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Mularkey, whose Falcons offense was shut out in a 24-2 playoff loss to the New York Giants last week, was introduced as Jacksonville’s coach Wednesday. He hired former Falcons quarterbacks coach Bob Bratkowski to be his offensive coordinator.
The Falcons hired Koetter despite the Jaguars ranking last in the league in total offense and yards passing in 2011. Koetter’s offense ranked 29th with its average of 15.2 points per game.
Koetter was hired as Jacksonville’s offensive coordinator in 2007. He worked with Falcons coach Mike Smith for one year. Smith was the Jaguars’ defensive coordinator before he became Atlanta’s head coach in 2008.
Smith said Koetter will bring “a fresh set of ideas to our offense.”
“He is bright, he understands the intricacies of the vertical passing game, but he also wants to be able to run the football which is very important in the NFL,” Smith said. “I look forward to working with Dirk and have tremendous confidence that he will be a great addition to our team and our coaching staff.”
FISHER REACHES OUT
ESPN reported Sunday that new Rams coach Jeff Fisher met with former Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer about the same job in St. Louis on Sunday.
Schottenheimer interviewed on Friday with Alabama coach Nick Saban regarding the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator position.
Schottenheimer left the Jets in what both sides called a “mutual decision” after an 8-8 season in 2011.
The Jets hired former Dolphins head coach Tony Sparano as their new playcaller.
L.T. ON SANCHEZ
Count LaDainian Tomlinson among those who don’t think Mark Sanchez is lazy.
The future Hall of Fame running back became the latest player to chime in and essentially dismiss the remarks of an anonymous Jet quoted in a published report last week. The player portrayed Sanchez as lazy and someone who doesn’t work hard in part because he knows he’s not going to get pulled.
“Listen,” Tomlinson said Sunday on ESPN. “There’s a lot of things you can say about Mark Sanchez, but to call him lazy is a bit much. This is a guy that has worked very hard off the field, in the film room – I’ve seen it – in the weight room, putting in extra time with the coaches early in the morning after practice when everybody is gone. He’s putting in time, so he’s not lazy.”
Tomlinson strongly hinted the negative rhetoric surrounding Sanchez stems from some problems the quarterback had with his wide receivers.
“I think some things that happened in the locker room (are) obviously between him and the receivers,” Tomlinson said. “I think that’s where some of this is coming from, some of the disconnects that happened throughout the year, some of the arguments you guys heard about throughout the year.”
ON GOOD BEHAVIOR
Football fans in San Francisco were exuberant but mostly well-behaved Saturday after the 49ers’ 36-32 playoff victory over the New Orleans Saints.
A police spokesman says 19 people were arrested on misdemeanor charges during and after the game at Candlestick Park, while one person was arrested on suspicion of selling counterfeit tickets.
Sgt. Michael Andraychak says most of the misdemeanor arrests were alcohol-related.
Police beefed up their presence for the sellout crowd of 69,732 by increasing the number of officers they usually have on duty for a football game by 25 percent.
