Mike Smith knows failure starts with him, not coordinators (updated)
Things didn't go Mike Smith's way for the third straight postseason. (AP photo)
(UPDATED: 2:20 p.m.)
Once you get past the problems on the offensive line and the secondary, the quarterback’s accuracy problems, the breakdown of the running back and players just generally looking at times like they would rather be somewhere else, this is what the current chapter of Falcons’ tumult comes down to: Mike Smith is on the clock.
When an NFL team blows out a coaching staff, it basically is eliminating scapegoats. Think of it as a restaurant owner changing chefs because the tables in his dining room are always empty.
Falcons owner Arthur Blank isn’t happy because he hasn’t a won a playoff game in seven years, and it’s not for lack of his willingness to spend money. General manager Thomas Dimitroff isn’t happy because the moves he has made to turn the Falcons into winners have nonetheless had limitations. Somebody had to take the hit. For now that’s Smith’s assistant coaches.
Regardless of the fact that Mike Mularkey left for a head coaching job (Jacksonville Jaguars) and Brian VanGorder left for a return to college (Auburn defensive coordinator) — and his career tendency to get restless after a few years — the backdrop of a third consecutive playoff loss screamed that one or both were going to get fired, anyway. Other staff changes also may follow.
The Falcons underachieved this season. They know that. Forget the regular-season drop from 13-3 to 10-6. The past two postseason belly-flops to Green Bay and New York were embarrassing. Dimitroff had already decided, to use his words Wednesday, that there was not “going to be a minor tweak, [like] changing the color of socks.”
When there’s failure in any business, it generally starts from the top down. Blank has done little wrong since making his ill-fated decision in 2007 to bring in Bobby Petrino. Dimitroff has made some high-profile personnel moves that have fizzled (Dunta Robinson, Ray Edwards and Sam Baker, being prime examples). But he largely has reshaped the organization and given order and respectability to the front office. (Critics of the Julio Jones trade remain. But Jones has proved to be a great player, a potential difference-maker. I thought it was the right move then and I still do.)
After owner and general manager, the next move down the ladder is head coach. Smith’s 43-21 (.672) regular-season record is impressive. But this organization is way past that now. The 0-3 playoff record is the massive mole on his resume’s forehead.
This is sports. The appropriate question isn’t: How many games did they win? The appropriate question is: Should they have done better?
The obvious answer is yes. That’s on Smith.
There were too many games this season where the Falcons didn’t seem focused. They were inconsistent. They were soft mentally and physically. They lacked an edge. Those maladies aren’t exposed against losing teams, against whom the Falcons won most of their games. They show up against premier opponents, and on the road, and in the postseason.
“I understand what my job is,” Smith said. “It’s to get people to perform. When guys don’t block, when guys miss tackles, ultimately one guy is responsible for that, and that’s me. I put more pressure on myself than anybody can possibly put on me.”
It’s commendable that Smith never has had a team go into a slide. Losses were followed by wins. But it shouldn’t take a loss to get everybody’s attention.
For now, everybody is blaming the coordinators. That’s fine. Mularkey never figured out a way to fully utilize the weapons on the team, and he became indignant any time somebody suggested his play-calling was flawed. The Falcons don’t need to be a bombs-away offense — just far less predictable.
Dimitroff on the offense: “In this league, as you know, matchups are very important, and there’s the Sun Tzu approach of the art of surprise, the art of deception. That’s very important. Looking forward with a new coordinator, how we utilize our talent is going to be very important.”
VanGorder was viewed by some as too rah-rah and college-like for the NFL. Sorry, I’m not buying it. The guy knows defense. Maybe some of his players just don’t take direction well.
Regardless, it often seemed Smith wasn’t on the same page as his coordinators. For as much heat as Mularkey took, Smith is the one more likely to order vanilla in an ice-cream shop. VanGorder’s defensive resume is all about attacking and blitzing. But the Falcons were conservative.
