Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank has decided to retain coach Dan Quinn and general manager Thomas Dimitroff for the 2020 season.

After a 1-7 start, the Falcons have shown dramatic improvement in the second half of the season with a 5-2 record. That includes road wins over San Francisco and New Orleans, two of the top teams in the NFC.

There was much speculation about Quinn's future, specifically after Blank held an impromptu news conference after a home loss to Seattle on Oct. 27 and said every aspect would be reevaluated.

Quinn made some changes, including moving assistant head coach Raheem Morris from wide receivers coach to defense to work with the secondary. That move proved to be a shrewd decision that helped jump-start the defense. Morris inherited defensive playcalling duties, alongside linebackers coach Jeff Ulbrich, as Quinn surrendered those duties. The Falcons announced Friday that Morris will be the team's defensive coordinator starting next year.

"You have to pick apart the word 'continuity.' Continuity for the sake of continuity is not necessarily a good thing. It depends on what you want to continue,'' Blank said in a video posted by the team. "In our case, we studied really hard the performance of the team during this year. Obviously the first half of the year, 1-7, not where we wanted to be. Horrific by any standard.

"But you look at the second half of the year, we're 5-2. The question really is for me, were the improvements that were made, were they significant enough and did they show enough of a trend line that I feel that there's reason to believe we can carry that kind of record and that kind of performance over to the year 2020?

"And my answer is 'yes' because essentially the players, we didn't come up with Superman the second half of the year. Same number of players, same quality of players, same individuals who were playing just as hard in the first half as the second half. But we put them in better positions to win."

In a statement, the Falcons said Quinn and Dimitroff will report to team president and CEO Rich McKay. McKay will report directly to Blank, who retains oversight of the football operation.

Quinn has a career record of 42-37 through five seasons but is 23-24 since the Super Bowl LI loss to the New England Patriots. Quinn and Dimitroff signed contract extensions in July 2018 through 2022.

The players have been supportive of Quinn throughout the season. Star receiver Julio Jones even stepped up after one game and put the blame on the players, not on Quinn.

Captain Ricardo Allen voiced his support of Quinn this week.

"DQ has done so much for everybody in this locker room," Allen said. "Everybody from the bottom 62 to the top one, he gives everybody a chance to contribute to this team. That's not like everywhere. Some people just have people that they like in certain positions and they don't give folks chances.

"I remember when I first got here [in 2014], I don't feel like I had a chance to actually compete at all. But when Coach Quinn got here, he gives everybody a chance to show their worth and show what they can do."