Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said Atlanta will run a base 3-4 defense in 2024
The Atlanta Falcons brought back a familiar face in Raheem Morris to be the team’s 19th head coach in franchise history, and the former Rams defensive coordinator wasted little time putting together his coaching staff.
Morris brought two assistant coaches with him from Los Angeles, naming Jimmy Lake as the defensive coordinator and Zac Robinson as the offensive coordinator. The team retained special teams coordinator Marquice Williams from Arthur Smith’s staff.
On Wednesday, all three coordinators met with the media. There’s a lot to cover but one notable quote came from Lake. As reported by Josh Kendall of The Athletic, Lake said the team will run a base 3-4 defense.
The Falcons will run a "base 3-4," new DC Jimmy Lake says.
The Falcons ran a 3-4 defense under Dean Pees from 2021-2022, but when Ryan Nielsen took over in 2023, the team switched to more of a hybrid scheme. In general, base defensive schemes tend to be overanalyzed since most teams spend more time in sub-packages these days.
Nonetheless, Lake and Morris have a clear vision for what this defense will be going forward.
Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake will call plays, head coach Raheem Morris stated at his Monday press conference.
The Atlanta Falcons finally introduced Raheem Morris as the 19th head coach in franchise history on Monday afternoon. Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot laid out their vision for the Falcons in 2024 and beyond during an hour-long press conference.
While they didn’t get specific about their plans for the quarterback position, Morris did give some background on his two coordinator hires. Former Rams QBs coach Zac Robinson will take over the offense and Rams assistant head coach Jimmy Lake will serve as the defensive coordinator.
Some wondered whether or not Morris, who spent the last three years as the Rams defensive coordinator, would handle the defensive playcalling duties in Atlanta. During Monday’s press conference, Morris said Lake would call the defensive plays.
Falcons HC Raheem Morris said DC Jimmy Lake will call the plays.
Morris said he wants to be able to be able to be with both sides of the ball.
Former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith was essentially the offensive coordinator for the last three seasons and the results were underwhelming, to say the least. Morris has previous head-coaching experience, which should give him an advantage over some of the other, less-experienced candidates.
As someone who was hired as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the age of 32, Morris should be able to avoid a lot of the missteps that other young coaches make.
Raheem Morris is taking another Rams coach with him to Atlanta, hiring Jimmy Lake as his defensive coordinator
Raheem Morris is continuing to poach coaches from the Los Angeles Rams’ staff for his new group in Atlanta. After already hiring Zac Robinson as his offensive coordinator, Morris is now bringing Jimmy Lake with him as the Falcons’ defensive coordinator.
Lake was the Rams’ assistant head coach for one season in 2023 after being the head coach of the Washington Huskies for two seasons in 2020-2021. He and Morris only spent one season together in Los Angeles but their connection goes way back.
Lake was on Morris’ staff in Tampa Bay from 2010-2011 when Morris was the Buccaneers’ head coach. They were also both defensive coaches on the Buccaneers in 2007.
It’s unclear who will replace Lake as McVay’s assistant head coach, or whether he will fill that role at all. The Rams have plenty of positions to fill on McVay’s staff already after losing Eric Henderson, Morris, Robinson and now Lake.
The Atlanta Falcons have hired former Rams assistant head coach Jimmy Lake as their new defensive coordinator
The Atlanta Falcons have now hired all three coordinators under new head coach Raheem Morris, the team announced on Monday evening. Two former Los Angeles Rams coaches will fill the offensive and defensive coordinator positions.
Jimmy Lake, who served as the assistant head coach of the Rams in 2023, will take over as the Falcons defensive coordinator. The 47-year-old previously served as the head coach at the University of Washington from 2020-2021.
Lake also has experience working with Morris in Tampa Bay as a defensive backs coach.
For offensive coordinator, the Falcons have hired Rams quarterbacks coach/pass-game coordinator Zac Robinson. The team desperately needed a fresh take on offense and it will help to have someone who coached Matthew Stafford and worked under Sean McVay.
Atlanta opted to keep special teams coordinator Marquice Williams in his current role. Williams has served the last three seasons as the special teams coordinator under former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith. Considering how well the special teams units have played under Williams, there was no reason to make a change.
The Falcons plan to introduce head coach Raheem Morris on Monday, February 5.
Five candidates for the Michigan State defensive coordinator job as the hire looms near:
Just as Alan Haller’s search for a new football coach was tight lipped, Jonathan Smith’s search for a defensive coordinator has been very hush hush and close to the vest.
The clock is ticking for Smith to make a hire because the transfer portal is going crazy and the early signing period is less than two weeks away.
Naturally, the list of defensive coordinator candidates has shrunk, and Smith is homing in on specific candidates as he will looks to lock-in his defensive staff as the big recruiting month rolls along.
Let’s take a look, based on some educated guessing and intel from sourcing Spartans Wire has obtained, at which five candidates could be on Smith’s shortlist:
10 possible candidates that can be the next defensive coordinator at Michigan State
With the hiring of Jonathan Smith as Michigan State’s next head football coach, it also means that there will be a new staff coming to East Lansing. While Smith has already gotten a huge jump on hiring his staff, click here to view who has been hired by Smith so far, he has yet to announce who will be serving as the defensive coordinator for his staff.