Coordinators call plays, but the head coach sets the agenda. If Mularkey and VanGorder failed, it’s at least in part because Smith failed. Going into next season, this much is certain: There will be nobody else to blame.
By Jeff Schultz
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416 comments Add your comment
J.J.M.
January 11th, 2012
2:45 pm
why not just go ahead and rid mike smith too? I thinks its time to start over
Dee
January 11th, 2012
2:46 pm
Ryan wasn’t a dink-and-dunk in college. Just because he was forced into playing that way in a Mularkey offense doesn’t make him permenantly just that for the rest of his career.
Cal
January 11th, 2012
2:50 pm
Ok, so called fans…..
Every game the falcons won this year was against subpar teams, did you see our schedule for next season. The thought makes me want to T-Bo (LOL), oh wait I forgot he and rookie Yates are still in the playoffs. They actually won their first playoff game ever.
Jimmy Crack
January 11th, 2012
2:53 pm
Ryans problem with the deep ball wasn’t accuracy as much as trying too hard to throw a precision throw between his receiver and the sideline, worrying too much (IMO) about the interception. When he threw the ball in that sideline area, 9 out of 10 times it was too far out of bounds for the receiver to make a play on the ball. Ryan rarely tried a long pass in the middle of the field and regardless of the company spin, it has a lot to do with his arm strength on long passes. Ryan doesn’t have the power so he has to spin the ball, but that puts too much air underneath the ball as it goes downfield. Remember the triple team on Julio when he made that circus catch? It was actually only a double team but the ball took so long to get there a third defender was able to catch up. Since steroids are illegal, Ryan needs to trust his receivers that they can go up and out muscle the defender and catch that long pass and stop worrying about throwing an occasional interception.
But all this goes back to protection and the new OC must concentrate on revamping the O line to protect his non-moving QB and give him confidence to keep looking downfield.
ATLfansuck
January 11th, 2012
2:54 pm
4 winning seasons, a good, young franchise QB and an owner that is more than willing to do what it takes to win and you people want to fire the head coach, get rid of Ryan and whine about playoff losses? As a fan of a rival team, instead of wanting so much change so fast, you people need to give your team time. It’s no wonder ATL fans suck. You want it all at once.
Gatorzone
January 11th, 2012
2:54 pm
Atlnative, well said…
Ryan would be perfect in the west coast offense. However, i do think he gets rattled really easy and starts feeling imaginary pressure as oppossed to stepping up or to the side of hte pocket to buy more time like brees or manning.
I don’t care what anyone says, sliding 2 yards short of first down is gutless!
Who Me?
January 11th, 2012
2:55 pm
Good column Mark, but if we go 13-3 or 15-1 next season, would that be good enough to keep Smitty around? Wasn’t Leeman Bennett fired because he wasn’t capable of taking us to “the next level” at the time? Methinks that’s the case with Smith, no matter the regular season record, even if its undefeated. Get to Round 2 and it better be a close game at that, or you’re done.
Gatorzone
January 11th, 2012
2:59 pm
If you take an outside look at Matt Ryan (whom i really liked for awhile) you see his glaring shortcomings… Good teams have been able to take advantage of these and beat the Falcons easily. Ryan is easily rattled and plays scared. He is so afraid of an int, that he rarely takes the chances needed to move from mediocre to elite… i agree with jimmy crack. At some point he has to trust his receivers and get the ball to them, not 5 yards in front or out of bounds. (in order to avoid an interception)
Who Me?
January 11th, 2012
3:02 pm
ATLfansuck – you clearly haven’t lived here long. We’re not whining – we’re tired of losing and I think we all recognize that if ANY professional sports team is going to get us another World Championship, its going to be the Falcons – not the Braves or the Hawks with their existing ownership.
Call it Fed Up. Hell, call it what you want – but the bottom line is it is no longer acceptable to make it into the playoffs, we expect to win the whole damn thing given the leadership of the team.
so get all hissied up if you want, but don’t call us whiners or take note that “we want it all at once.”.
