Are Dimitroff, Smitty and Matty Ice still right for the Falcons?
The general manager, the coach and the quarterback. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
More than just a giddy ride, the Falcons’ 2008 ascent from oblivion constituted a watershed: A franchise that had gotten a zillion things wrong got three major things right. In one offseason, the Falcons had found the right general manager, the right coach and the right quarterback. Could world domination be far behind?
Here it is 2012, and we’ve seen the Falcons fashion four consecutive winning seasons — this from an operation that had never known two in a row — and three playoff appearances. But there has been no Super Bowl surge, not even a postseason victory. And now we ask the chilling question: What if Thomas Dimitroff, Mike Smith and Matt Ryan weren’t the right guys after all?
Touting Thomas: The GM had a bravura beginning, landing Michael Turner in free agency and drafting a starting quarterback (Ryan), a starting left tackle (Sam Baker) and a starting middle linebacker (Curtis Lofton). Also included in that first class: Harry Douglas, the slot receiver; Kroy Biermann, who has started at defensive end, and Thomas DeCoud, now the free safety. In 2009 Dimitroff landed the All-Pro tight end Tony Gonzalez in a pre-draft trade. In 2010 he snagged linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, who’s a rising star, with the 19th overall pick, and in 2011 he traded up 21 spots to land Julio Jones, who’ll be an All-Pro soon, in the draft.
Doubting Thomas: Baker’s effectiveness has waned, and defensive lineman Peria Jerry, taken in Round 1 in 2009, got hurt and has done nothing. The big free-agent signings of 2010 and 2011 — cornerback Dunta Robinson and defensive end Ray Edwards — haven’t yet panned out. Of the nine Falcons named to Pro Bowl rosters over the past four seasons, only three were Dimitroff acquisitions. The defense, which ranked 24th in the 32-team NFL in 2008 and was summarily gutted, still hasn’t cracked the top 10 (it was 12th last season); the offense, which ranked sixth in 2008, has since finished 16th, 16th and 10th.
Touting Smitty: This coach has won 67.2 percent of his regular-season games, which trumps the winning percentages of Bill Belichick, Sean Payton and Mike McCarthy. Only in 2009 have Smith’s Falcons lost consecutive games, and not once over four seasons have they lost three in a row. He’s the only coach in Falcons history to post four winning seasons. (Leeman Bennett had three, Dan Reeves two.) Over those four seasons, the Falcons are 34-7 against teams that didn’t qualify for the playoffs, which means that in an any-given-Sunday league they’re not given to lapses.
Doubting Smitty: He’s 0-3 in postseason games, and each time the Falcons entered with the better record. Over four regular seasons, Smith’s teams are 9-14 against eventual playoff qualifiers, which means they aren’t nearly as impressive when matched against teams of comparable worth. He’s 2-6 against New Orleans.
Touting Matty Ice: Ryan and Steve Bartkowski are the only quarterbacks to lead the Falcons to the playoffs three times. Over four seasons Ryan has thrown for 14,238 yards with 95 touchdown passes against 46 interceptions. He has presided over 11 fourth-quarter comebacks and led 16 game-winning drives, which beats Aaron Rodgers’ output (three and six) and is comparable to Drew Brees’ (12 and 17) over the past four years.
Doubting Matty Ice: He hasn’t finished higher than eighth in NFL in passer rating, and in yards per attempt — a key indicator — he ranked higher as a rookie (fifth) than as a fourth-year pro (15th). He made six turnovers in his first two playoff losses and couldn’t lead a scoring drive in the third. The Falcons are 3-12 in regular-season games when Ryan throws 40 or more passes, and he hasn’t had even a 200-yard game in the playoffs.
Conclusions (mine, anyway): I remain impressed with Dimitroff — the five-picks-for-Julio draft deal was a big risk that will yield a bigger reward — and see no reason why a coach capable of winning in the regular season won’t find playoff success. But Smith seemed stuck last season between his GM’s desire for a more “explosive” offense and coordinator Mike Mularkey’s more plodding scheme.
It’s the belief here that Mularkey, who left to become Jacksonville’s head coach, drummed the daring out of Ryan, and a championship quarterback cannot be timid. The hires of Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator and Pat Hill as line coach — each of whom should better fit Dimitroff’s vision of “urgency” — offer the chance for a needed offensive reboot.
Dimitroff, Smith and Ryan have done great work to lift the Falcons to a place where it’s possible to be disappointed in a playoff season, and they remain bright and driven men. But the job isn’t finished, and it wouldn’t be wise to let Arthur Blank begin to wonder, as infamously happened with another Falcons owner, if his beloved club has reached a plateau.
By Mark Bradley
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275 comments Add your comment
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
February 17th, 2012
2:37 pm
@ASHCAN
They can’t handle the truth…..ha ha.
