Falcons presser: Blank was ‘angry’ with season
Falcons owner Arthur Blank let the public know that he was 'angry' with how last season turned out. Curtis Compton, ccompton@ajc.com
Falcons owner Arthur Blank admitted that he was “angry” after the team’s early exit from the playoffs in a press conference on Wednesday.
Blank, head coach Mike Smith and general manager Thomas Dimitroff spoke to the local media in the aftermath of a season that saw their Super Bowl hopes come crashing down in the wild-card round of the playoffs.
Before the presser, the team had already lost defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder to a “family decision” to return to the college ranks and around the same time, offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey was being introduced as the new head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Here are some of the other highlights from the press conference that lasted a little over an hour.
– The team stated that it wanted to support transparency, but that it would conduct its search for new coordinators in private.
– The team has 17 free agents and consider eight of them to be core players. However, all of them may not return because of financial considerations.
– Blank stated that the team is playing for “rings” and “championships.” He said, “We’re not about being in the playoffs. . . this organization is about greatness.”
– The team wants to add some tough, mean and physical players.
– Smith said that his offensive MVP was quarterback Matt Ryan. His defensive MVP was linebacker Sean Weatherspoon. He also had kind words for punter Matt Bosher and return man/coverage guy Eric Weems.
– He stated that Weatherspoon received some attention during the league-wide Pro Bowl voting.
– Running back Michael Turner’s touches will likely be cut down moving forward.
– Blank spoke about the “intellectual honesty” of Smith and Dimitroff. “They’ll be honest in their evaluations,” Blank said.
– Blank promised that the analysis of the team will be thorough. “We need to be careful that we don’t throw the baby out with the bath water,” Blank said.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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515 comments Add your comment
crackbaby
January 11th, 2012
3:10 pm
Arthur Blank is in a tough position. He isn’t a football guy and has to depend on input from others to make decisions here. TD and Mike Smith have done an admirable job of rebuilding the franchise but have not paid enough attention to details that would provide success in the playoffs.
So Blank either has to trust Rich McKay, TD, Mike Smith, etc. or lay down the law on his own (not likely). The “tough, mean players” quote is alarming. Seriously? How about tough mean coaches who hold players accountable?
The Falcons are close to playoff success, much of the improvement needs to made in schemes, philosophy and play calling. More so than the actual talent.
Bobo is Not the Problem
January 11th, 2012
3:10 pm
If Matty Ryan is the MVP, it was a really bad season for the offense.
Stewie Griffin
January 11th, 2012
3:10 pm
Oh my, how these morons don’t remember how bad it was for how long. To think they don’t realize how things have turned around with King Arthur and his court.
I should send all these morons back in my time machine to those awful times.
Hamad Meander
January 11th, 2012
3:11 pm
I love that Arthur Blank doesn’t accept the product that the Falcons put on the field this past year, and I’m disappointed because I feel they underachieved, but only one team wins a Superbowl every year. Sometimes it’s not the best team. Where I think the Falcons failed this year was in play calling, offensive line play, too many dropped passes (RODDY!), and not enough aggression on both sides of the ball. I find little fault in the defense, as I think they played pretty well all year.
Offensive production and explosiveness is what wins Superbowls these days, and I think the trade for Julio has the right one. This team has a lot of young talent to draw from, now it is time to coach them better, and put a better quality product on the field next season.
alex
January 11th, 2012
3:11 pm
If ryan and “spoon” are your mvp’s,you’ve got a significant quality issue;kinda like the ceo that blank and his buddy” hand-picked” to lead HD upon their retirement..
Hugo
January 11th, 2012
3:11 pm
We need to be ready for the next few yare not going to years. Cam and Drew are not going to be slacking off. We have to be prepared on both sides of the ball.
Elmo
January 11th, 2012
3:12 pm
@lostboy – Amen brother. Tired of watching Turner tip toe to the line to get tackled. Guy needs a 10 yard head of steam to be able to break a tackle…and god forbid he have to run around the end rather than straight forward.
Stewie Griffin
January 11th, 2012
3:14 pm
Anyone want pass my head around and play catch?
Ga Losers Club
January 11th, 2012
3:14 pm
UGA will give you Crowell if you don’t call Grantham.
Dawg A
January 11th, 2012
3:14 pm
Blank is the worse owner in all sports! He is only concerned with raising our season ticket prices and putting himself in front of the camera on Sundays. I wouldn’t care if he sold them team today!
