Smith Knows Failure Starts With Him, Not Coordinators (Jeff Schultz, Ajc)

[PokerSteve]

Thanks for posting the article Supes. I thought Schultz was right on the money in this article. Personally I am not about "blame" as much as what Smith himself said about identifying the problems and fixing them. In that tone, Smith did take responsibility, and I hold him responsible, for not having the team ready to play "consistently" this year. As Schultz said, we seemed to lack focus and that "edge" you need to win in the NFL. Those issues have to be the responsibility of the coaching staff IMHO.

I do think we had a weak O-line this season, and neither coordinator was able to adapt during games. Furthermore, I do not think they fully utilized the talent we do have on the team.

But I don't think there is just any one single piece you can just "fix" in these situations in order to improve, and it sounds like TD is planning a major overhaul. Personally that makes me very nervous when I hear him talk about keeping our "core" players. It is harder to really identify those "core" players than it is to spout that at a news conference. After all, we saw our O-line really take a step backward after we let Harvey Dahl go, so obviously TD did not think he was a "core" player either.

It is much easier to call for change than it is to make that change a positive one. Many of us have been screaming for the coordinators to be replaced, and now that has happened. Many of us have criticized players on the team, and now it appears many will be replaced.

Overall we are going to see massive change on this team that many of us have been demanding. Now we better cross our fingers and hope our lucky stars all this change is positive. Personally i am very worried whether we can replace so many pieces and really see improvement. Only time will tell.

BTW for some of you all you can scream for now is for TD and Smith to be replaced. I fully expect to see many of those posts very soon. Be careful what you wish for as you may just get it.

I don't get all this "fear" over the changes that are coming. Is everybody so fixated on the regular season wins ~ compiled almost exclusively over the worst teams in the league ~ that you just want the front office to sit on their hands and go through two or three more seasons like the last four?? I'm sick of this team only being able to beat the bottom-feeders and getting blasted by the good teams and in the play-offs. If it takes a couple years to get this team to a higher level, I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is being satisfied with mediocrity. You fans that like mediocre teams can go root for the Redskins, Dolphins, Browns, Jags, etc., etc.

Edited January 12, 2012 by PokerSteve

[Supes™]

You fans that like mediocre teams can go root for the Redskins, Dolphins, Browns, Jags, etc., etc.

All fans that want the Falcons to be mediocre, raise your hand!

[didz]

I am sorry did the Falcons go 4-12 this year or something? If i am not mistaken, 2007, this franchise went through a nightmare no one wanted to be a part of. Now we are a playoff team, year in and year out and the only thing to do now is fix the problems to be elite. We sure as **** were not going to fix those problems with MM and BVG.

[thestufford]

Personally I think there are a lot of people to blame and I am sick of hearing smitty taking responsibility for his failures and then nothing changes. Save your sorrys for someone who needs them... I want change. I think one of the biggest problems with our team is accountability. I think when someone messes up they should be held accountable and if it continues to happen... (i.e. drops by Roddy) then he should get benched.

Also it drives me nuts that this team waits for someone who sucks to get injured before they replace him with someone who is obviously better, like Sam Baker being replaced, Coleman being replace by William Moore...

I dunno I hope they live up to all this talk about "BIG Change" coming next year

[Supes™]

Here's the bottom line IMO: This regiem is at a crossroads, and a critical one. What happens this offseason and what they put on the field in 2012 will be much more important for them now than how it all played out in 2008, because we really didn't expect much then. We've been given a taste of success over the past 4 seasons like we've never had before (playoff losses aside), and if the Falcons can't build on that soon and take the next step and get to the next level, all that jazz,...we could end up right back where we started from: irrelavant and "same ol' Falcons".

Arthur Blank strikes me as a man committed to excellence and nothing else. Thomas Dimitroff seems very bright. Mike Smith is as earnest as they come. The three of them hold the keys to ongoing and improved future success and all we can do right now is hope they get it right and put this team and this franchise, as Arthur calls it; "on the inside, looking out." GO FALCONS!

[Falcon Fanatic]

Not if BVG ran Smitty's system.

Well then Smitty needs to let his coordinators do their job especially if they are competent.

[dirteebirdee]

The only HC that got this team over back 2 back winning seasons, only coach to give us back 2 back playoffs appearance, Dan Reeves only got us to the superbowl but that doesn't make him our best coach either.

At least under Dan Reeves we did actually compete and win three playoff games-not just appearances.

[falken]

I don't get all this "fear" over the changes that are coming. Is everybody so fixated on the regular season wins ~ compiled almost exclusively over the worst teams in the league ~ that you just want the front office to sit on their hands and go through two or three more seasons like the last four?? I'm sick of this team only being able to beat the bottom-feeders and getting blasted by the good teams and in the play-offs. If it takes a couple years to get this team to a higher level, I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is being satisfied with mediocrity. You fans that like mediocre teams can go root for the Redskins, Dolphins, Browns, Jags, etc., etc.

yawn

[Mid-Nite-Toker]

Jeff Schultz hit this one out of the park. Yes, MS is ultimately responsible for the teams failures and its my

belief that change should have started with MS being let go. AB needs to make solid choices in his next

coordinators and get TD to fix his personnel mistakes. Nothing solved at Flowery Branch yet.

[CrimsonFalcon]

He got MM some shiny toys in Julio and Quizz, and MM just tossed them to the side and stuck with his old toys. Guys like those two and HD should be utilized just as much as Julio, Roddy, Tony, and Turner. This offense is a gold mine with talent and week in and week out, we knew the 4 players who would get the ball. Shut down 1 and the other 3 won't even touch it any more.

Opposing teams know who to key on just about every play, but if we did (can't believe I'm going to say this) what the Taints do, multiple personnel changes on just about every play, we would be a little more efficient on offense.

[dmite]

You just had to quote the whole article just to say that, didn't ya? sheeeeesh.....

He's not a Falcon fan. He's just here to annoy people.

[Big_D]

This article is 100 percent dead on about smitty. This change of coordinators clearly gives smith an out to make some tweaks to his philosophies and schemes. Personally i think he deserves a lot of the blame here too. Maybe mularky did suck. Scratch the maybe. He did suck, but its smiths job to see that and do something about it.

BUMP!