Smith had two defensive coordinators throughout his tenure at Oregon State, so there are several options and possibilities for Smith to explore.
Let’s take a look at some of the potential candidates that could potentially be in the mix for MSU’s defensive coordinator position:
The Rams have hired former University of Washington head coach Jimmy Lake to Sean McVay’s new-look coaching staff.
The Los Angeles Rams have made some changes to the coaching staff this offseason and they’ll be bringing in another new face. While his role with the team is undetermined, the Rams have hired former University of Washington head coach Jimmy Lake to Sean McVay’s coaching staff.
The #Rams hired former University of Washington head coach Jimmy Lake to a spot on Sean McVay's staff, per sources.
Lake's title is TBD; he has mostly coached defensive backs, including with the Bucs and Lions from 2006-11 before returning to college.
Lake began his NFL coaching career as an assistant defensive backs coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2006. He would continue coaching defensive backs with the Buccaneers and the Detroit Lions from 2006-2011.
Seeing that Jonathan Cooley, the former defensive backs coach of the Rams, recently joined the Carolina Panthers coaching staff, Lake could be joining Los Angeles to coach the secondary. Cooley spent three years with the Rams and one year as the team’s defensive backs coach.
After coaching defensive backs in the NFL from 2006-2011, Lake would rise up the ranks in college and become the head coach at Washington in 2020. In his two seasons as head coach, Lake produced a 7-6 record at Washington before being suspended and then fired after shoving a player in 2021.
The 114th chapter of Oregon vs. Washington is coming on Saturday. This one will be written by Dan Lanning and Company.
Your average college football team plays 12 games a year. The good ones get 13 games, and the great ones get 14. To say that each individual contest is important is an understatement.
Rivalry games come once a year. If you’re lucky, and the school that you root for is entrenched in a passionate clash with another fanbase, then these games are arguably more important than any other on the schedule. The result of this meeting will go on to shape the next 11 months of interactions for the two regions, with one walking tall, holding reason to boast. The other will often quietly sulk and pretend that it didn’t mean as much as we all know it did.
For those reasons, this upcoming game between the No. 6 Oregon Ducks and No. 23 Washington Huskies is one of the most important games that will be played in Eugene this season. The potential ramifications are enormous.
This is a rivalry that has lacked some luster in recent years. The Ducks are currently on a three-game winning streak over the Huskies, and have won 15 of the last 17 matchups between the two, with an impressive 12-game stretch from 2004-2015.
While the play on the field hasn’t always been competitive, the heat off of the gridiron has been as entertaining as ever. The 2021 matchup between these two teams might have served just a small role in either team’s season outcome, but it certainly added fuel to the fire of Washington vs. Oregon hatred.
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For starters, you had the “academic prowess” comments from former UW head coach Jimmy Lake, where he proclaimed that Oregon isn’t a rival to the Huskies because they don’t have the same scholastic accolades as “Notre Dame, Stanford, and USC,” a trio of teams that Lake considered rivals.
It was the first “petty grenade” that was lobbed in the 2021 matchup, and though Mario Cristobal continually shrugged it off as nothing, you could tell that it made the rounds in the locker room.
(AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)
If you look at those comments as Lake putting his foot in his mouth, then the actual game between the two teams served as the Huskies’ head coach tripping over himself and face-planting into the mud.
It certainly wasn’t pretty, but Oregon ended up winning 26-16 on the road after an ill-advised decision to punt when trailing by 8 with less than 2 minutes left in the game resulted in a comical safety for Washington.
Once the clock struck zero, Cristobal grabbed that petty grenade and lobbed it back into the Huskies’ camp, landing it perfectly in Lake’s lap.
“Those (expletive) guys right there, they represent everything that’s wrong with football,” Cristobal exclaimed in a locker room celebration video captured by a number of players after the game. “So when you kick their ass, you let them know it.”
Oregon vs Washington 2021 video. The game that got Washington's head coach suspended and ultimately fired. pic.twitter.com/UfnjA5ULjy
As I alluded to earlier, the Duck faithful have been dining on that one night of travesty for the last 366 days, never missing a chance to take pleasure in the Huskies’ misery.
On Saturday evening, though, the slate will be temporarily wiped clean as the two teams meet again. Should Oregon triumph, expect more ammo to be added to the arsenal of a rabid fanbase that has grown drunk with moxie and winning over the past two decades. Should the Huskies come out on top and end the Ducks’ campaign for a College Football Playoff berth, expect years of hurt and anger to be lobbed over the fence in the form of ridicule and slander.
The Oregon Ducks are fortunate enough to have a pair of rivalry games on their schedule this year, with the Oregon State Beavers coming up at the end of the regular season as well. I will contend that this Washington game is the one that really matters, though, and the one that will hold greater weight going forward.
It’s called ‘Husky Hate Week’ in Eugene for a reason. All due respect to little brother OSU, but there isn’t a ‘Beaver Hate Week’ that is celebrated throughout the Oregon campus every year. At some point, it starts to feel like bullying and piling on.