Mark
January 11th, 2012
3:15 pm
@ Queensbridge
January 11th, 2012
3:09 pm
I couldn’t agree with your message more! Matt’s best year thus far has was his rookie season. While you are right he is not the only reason for the Falcon’s demise so early in the playoffs; however, he played a big role. How many times this season has he over thrown his receivers? It seems like he has difficulty with any passes over 30-40 yards.
gbal
January 11th, 2012
3:15 pm
An NFL (or college) team can be successful with average backs and a good OL.
An NFL team can not be successful with below average OL and ***** backs.
UGA and ATL gotta focus on the OL.
Stewie Griffin
January 11th, 2012
3:16 pm
ooooooohhh, I just love the Falcons. My daddy should play for them.
Honky Talkin
January 11th, 2012
3:16 pm
Ironic how an offensive coordinator who’s team scored zero points against the Giants, lands a head coaching job.
TH
January 11th, 2012
3:17 pm
Please. Like you people have never made a grammatical error in your lives…
Rise Up
January 11th, 2012
3:17 pm
Glad Mularkey is leaving (finally!) But Smith has taken us as far as he can. Time to get a new EXPERIENCED HC that can INSPIRE and TEACH our players.
kybodawg
January 11th, 2012
3:18 pm
mike bobo for oc. with turner 3 runs up the middle should be cake.
Jay Dubu
January 11th, 2012
3:18 pm
I know Tommy D didn’t draft Jamaal Anderson, but that was a wasted 1st round pick also. Jamaal did have 3 sacks for the Colts this year, that’s a career high.
this is falcons blog
January 11th, 2012
3:18 pm
Trolls and haters have jumped on here
gbal
January 11th, 2012
3:19 pm
falcons and UGAs problems are a lot alike when you think about it. Conservative, predictable, apparently lacking on the OL….
Something in the water or a culture in the ATL area?
Go Bobo, no really GO
January 11th, 2012
3:19 pm
Maybe Blank will hire Bobo as OC…
artie
January 11th, 2012
3:20 pm
I removed the pathetic OC and DC, sat in the briefing center on camera and said our mea culpa’s, showed I was totally PO’d, publicly spanked Smitty & Tommy, and commited to build a better team.
Let the hype begin on that we are now a better football team.
Oh yea, be sure to renew your season tickets for 2012!
Thanks.
Artie
ManofWar
January 11th, 2012
3:20 pm
And this is the product you loyal fans are willing to sit out in an open air stadium to watch??? Will this organization pay for your healthcare bill?
gbal
January 11th, 2012
3:20 pm
Enter your comments here
this is falcons blog
January 11th, 2012
3:20 pm
Dubu, you have been most logical on here. Thanks
I don’t think Edwards was worth the salary…..we’ve needed bookends forever.
Tremaine
January 11th, 2012
3:20 pm
– Blank stated that the team is playing for “rings” and “championships.” He said, “We’re not about being in the playoffs. . . this organization is about greatness.”
Was that a shot at the Hawks and Gearon?
http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2011/12/17/atlanta-hawks-michael-gearon-jr-q-and-a/
Die Hard Fan
January 11th, 2012
3:21 pm
Mr. Blank is a class act and the single-best owner this franchise has ever had; I firmly believe that this team can and will eventually produce a championship for the city of Atlanta in the not-too-distant future.
I didn’t get to watch the playoff game on TV, but tracked the play-by-play from a hotel lobby in Amman, Jordan. I’ll do my film study on the game when I return home and watch it on my DVR.
I believe Head Coach Mike Smith is being gracious in his press conferences when he discussed player and unit performance during the game, as well as overall for the season. Rest assured, he will make the appropriate changes in coaches and player personnel, player and overall unit skill-set, unit schemes, and team/unit attitude during the offseason.
From what I’ve witnessed during his tenure, I believe Coach Smith is an excellent motivator of men, a tough, hard-nosed leader of the team, and a solid friend to his fellow coaching staff and players.
I think he does a good job of providing his coordinators insight during the week when it comes to developing the offensive/defensive scheme, as well as preparing his players prior to each game. But I think he needs to do a better job of managing the game from the side-line when he sees that his team’s game plan isn’t working and adjustments need to be made w/the scheme.
He has already proven on more than one occassion that he’s willing to make player adjustments during a game, but seems to get outsmarted by some of the more cranial coaching staffs during big games against the NFL’s winning teams, i.e. Green Bay, Saints, Patriots, Steelers, etc., etc.
I think we got beat by NY on Sunday night because the Giants played press coverage against our wide-receivers and trusted on their Defensive Line to fluster and negatively impact our QB’s timing and pocket presence. Adjustments were not made by our coaching staff and our offense continued to flounder.