Nothing could be further from the truth, its only taken us 40+ years to get this far and we’re TIRED of mediocrity.
AtlNative
January 11th, 2012
3:02 pm
@ATLfansuck
You are entitled to your opinion, but I would say that it is better to strive for excellence than to settle for mediocrity. And for the record – the reason we are so angry is not the losses themselves, it is the MANNER of the losses. If we had lost to the Giants 28 21 in a hard fought game, so be it. We did not score A SINGLE OFFENSIVE POINT…. and we FREQUENTLY get run out of the building against quality opponents. That is the issue. We are mad because we loss in EPIC FASHION – REGULARLY.
@ Gatorzone
Yeah that slide/fall down was REALLY, REALLY BAD and I am afraid says something about our ‘franchise’ QB. I am not giving up on him yet, but I gotta say, he looks not one bit better today than when he stepped on the field as a rookie, and that worries me.
Tootsi
January 11th, 2012
3:02 pm
Jeff,
I don’t know how you, someone who is qualified to be a journalist, can defend D. Orlando Ledbetter. He is just a complete disgrace to your profession and the AJC should be ashamed to have him in its employ.
“baby out with the bath weather” was his latest absurd typo. Meanwhile, his blog covering a presser lasting over one hour lacked any insight and was flat out lazy as he normally is. I found it hilarious that Blank showed clear disdain for his idiotic question about allowing the public to assist with the decision of hiring new o and d coordinators. Oh, and his twitter account is an even further embarrassment to the AJC.
Fire D. Orlando Ledbetter and let Chris Vivlamore or someone who can at least write coherent sentences take over.
LDawg
January 11th, 2012
3:03 pm
BVG good – are you kidding? He may have known his stuff but that never translated in the pros. Bend don’t break soft zone garbage was awful and predictable. Anyone with a decent passing game can pick us apart.
Hillbilly D
January 11th, 2012
3:05 pm
A big advantage that Leeman Bennett had that Mike Smith doesn’t, was Jeff VanNote, R C Theilman, Mike Kenn and Co.
Stinger2
January 11th, 2012
3:07 pm
I believe there is a reason why so many people are making so many negative comments about D. Orlando Ledbetter.
artie
January 11th, 2012
3:07 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 & Teddy, 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
Loserville USA
January 11th, 2012
3:09 pm
Hillbilly D — That’s what I have been screaming about on all the blogs since Sunday.
Warren Bryant, Dave Scott, R.C. Thielmann, Mike Kenn — all drafted between 1976 and 1978… and all us old-timers know what that did for Steve Bartkowski — who had his knee blown out twice. Made him a top-notch QB.
That’s what Ryan needs — and he needs it RIGHT NOW.
Statick
January 11th, 2012
3:10 pm
If Ryan is easily rattled, it’s because his oline protection stinks. A major part of the reason Brees and Manning are so good it that they have good o-lines. If Ryan is scared, it’s because Sam Baker has been getting him killed from his blind side most of his career and having Hawley allowing pressure in his face doesn’t help. It’s plain to see that Ryan doesn’t trust his own line. The only positive that came of of said distrust is that his release is quicker. So it’s simple…build the lines, Dimitroff!
Coach Killer
January 11th, 2012
3:11 pm
Matt Ryan is a coach killer. His lack of heart got the OC fired. Next year it will be Mike Smith.
Hillbilly D
January 11th, 2012
3:12 pm
Loserville
I’ve been talking about it the last few years. Nobody listens to me, though.
Coach Killer
January 11th, 2012
3:13 pm
Matt Ryan was one of the least sacked QB’s in the NFL. Matt Stafford’s played behind an o-line 10x’s worse than ATL and he still managed to avg almost 9 yards per pass. All of you Ryan apologists will realize the truth when Ryan gets Mike Smith fired next year because we can’t score.