If CHOKE was so good, he would be locked in long term. It must hurt them so bad that Vick can get a 130 million dollar contract………………..go to prison…………….get another 100 million dollar contract.
I mean Vick went to prison and when he gets out his playoff win still remains the last time a Falcant qb has won a playoff game………………..that’s gotta hurt………….
HA HA HA
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
February 17th, 2012
2:39 pm
Flacco is about to get top 5 qb money while CHOKE is about to get a chicken dinner…………
HA HA HA
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[...] Bradley of the Atlanta Journal Constitution wonders if the Falcons have [...]
Gunner
February 17th, 2012
3:46 pm
Dang, you’re hard to please. Gi9ve the coaching changes some time.
doggoneit
February 17th, 2012
5:21 pm
Matt “CHOKE” Ryan Matt ryan good who do you suggest we get? gosh thats right!! you have no clue either…. HA HA HA HA
cmc
February 17th, 2012
5:48 pm
I think most Falcons fans remember the days of the paper bag years when we were ashamed to be seen with anything that had an Atlanta Falcon logo on it. Yes it’d be nice to have done better in the playoffs but getting there is not as easy as most think it is with the intangibles week to week of a 16 game NFL season. I am willing to give the new coaches a chance this year to input some new philosophies on offense, get Ryan and Julio Jones clicking (did I hear someone say Randy Moss was coming back?) and let’s go at it again. Four winning seasons in a row would have been the biggest joke of the 70s, 80s and most of the 90s too in this town with this organization. There are some weaknesses yes but I’d take us being upset about not progressing in the playoffs over us talking about another 3-13 or 4-12 or 5-11 season year in year out as we did decades past. I think the fact Braves fans see what it feels like to have sit out five ouf of the past six seasons in the playoffs that its far better to experience disappointment in the post season than not to have a post season at all. Good article Mark and agreed.
vesaversa
February 17th, 2012
6:54 pm
Matt Ryan have weak arm the Falcons knew that before they got him.Coach Smith is a good sideline defensive coach but he is not NFL head Coach quality.
Dennis
February 17th, 2012
9:53 pm
Do not for rget how long it took Payten. We have a quarterback. We need to keep this quarterback. He knows and studies the game. The Newtons, Vicks, RGIII etc. are exciting atheletes.but they come and go. Defenses figure this out quickly. If this style of ball is what is consistant, guys like Matt, Tom, Eli, Peyton, etc…and hundreds before them would have not been taught the game the way they were. Do you want to rebuild ever three or four years? Or develope a tradition with the possibillity of a winnig club year in and year out? And, by the way tell Beau Bach he is not and has never been the icon sports authority he attempts to project!
Dennis
February 17th, 2012
9:54 pm
Who in the hell would you have replace them at this point and time???
brian reed
February 17th, 2012
11:06 pm
we should get mario Williams because we was a pass rushing DE and he became a grand OLB so him in mike Nolan’s 4-3 3-4 hybrid with Kroy Beirman in on the 3-4 schemes there is your pass rush
Jim
February 18th, 2012
4:14 am
We can all agree on one thing: everybody is uneasy about the lack of playoff success. Where the blame will eventually fall if anyone’s guess, but the ax will nail someone (emotion or logic will drive it) if the playoff situation continues. Something is just not right with this team, they just cannot win the big game…it is a consistent problem.
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
February 18th, 2012
10:19 pm
I hope you CHOKE lovers have given him a good bye kiss because if you have been following what is going on with Peyton Manning, CHOKE’s days are numbered.
Manning is a hall of famer. Sorry guys but you guys will have to look for another great hope to replace the legendary Mike Vick……………
HA HA HA
whylongball?
February 19th, 2012
10:16 am
Matt Ryan does not have to throw the long ball, everyone gets hung up on the long balll and arm strength. Find wide outs and tightends that can run great routes and that will move the chains.
the San Francisco 49ers won a lot of playoff games and championships by running great routes and moving the chains. Always in 3rd and long will kill you every time.
Jason
February 19th, 2012
10:43 am
Going to the playoffs every year is not a bad thing people, how soon we forget how bad Atlanta teams were in the past. so this isn’t all that bad, you think the Saint fans are mad, if so , they need to be thankful as well, they absolutly stunk for ever, I’m glad we are not out of contention by game 8 or 9 every year. I remember how bad the Braves were too, Georgia Bulldogs too, Hawks are still bad but getting a little better, jus sayin
Rainbow ATL
February 19th, 2012
10:50 am
Choke, I loved Mike Vick as much as anybody but he will tell you he was the laziest person in the Nfl, I still pull for him BUT, he don’t play for the Falcons no more, let it go man, How come you are not on the Brett Favre bandwagon too, he was lazy and stupid so Glanville cut him after numerous warnings, Brett said he would have cut himself looking back at how lazy he was, Brett went on to win a little bit more than Vick by the way, it ain’t a black thang is it? we are better than that I hope.