Our run game was shut down and once we got behind by more than two scores, we had to abandon the run which allowed our O-line to get dominated.
The no-huddle works, but Matt Ryan needs to widen his play call repetoire because he’s becoming predictable when running the no-huddle offense. He relies heavily on plays that he feels comfortable with and becomes easier to defend against because he’s not scanning the entire field on no-huddle plays because he’s already madeup his mind where he wants to go with the ball.
On Defense, the Giants O-Coordinator figured out what J. VanGorder was doing by the middle of the third quarter and our under-sized defense just got worn out. This coupled with E. Manning settling in because we weren’t generating a pass rush, allowed him to overwhelm our weakened secondary which was playing without B. Grimes and W. Moore.
I know our team is hurting salary-cap wise, so we’re going to need to be prudent during the off-season in order to maximize our effectiveness.
Some of my recommendations would be:
1. Fill in our coaching staff vacancies ASAP and allow the O and D-coordinators to hire assts. where appropriate; new-blood could be a good thing, scheme-wise, in the ATL.
2. Take a solid look at the D-roster and consider the feasibility of going to a 3-4 Defense instead of running the 4-3. I know this would mean saying farewell to some of our D-Linemen, but I think we could become more effective on Defense while spending less money. If we moved to a 3-4 Defense I’d let J. Abraham, L. Sidbury, and J. Perry go and move K. Bierman to a rushing OLB position. Hang onto J. Babineaux, C. Peters, T. Walker, and R. Edwards to play as DE’s in our 3-4 scheme, then look to add a behometh at NT.
3. Move D. Robinson to Free Safety and force him to re-do his contract because he’s not worth the $57 million we’re paying him. If he doesn’t renegotiate his current contract then cut him and let him go play CB for another team making less money. Moving D. Robinson to FS let’s you use T. Decoud and J. Sanders as back-ups at FS and SS. Both are solid backups and Special Teams contributors, but simply can’t cover quality receivers or TE’s in the NFL. D. Robinson and W. Moore at Safety allow them to bring punishing hits which should help our secondary gain back some much needed swagger (taking a page from the NO Saint’s Safety play).
4. Move D. Franks to RCB and re-sign B.Grimes to play LCB w/the money we save from D. Robinson’s new contract. Play C. Owens as a Dime back and go find a solid nickel CB who doesn’t have an injury plagued history like K. Hayden and B. Williams both did.
5. A 3-4 Defense allows lets us get A. Dent on the field at MLB w/C. Lofton. Then play S. Weatherspoon and S. Nicholas at our OLB positions (insert K. Bierman on rushing downs for S. Nicholas). Shore up our backup’s at LB by signing a couple of MLB/OLB types and then we’re playing Defense with our most athletic players on the field at one time.
6. On offense, fix the O-line ASAP. We have to address LT, C, and RG or our offense will continue to struggle. We need to get bigger, meaner, and faster on our O-line or M. Ryan will continue to struggle executing any scheme he’s expected to QB for. T. Brady stands back in the pocket for days at a time when running his pass-oriented, spread-style offense. M. Ryan could do the same thing if given the same amount of time from solid blocking protection.
7. We either get S. Baker to become reborn hard and play RG or cut him. J. Hawley either needs to bulk up to play RG, or smarten up to play C; otherwise he remains a backup. We’ve got some solid backups at the C/RG/LT positions w/J. Hawley, A. Jackson, and W. Svitek, but we NEED to procure starting caliber players or we’ll continue to struggle. Addressing this area of the team may take two seasons unless we free up significant money from our Defense and potentially sign a significant FA for our O-line. Or maybe we use a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick on a solid interior lineman in this years draft.
8. Starting WR’s and RB’s are set; don’t touch them. Look to replace the injury-plagued K. Meir with a tall and fast receiver that can fill-in if injuries occur to our starting WR’s. Also, look to get H. Douglas more involved in the offense by moving around J. Jones, R. White, and H. Douglas in the receiver positions during offensive plays.
9. Not going to address our draft picks until I see what we look like following coaching hires and FA moves.
10.. Set the team goal as: Win at least 11 games and/or win the NFC South, beat the Saints twice and embarrass them on the field-of-play at least once, and make it to the NFC Championship game.
Matt Ryan highly overrated
January 11th, 2012
3:22 pm
MVP Matt Ryan you are lying to yourself already . you need a new QB to pressure him. He is just your every day QB not a play off QB. Just look at the facts in the playoffs. He has the best player around him and look what he did !! Three time do you yet get it!!!