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What makes this game so important this year is the representation of a new chapter in the rivalry. While Oregon fans got the last laugh in 2021, they were still left down in the dirt after the season came to an end with Cristobal jetting for South Beach. Now both teams enter this rivalry with a new head coach at the helm, as Dan Lanning and Kalen DeBoer prepare for their first of hopefully many duels.
It’s an outcome that will likely hold greater weight than others down the road. A win in the first meeting between these two will mean more than a win in the second meeting, or the third. I can’t tell you why, exactly, but it’s simply the case. Both fan bases are feeling as confident in their team’s ability as they have in quite some time, and the loser of this game is going to face a harsh realization that they aren’t as good as they previously thought.
My early prediction is that Oregon is going to win, and potentially by a lot. Washington has a great passing offense, but the defense needs a lot of work, and they’re going to struggle to stop Bo Nix and Kenny Dillingham. I couldn’t tell you what the final score will be, but I feel confident saying that a lot of points will be put on the board when all is said and done.
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And if Duck fans are lucky, they will be leaving Autzen Stadium with some pep in their step, knowing that there are another 360-plus days of ridicule and chastising that they can direct at their neighbors up north. Who knows, there may be some petty grenades that get lobbed around as well — the week is still young.
As we gear up for the showdown between Oregon and Washington, I encourage fans on both sides to get prepared. This game isn’t just another game, and the outcome won’t be held in the same regard as any other outcome.
This is the newest chapter of Husky Hate Week in Eugene, written by Dan Lanning and Co.
.@IrishWireND is preparing for a Notre Dame vs #Pac12 game, but Washington — not Cal — is the Pac-12 team the Irish need to be studying right now. We explain.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are preparing for a Pac-12 team this week, when the California Golden Bears come to South Bend, but the Irish need to look at another Pac-12 team to learn more about their present situation.
The Washington Huskies have a new coach who seems to understand how to run a program. We will see if the Huskies are for real this coming weekend against Michigan State, but even though their two wins have come against weak opponents, Kalen DeBoer is demonstrating noticeable competence on the job in Seattle.
The relevant comparison between Notre Dame and Washington refers to the coach DeBoer replaced: Jimmy Lake.
What got Lake fired at Washington? In an immediate sense, he shoved an Oregon player at the end of a loss to the Ducks. He got enmeshed in some non-football controversies which represented a tipping point. However, on a deeper level, the root cause of Lake’s implosion as Washington head coach — the reason why his tenure lasted only two years, one of them the truncated 2020 pandemic season — is that he made a terrible hire on the opposite side of the ball.
Pac-12 fans know this. Notre Dame fans need to know this. Lake was elevated from his defensive coordinator position to succeed Chris Petersen. Athletic director Jen Cohen clearly did not vet Lake’s offensive philosophy (at least not enough). She allowed him to hire John Donovan as offensive coordinator even though there was no marketplace, no outside demand, for his services. Donovan was a total disaster, and he dragged down Lake and the UW program.
Translated: Lake did not seek the best of the best on offense. He is a brilliant defensive tactician, but he dramatically underestimated the value of having a strong, top-tier coordinator on the offensive side of the ball. Head coaches with expertise on one side of the ball have to hire a top-shelf coordinator on the opposite side.
This is the connection between Jimmy Lake and Marcus Freeman.
Look, we know Tommy Rees can recruit, and that Notre Dame’s staff is an excellent recruiting staff. There are lots of things Freeman understands about the business … but at the coordinator level, you can’t do things on the cheap. You need a star play-caller. Tommy Rees could be a quarterback coach, but the keys to the offense needed to be handed to a master chess player.
Barring a remarkable turnaround, Notre Dame needs a better offensive coordinator to launch the Freeman Era in 2023 and beyond. I know this is a USC site, so giving some friendly advice to Notre Dame might seem weird, but hey: We want Notre Dame to be good so that wins over the Irish carry maximum College Football Playoff benefits. We know our friends at Fighting Irish Wire feel the same way about us.
Get an elite OC if you know what’s good for you, Marcus Freeman. Don’t become the next Jimmy Lake.
When it comes to some of the worst head coaching hires over the past decade, the Pac-12 unfortunately comes up a lot.
The past decade or so has not been a banner time for the Pac-12 when it comes to football.
There have been some high moments, such as Oregon and Washington making it to the College Football Playoff, but there have been multiple low moments as well. USC — an historically great program — was an afterthought for several years, and the teams at the bottom of the conference floundered season after season.
Even the Ducks struggled mightily for a few seasons while they tried to find the right coach to replace Chip Kelly before landing on Mario Cristobal and then Dan Lanning.
Of course, football is about much more than just coaching, but the guy making the calls on the sideline usually has a major hand to play in whether a team is successful or not. This past week, 247Sports put out a ranking of some of the worst coaching hires over the past decade.
It feels fitting that a handful of Pac-12 coaches were on there, as well as one man with close ties to the Ducks. Here’s how Pac-12 coaches fared in the rankings:
