Falcons head coach Dan Quinn has shaken up his coaching staff this offseason, and one of the major changes is to have a coach whose responsibilities include clock management decisions and making the call on replay challenges.
Quinn announced today that Kyle Flood, who spent the last two years as the Falcons’ assistant offensive line coach, will have a new senior assistant role that includes in-game decision making, clock management strategy, timeouts and challenges.
Before joining the Falcons’ staff Flood spent four years as the head coach at Rutgers, so he has plenty of experience with managing games. That’s usually the head coach’s job, but a head coach has a lot to think about during a game, and it makes sense to have an assistant who can think only about those key decisions.
Giving a coach specific responsibilities relating to clock management is a smart move, one that Rams head coach Sean McVay did a year ago when he hired Jedd Fisch as an analyst and, in McVay’s words, “clock management specialist.” It won’t be surprising to see more coaches make these kinds of hires.