Arthur's New Stadium
January 11th, 2012
3:22 pm
Atlanta chump taxpayers will be on the hook soon for a $800 million new stadium for Arthur—he wants state of the art, open air with tons of expensive suites to cash in big! Arthur will keep all the revenue from the stadium, and chump taxpayers and fans will foot the bill! Bend over!!!
AlanFalcon
January 11th, 2012
3:22 pm
I’m glad that Arthur has spoken about his disatisfaction, think it needed to be said and that T.D. and Smitty will take it to heart, he didn’t get where he is because he was easy, but because he spoke up and gained a positive result.
Go Falcons !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jcard120
January 11th, 2012
3:23 pm
Since we lost Harvey Dahl our offensive has not performed to the same level it had in the past. That is where we need to make improvements. You can hate on Matt Ryan all you want, but it is not his fault.
Starrman
January 11th, 2012
3:23 pm
Dementioff is the problem.If he keep bringing it cornerbacks the same size as the people from the Wizard of Oz we will never win
stinger
January 11th, 2012
3:23 pm
“intellectual honesty”…Smith just said that Matt Ryan was the mvp of the Offense??? Come on man, you either NOT being honest or you don’t have a clue! Coach Smith is clueless…That really scares me…if he is being honest. That proves he’s not going to correctly evaluate what needs to change.
this is falcons blog
January 11th, 2012
3:24 pm
Anyone know off hand what draft picks we have this year?
BMWdiva7
January 11th, 2012
3:24 pm
Arthur, you need to invest in a Secondary! Your Secondary is too small and slow! Recruit some defensive backs!!!!!
Paulofatlanta
January 11th, 2012
3:25 pm
I will take this team over the endless 3-13, 4-12, 5-11 teams we used to have season after season with an occasional winning season. Sure, I want a championship, but at least we now have a winning team, and with a few tweaks, maybe a championship.
1eyedJack
January 11th, 2012
3:25 pm
Well then, get out the checkbook Arthur.
Jcard120
January 11th, 2012
3:25 pm
“this is falcons blog” We have all but our 1st and 4th round picks.
Bronxgirl
January 11th, 2012
3:25 pm
@ Queensbridge….What are you tawkin’ about? Do you have a job? You can’t read SON! He said it right…it’s water!
New Stadium my azz!
January 11th, 2012
3:25 pm
The entire organization is trash!
this is falcons blog
January 11th, 2012
3:25 pm
Starrman….LOL on the DB’s!
1eyedJack
January 11th, 2012
3:26 pm
“Anyone know off hand what draft picks we have this year?”
I know we don’t have a 1st or a 4th.
Falcons are watching the playoffs from the couch.
January 11th, 2012
3:27 pm
The Falcons have two main area’s to address and will need to do it in free agency; 1) O line: Blank needs to spend more money on protecting Ryan and being able to consistently run the ball. Turner averaged about 50 yards per game in December. The team is best known for blowing 4th and 1 plays this season; 2) The defensive backfield. The Falcons corners are too small and do not match up against the best WR’s in the league. Dunta Robinson needs to be released along with Abraham, then use that money to bring in some talent. With very few picks in this years draft, free agency seems to be the only viable option for improving the team.
Always the bridesmaid...never the bride
January 11th, 2012
3:27 pm
Sigh….life in Atlanta. Always “wait till next year” whether it’s the Falcons, the Jackets, the Dawgs, the Braves, the Hawks…at least I don’t have to ride the roller coaster highs and lows of the Thrashers any more!!! Oh wait, I never cared about the Thrashers.
Aundray Bruce
January 11th, 2012
3:27 pm
I’m available!!!
D. Orlando Ledbetter
January 11th, 2012
3:28 pm
Supersize that order, mutt — Yeah, I thought he wanted a piece of my bow tie! I asked him if the candidates for OC and DC will be presented to the public in press conference like they did in Arizona and Houston. He talked about being transparent. I was asking for some transparency. He said it wouldn’t come down to a public vote. They want public money for the new stadium? I’m just saying . . .
this is falcons blog
January 11th, 2012
3:28 pm
Paulofatlanta…..Love the great attitude….more should feel the same!
D. Orlando Ledbetter
January 11th, 2012
3:28 pm
Bartles & James — Haven’t had or seen one of those in years!
this is falcons blog
January 11th, 2012
3:29 pm
D-Led, like the public stadium money analogy!
Bob Decker
January 11th, 2012
3:29 pm
Blank needs to go back to a Home Depot store and pick up a hammer and smash in the head of Mike Mularkey and the rest of the play callers for what I would say was the worst play calling since the NFL started 100 years ago.