Joe
January 11th, 2012
3:16 pm
Why is Smith still the head coach? Failure does start with him…if we are to get mean players and physically, how can they be lead by a “cream puff” coach. Hire coaches from a successful staff, NO, GB, NE and we will be a turn around team. Look at what SF did during the season. Is Alex Smith really a QB? It all starts with the coach, Mr. Blank need to clean house on this staff, it has run its course!
collegeballfan
January 11th, 2012
3:17 pm
“The Falcons underachieved this season.”
Underachieved? I thought they did about as expected based on their talent level.
Gatorzone
January 11th, 2012
3:19 pm
Statick, have you ever thought that Rodgers, and brees quick decisions and getting rid of the ball make their line look better than they are?
At one point this season GB was starting their 3rd string left tackle and backups at RT and one of the guards… Atlanta’s starters are better than that!
Hillbilly D
January 11th, 2012
3:19 pm
Alex Hawkins, for those who remember him, always said that whatever problems a sports team has, can always be traced back to ownership.
Dr. Warren
January 11th, 2012
3:19 pm
Peria Jerry is another pockmark on Dimitroff’s record.
AtlNative
January 11th, 2012
3:20 pm
@Coach Killer
Gonna have to agree, Ryan is not sacked near as much as some other guys. However, he is ‘pressured’ quite a bit.
Still – he does seem to play scared, I mean that slide/fall at the end of the first half of the Giants game was one of the worst/embarrassing things I have seen.
marshall
January 11th, 2012
3:25 pm
Two word for offensive Coordinator….Mike Martz….He just resigned from Chicago……was the director of the greatest show on turf …when st louis won a super bowl…..our team has similar weapons that they had……would be a great fit.
Falcons4Eva
January 11th, 2012
3:29 pm
Jeff Schultz: “Coordinators call plays but the head coach sets the agenda. If Mularkey and VanGorder failed, it’s at least partly because Smith failed. Going into next season, this much is certain: There will be nobody else to blame.”
And the fans said: “Amen Brother!”
Gatorzone
January 11th, 2012
3:29 pm
Marshall, they also had Kurt Warner… Someone has to be able to get the players the ball.
Gafan
January 11th, 2012
3:29 pm
Everyone keeps saying that Smith is the best coach in Falcon history. That may be correct but isn’t that like being the skinniest kid at fat camp?
Jimmy Crack
January 11th, 2012
3:30 pm
Y’all leave DLed alone!
He’s an Atlanta institution, like that guy Mel who calls into the local radio shows.
JSS
January 11th, 2012
3:34 pm
@ Hillbilly…
Yes you have… And I always added “yes sir!”
Great Falconi
January 11th, 2012
3:35 pm
I think Mike Smith is smart enough to realize that his brand of football conservatism is too far to the right to beat the best teams in the league. Smitty is on the hot seat now. Expect him to adjust his philosophy accordingly.
Jimmy Crack
January 11th, 2012
3:37 pm
Also, enough of the Mike Martz talk. If you know of him you know that his schemes require the QB to hang in the pocket LONGER, which is what was getting Cutler sacked a half a dozen times a game until “somebody” made him change his philosophy to run the offense through Matt Forte, and in spite of that Cutler got hurt anyway. We already had that philosophy here with Turner, and Turner is NOT Forte.
Cecil34
January 11th, 2012
3:38 pm
Smith is on borrowed time – the clock is ticking on him, and I don’t see anything special about this man that would in any way make me believe that he is capable of winning a Super Bowl.
He coaches small, and in the playoffs, you need big.
Hillbilly D
January 11th, 2012
3:41 pm
JSS @ 3:34
You have, for sure.
Tootsi
January 11th, 2012
3:43 pm
Ledbetter as an Atlanta Institution? One of the most absurd things I have ever heard.
Statick
January 11th, 2012
3:45 pm
Gatorzone, you could probably said that for Rodgers, but Brees has three Probowl linemen in front of him.