Yorker
February 19th, 2012
10:59 am
You don’t have to be the most athletic qb to win football games. Being smart plays a big part. Joe Montana, Payton, Eli, Marino, Elway, ok, Bradshaw was not a rocket scientist.
Opie
February 19th, 2012
12:30 pm
Yorker, you don’t have to be athletic, but you do need a SPINE to be sucessful in this league. The facts are Ryan is 4-12 vs elite teams, the facts are Ryan is 0-3 in the playoffs, the facts are Ryan has happy feet and can’t push the ball down the football field. This is not a roadmap for Championships.
You can’t compare him to all of the quarterbacks above because they WON under pressure. Elway, Joe Montana were Mobile Quarterbacks. Tom Brady has pocket awareness, he moves around the pocket and completes plays under pressure Ryan the checkdown king panicks and falls to the turf. I have watched this guy fold in person in the GA Dome for 4 years.
The NFL is not horseshoes, either you are playing for titles or wasting your time. Stop making excuses for Ryan!! Mark Sanchez is less talented than Ryan but he had 4 playoff wins, Joe Flacco is better than Ryan he 5 playoff wins, Tim Tebow is better than Ryan, he has 1 playoff win, Do you see the trend here? The NFL just like any other Business is a results oriented bottom line business.
CEOs are replaced all the time for not completing the task the board requires. RIM (blackberry) CEO was replaced a month ago becaus the blackberry is close to bankruptcy, the are looking to be aquired by another carrier. No one is patting him on the back for past successes!
Smith, Ryan , and Dimitroff have a year to start winning playoff games or they should all be replaced.
Opie
February 19th, 2012
12:39 pm
Raggee, you called Choke a racist, but your comment, He probably loves Obama too! Why because he is a Black President? You and many other’s HATE President Obama because he is not White!!
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
February 20th, 2012
3:27 pm
Rainbow ATL
February 19th, 2012
10:50 am
Choke, I loved Mike Vick as much as anybody but he will tell you he was the laziest person in the Nfl.
_________________________________________________________
Did you interview every player in the NFL? How do you know he was lazier than EVERY player on the 32 teams in the NFL?
Even if he was the laziest player in the NFL and still managed to lead this organization to playoff wins in separate seasons, while ZERO talent around him, yet CHOKE has more talent than any previous Falcon team, went to practice, so played harder, yet has ZERO playoff wins.
What does that say about CHOKE?
Everytime you guys throw the lazy title to Vick, you just raise his legacy that much higher
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
February 20th, 2012
3:33 pm
From Dominique Wilkins, to Andruw Jones, to Mike Vick, everytime Atlanta got greedy and listened to the dumb part of the fanbase, they haven’t been the same in the playoffs.
The facts don’t lie. About President Obama, don’t hate the man because everything he touches turns to gold, even when the whole Republican Congress did everything possible to make him fail. God don’t like ugly
HA HA HA
goodgod
February 20th, 2012
9:44 pm
Matt butter Ryan…..he melts like a ice cream cone on a hot summer day…..he did play in boston where the chilly weather probably kept him from melting so much……julio jones and matt ryan are so mismatched unless julio is running a 10 yard route……matt has no ball placement unless you mean on the ground when he fumbling, and his long passes are 10 yards off target…..no wonder he produced no points against the giants……he peaked in his rookie season…….season ticket holders better stock up on ulcer medication next year will be another repeat of this one……i do know who will win next superbowl the team that beats atlanta in next year first round…….matt ryan the seventy million dollar genious, he must smile each time payday rolls around……
Coach
February 21st, 2012
10:05 am
All you brilliant guys out there so you cut Matt Ryan who is your quarterback then Redman going get the job done hey Choke Vick is not coming back to Atlanta he did not do so good with his dream team did he.
Matt "CHOKE" Ryan
February 21st, 2012
10:52 am
Coach
February 21st, 2012
10:05 am
All you brilliant guys out there so you cut Matt Ryan who is your quarterback
________________________________________________________
At this point a bucket of balls for CHOKE would be a better value……………..
HA HA HA
goodgod
February 21st, 2012
1:38 pm
i say trade matt ryan for cam newton. the teams would fit them better. matt talent would match the panthers recieving core and can newton would be better match for atlanta’s.
Capt. "No" Comeback Vick
February 21st, 2012
7:55 pm
Choke said, ” Everytime you guys throw the lazy title to Vick, you just raise his legacy that much higher ”
Umm… well that comment pretty much makes fun of itself