FLOWERY BRANCH — The only thing missing from Atlanta’s preseason practices are glow sticks and a disco ball.

Taking a page from Seattle’s Pete Carroll, new Falcons head coach Dan Quinn has radically changed the environment in which the club trains. Not only is music blaring throughout the sessions, the tunes are being spun by an actual DJ (Jay Envy) from a local Atlanta radio station.

“It’s an experience every day with the DJ out at practice and hearing some new music,” Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan said. “It’s been fun. (Quinn) has done a great job of connecting to our young guys and really bringing the best out of everybody on a daily basis.”

Quinn said that wanting a “high-energy” practice environment isn’t the only reason for the sonic blasts. Quinn wants to prepare his players for the game-day environment in which music and crowd noise are usually deafening both at home and on the road. That includes the defense, which must find non-verbal ways to communicate when fans inside the Georgia Dome are booing the opposing offense.

“With the coaches, you don’t want to hear everybody saying, ‘Move over! Back up! Do this!'” said Quinn, who was Seattle’s defensive coordinator the past two seasons. “Let’s find out what the players know.
“In camp sometimes, you can do a lot of coaching with yelling out what to do on every play. Then you get in the game and it’s like, ‘No wonder (the player) didn’t know what to do.'”

Falcons center Joe Hawley notices a positive difference in the tempo of the defense, which is where Quinn spends the majority of practice coaching.

“Those guys are playing with a lot more energy than last year,” Hawley said. “It’s fun to see them attack the ball.”