Learning curve has been fast for Falcons under Dan Quinn

HOUSTON — Here’s the crazy part: Dan Quinn doesn’t think first about the offensive possession, about one of the most analyzed and criticized plays in Super Bowl history, about the snap that allowed the New England Patriots to lift a fourth Lombardi Trophy and made late-night TV one-liners out of the Seattle Seahawks.

Something else comes to mind before all the craziness commenced.

“I think about the previous defensive possession, when New England scored,” he said. “That’s the one that stays in my memory. That’s the hardest one.”

It makes sense the man who ran Seattle’s defense for Super Bowl XLIX would be most crushed with how his unit performed late in a 28-24 loss. But be assured if Atlanta is faced with a similar decision Sunday at NRG Stadium — down four with 20 seconds remaining before someone is crowned champion and possessing the ball on the opponent’s 1-yard line — Quinn will not-so-softly advise his offensive staff to run the ball.

If they even need such a suggestion, given what happened in Arizona two years ago, when Seattle opted for a Russell Wilson pass instead of handing the ball to Marshawn Lynch, was intercepted in the end zone and paid for it with a championship.

Quinn has, in just his second season as head coach of the Falcons, directed the franchise to Super Bowl LI against those same Patriots who denied Seattle back-to-back titles. That’s the same team of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, of six appearances in a season’s final game the past 15 years.

He insisted he hasn’t built the Falcons in the image of “Seattle East,” but rather “Atlanta Now.” It’s impossible not to notice similarities between how Quinn interacts with and motivates players compared to Pete Carroll with the Seahawks.

There is also that part about speed. Each of them puts a premium on having the most of it.

A defensive lineman for Division III Salisbury State who began his coaching career at William & Mary, the 46-year-old Quinn is huge into the bumper sticker mentality of inspiring players. Themes. Mottos. Specific playlists when blaring music at practice.

Fast beats equal energy, which feeds into the mindset of the league’s most explosive offense.

“The biggest connection that you try to make with a player is to get to know them so you understand the very clearest way of how far you can help that player develop or how far they can go,” Quinn said. “Sometimes, a player may not even know how far they can go or the vision of how good they can be.

“That’s one of the things I love so much about coaching is explaining this role to a player, what you can be.”

He has some of the most exciting players in the league but also some of the youngest, including four rookie starters on defense who will be facing Brady and all his Super Bowl knowledge and mystique.

It’s an improving group — one that helped eliminate Wilson and Aaron Rodgers from the playoffs in two consecutive weeks — but the challenge of dispatching perhaps the greatest quarterback in history in the biggest game of their lives exists on an entirely different axis of the learning curve.

But the Falcons seem capable of doing things before their time, proven by the guy they hired two years ago as coach. The one who, come Sunday if a title is on the line, would certainly favor running over throwing from the 1-yard line.

Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.