鈥?Steve Sarkisian will return as the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator despite a decline in production in his debut 2017 season.Sarkisian has been the target of criticism as the Falcons Tremaine Edmunds Color Rush Jersey , who lost at Philadelphia in the divisional round of the playoffs last week, fell short of a return trip to the Super Bowl.Coach Dan Quinn announced Thursday that Sarkisian will return in 2018.After leading the league in scoring in 2016, the Falcons fell to 15th this season . Quinn said Sarkisian doesn’t deserve the full blame for the offense’s struggles.“To be clear with you, if this was about one person, that decision already would have been made,” Quinn said, adding he has “no issue with making changes, no problem with that but I have no interest in making change just for the sake of change.”The Falcons finished 10-6 in the regular season and won a wild card game at the Los Angeles Rams before the 15-10 loss to the Eagles . The Falcons were scoreless in the second half. Sarkisian’s play-calling was second-guessed when Atlanta couldn’t score after having a first down at the Eagles 9. A fourth-and-2 pass from Matt Ryan to Julio Jones was incomplete.Sarkisian was hired from Alabama after Kyle Shanahan was hired as San Francisco’s coach. Quinn offered the reminder that Shanahan also faced harsh criticism following is first season leading the offense in 2015. Atlanta led the league with 33.8 points per game in 2016.“A number of people wanted his head” after the 2015 season, Quinn said. “What has stayed the same and what I learned during that process is what you’re doing in order to build consistency, you better be consistent.”Quinn said the struggles on offense were “not an indication of one play-caller or one player. It’s on all of us.”Meanwhile, Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said reaching an agreement on a contract extension with Ryan will be “the number one focus” of the offseason.Ryan is entering the final year of his six-year, $103.75 million contract. He will be 33 next season but is still seen as the team’s long-term starter who, like New England’s Tom Brady Adidas Jonathan Quick Jersey , can play to or beyond the age of 40.“Personally that is my feeling,” Dimitroff said. “He’s a guy who takes care of his body both on and off the field properly. … And of course we’re fortunate with the way the rules are set up in the league, they’re going to preserve our quarterback, hopefully. Again, we want him to be part of this organization for a long time coming.”Dimitroff expressed optimism an agreement on Ryan’s contract extension could come quickly.“I think it’s not going to be that difficult of a negotiation, quite honestly,” he said. “I think we’re going to be in a good spot with it.”NOTES: Quinn confirmed special teams coach Keith Armstrong will have a second interview in Arizona’s search for a coach . Quinn said Armstrong “is terrifically qualified to lead a team.” … Quinn said he is “in the middle” of his search to replace quarterbacks coach Bush Hamdan, who left to become the offensive coordinator at University of Washington. Among the candidates are longtime NFL assistant coach Greg Knapp, the Falcons’ former offensive coordinator under Jim Mora, and Jedd Fisch, who was UCLA’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach last season.
TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs are a better team than shown by the results of the first two games of the first-round playoff series with the Boston Bruins.

They proved it Monday with a 4-2 victory at the Air Canada Centre in Game 3. They will have a chance Thursday night to even the series at two games each at the ACC.

“We knew we had to be better than we were in the first two games and we came into that game with more motivation, we came in more competitive,” Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly said Wednesday. “That’s what we felt we had to do as a group. I think we all did that.”

The Bruins won the first two games of the series 5-1 and 7-3 in Boston.

“We knew they were going to be better Jason Sanders Jersey Elite , and they were,” Bruins defenseman Torey Krug said. “They were out there flying around and making some good plays and pushed us back on our heels. … It felt like it was there for the taking, and it just slipped away. That stuff’s going to happen sometimes.”

Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock felt the score of Game 2 was not a good indication of how his team played.

“I thought Game 1 we were no good, I thought Game 2 we were way better than the score indicated, to be honest with you,” Babcock said. “I thought we started good in that game and it didn’t go our way, it kind of came unraveled. I thought (Monday) we had a better push. Our goaltender (Frederik Andersen) kind of part way through the game really settled in and got playing the way he’s capable of playing.

“That made a huge difference for us. Obviously, our fans and our building, we had last change, all those things.”

Maple Leafs center Leo Komarov is expected to miss his second straight game Thursday after leaving Game 2 with a lower-body injury. That means center Dominic Moore likely will be in the lineup again.

The Bruins are impressed by the stretch passes used by the Maple Leafs.

“It’s tough,” Boston defenseman Charlie McAvoy said. “We’ve seen it a couple times this series where the D will jump in and next thing you know they’re off to the races. They play that style where they just want to counter so fast with their speed. They want to use their speed at all times. So, you’ve really got to make sure you’re counting five guys all the time and keeping them in front of you because they’ll go for those stretches, those breakaways.”

Said Babcock: “I just think that any time you can transition from defense to offense fast Customized Green Bay Packers Jerseys , you have a better chance to have success, for sure. In saying that, the Bruins have done a pretty good job against us and we haven’t had as much success at that as we normally have. The other thing about it is, the harder you come back and defend quickly, the better chance you have to have success in that transition. We have to do a better job in that area if we’re going to continue to have success.”

The Bruins outshot the Maple Leafs 42-30 but their top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak, so dominant in the first two games, did not get a point in Game 3.

“I don’t think they’ll be frustrated at all,” Boston coach Bruce Cassidy. “They’ve been through — Pasta not as much, the other two have been through — a lot of playoffs. Sometimes it’s going to go your way. Sometimes it’s not. Pasta had a lot of good looks that he’s going to finish. We saw it in the first two games. Clearly, it’s going to give them motivation. It should. When you keep them off the scoresheet, it’ll be talked about. At the end of the day, I don’t think it’ll bother them one bit.”

Boston’s No. 1 line accounted for 20 points in the first two games before it was blanked Monday.

“I think if you’re those guys Cheap Kerryon Johnson Jersey , what they’re saying to themselves is they say, ‘We’re going to have a better night.’ Right?” Babcock said. “They’ve shown over a period of time they have lots of good nights. Our job is to make sure they don’t. The other thing that happened in the game is Freddie (Andersen) was real good. Not as much early, but really got his game going. If you look at Game 2, it wasn’t that way. That’s probably the biggest difference of anything.”

Babcock expects the Bruins to bounce back with a strong effort.

“I think this will be the most competitive game so far in this series,” he said. “Obviously, they’re going to be ready to play. Any time you don’t win, you want to bounce back hard. We expect their best game, for sure.”
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