Jimmy Crack
January 11th, 2012
3:46 pm
Tootsi, you must not know Mel.
jerry
January 11th, 2012
3:50 pm
Whoa! Waiting to see if Smith can win a playoff game is leaping too far ahead. If the Falcons don’t start kicking ass and taking names, good teams or bad, from the get go, send him to the unempoyment lines.
not workin' at work
January 11th, 2012
3:53 pm
Mike, you are not the one who should fall on your sword. That would be Thomas Dimitroff’s job. Mike, while you may have failed to discern what caused last year’s home loss to Green Bay (your player roster / personnel), it is not entirely your job to draft players or retain the ones you need to keep. You needed defense and big uglies / lineman. Instead traded up to draft a receiver. Never draft a receiver in rounds 1 or 2. You made two huge mistakes in last years draft. I do not see how you will be able to recover from that Julio Jones trade any time soon.
cmc
January 11th, 2012
3:55 pm
Great column Jeff and perfectly said…the coordinators did suck but I felt Van Gorder did a respectable job more so than Mularkey…..both are gone save Smith – now if this team underachieves next year its on him and no one else.
Dee
January 11th, 2012
3:57 pm
I do not see how you will be able to recover from that Julio Jones trade any time soon.
He can, he just has to get Dimitroff to get off his butt and start scouting prospective linemen after the second round AND make some moves in FA to build up the line. It’s still possible.
Fred Macmurray
January 11th, 2012
4:03 pm
Mel from southwest Atlanta,, reminds me of MCR a bit….
Noneya
January 11th, 2012
4:03 pm
Join us for the Falcons Season Wrap Up tonight at 9 on Blogtalkradio.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cpstylin/2012/01/12/falcons-season-wrap-up
RTR22
January 11th, 2012
4:05 pm
Get some OL so Ryan can throw the ball to JULIO……..Roll Tide
extremus
January 11th, 2012
4:12 pm
It’s fair to say that Mike Smith has earned at least one more season as the Falcons’ head coach; no other coach in team history had ever posted consecutive winning seasons or playoff appearances. Smith has done both, with a winning record in four straight seasons after a 4-12, QB jailed, coach bailed catastrophe.
How many here complained about Smith’s hiring when it was first announced or at least thought to themselves, “Who the heck is THIS guy!? We wanted a proven ‘name’!” I’ll be honest; I figured he was for all intents and purposes a dead man walking, a glorified interim coach. And then he, Ryan, and Turner guided the Birds to 11-5 and the playoffs his very first season. Consider the culture reversed.
But once the bar had been raised to playoff-caliber expectations, the logical next step was the Superbowl, a plateau which only two teams reach in any year. Which is worth considering when you would have thought we were YEARS away from even sniffing playoffs after the Vick/Petrino debacle. But fair or not, these are the expectations, and while Mike Smith has proven able to make the Falcons a winning football team, he has yet to bring a Lombardi Trophy to Atlanta or to win a playoff game, and when all is said and done, regardless of what the Falcons’ record is next season, the only deciding factor as to whether he’ll likely be back is if they win at least once in the playoffs.
What I’m saying is, it’s a very tough situation when you do something unprecedented in the history of an organization’s 40-year history and realize your job comes down to one game’s outcome. Maybe we could do better than Mike Smith…but I guarantee we could do a whole lot worse.
WS
January 11th, 2012
4:27 pm
Jeff
Good coverage and I agree with you. Smith is getting a pass.
Rocky's Daddy
January 11th, 2012
4:37 pm
Do I like Smitty too much? If I’m a fan from the beginning of the franchise, why shouldn’t I like this many wins?
But too, if the ideal coordinator exists, he is someone that Mike Smith can live with but still would be someone who would make Smitty a little UNCOMFORTABLE. Someone who would be the next head man for a much smoother transition like has not been the case in franchise history
eturn
January 11th, 2012
4:40 pm
Im happy that both OC and DC coordinators are gone…But I do worry about the new OC coming in and trying to fit in with Smith and his conservative style..He will have to have a strong personality to get Smith to see it his way. Hope Smith have openmind because his job might be next