that Bates’s assessment is on the mark.
Falcons rookie linebacker Kendal Daniels left the field on a stretcher last Sunday. A week later, he left the field a hero of the Falcons’ 29-20 upset of the previously undefeated 49ers.
“It’s been the craziest week of my life,” Daniels said, via Marc Raimondi of ESPN. “I’ve never not walked off the field after an injury. So, mentally, I had to be prepared and going back home and just making sure I was OK mentally more than anything and not playing timid, but I’ve never not gotten up from an injury. So, being stretched off the field -- I won’t let it happen again. It was a bad feeling, and I’m blessed to be able to play this week.”
Last week, Daniels dove to tackle Bears tight end Colston Loveland in the third quarter and Daniels’ head collided with Loveland’s left leg. Medical personnel attended to Daniels for almost 8 minutes before sending him to a local hospital for further evaluation of his neck.
On Sunday, Daniels iced the game with an interception of Brock Purdy. He also had nine solo tackles and a fumble recovery.
Coach Kevin Stefanski called it “remarkable.”
“I wasn’t thinking of [his neck injury],” Daniels said. “‘I think that was the last thing I was worried about was last week.”
The 49ers are no longer undefeated.
Atlanta’s opportunistic defense intercepted Brock Purdy twice and recovered two fumbles (by George Kittle and Kaelon Black), and the Falcons upset the 49ers 29-20.
Falcons quarterback Michael Penix is continuing to play very good football, as the Atlanta offense looks like a totally different team than the one that took the field in the first two weeks of the season while Penix was injured. Today Penix completed 25 of 34 passes for 213 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions, no fumbles and no sacks.
49ers quarterback Brock Purdy had his first multiple-interception game of the season, and he struggled with a depleted 49ers receiving corps.
The 49ers are 6-1 and still among the top contenders for the Super Bowl, but today’s loss showed how injuries are affecting them. The Falcons are 3-4 and very much alive in the NFC South. The 49ers have been one of the best teams in the NFL all season, but today, the Falcons were the better team.
