New Coaches, New Approaches

ATLANTA

DIRK KOETTER COORDINATOR

FALCONS COACH Mike Smith, who worked with Koetter in Jacksonville in 2007, has turned to him to provide some spark to an already talented Atlanta offense. Koetter is known as a guru of the vertical passing game (the paltry numbers from Jaguars rookie Blaine Gabbert notwithstanding), but he added depth to his résumé when he led Maurice Jones-Drew to the '11 rushing title in the face of weekly eight-man fronts. Koetter should help QB Matt Ryan and receivers Roddy White and Julio Jones reach new statistical heights in '12 as well as revive the Falcons' inconsistent running game.

CHICAGO

MIKE TICE COORDINATOR

TICE HAS BEEN promoted from offensive line coach, but the most important change was hiring Jeremy Bates as QB coach. Bates was Jay Cutler's position coach in Denver in 2008, when the mercurial quarterback had his finest season as a pro, completing 384 of 616 attempts for 4,526 yards (all career highs) en route to his only Pro Bowl season. Expect Cutler and Bates to have renewed success in Chicago. Though Cutler had good years the last two seasons under coordinator Mike Martz, his accuracy and touchdown passes went down. Bates should have both of those numbers trending back up.

DALLAS

BILL CALLAHAN COORDINATOR