When the Falcons hired Dan Quinn this winter, there was no secret about what they were after: In Quinn's two seasons as defensive coordinator, the Seahawks fielded the NFL's best passing defense, and Arthur Blank & Co. wanted to see if that excellence would translate in Atlanta.
Now, we don't have exact numbers on how often the Falcons lined up in any version of their nickel defense last year. But based on snap counts provided by Pro Football Focus (642 for Robert McClain, 458 for Josh Wilson) and the eye test, I think it's safe to say that they relied on the nickel quite a bit last year -- to little effect, of course.