Former Falcons Coach Mike Smith is done coaching

[Cole World 1,223]

 

[Cole World 1,223]

I wonder how it would make Smitty feel if Quinn wins a Championship with two of his former coordinators.

[thofin21 999]

Smitty was done coaching about 5 years ago.

[Falconsin2012 8,448]

I say this without reservation: Mike Smith is the single most under-appreciated member of the Falcons family

Edited January 15 by Falconsin2012

[Geneaut 2,698]

Glad to see it. He deserves to enjoy the fruit of his labors. 

You aren't going to get any Smitty hate from me. He did a hard job, and did it to the best of his abilities with a smile and a dump truck load of class.

Tipping my cap to you, Smitty !

[Francis York Morgan 15,721]

Thanks for helping us become relevant again, Smitty. Enjoy your retirement.

[falcon1fan 266]

I wish him the best. He did good things for the falcons. 

[falcon1fan 266]

1 minute ago, Geneaut said:

Glad to see it. He deserves to enjoy the fruit of his labors. 

You aren't going to get any Smitty hate from me. He did a hard job, and did it to the best of his abilities with a smile and a dump truck load of class.

Tipping my cap to you, Smitty !

^^this

Edited January 15 by falcon1fan

[Geneaut 2,698]

When we win the SB I hope the camera pans over to Dan Reeves and Mike Smith sitting in a booth at the game shaking each other's hand with giant grins on their faces.

Edited January 15 by Geneaut

[JDaveG 29,626]

Really, really good man.  I wish he'd had more success at the end of his career, but I won't forget the success he had here.  He absolutely turned this franchise around.  

[Falconsin2012 8,448]

This 2008 Power Ranking was consistent with all the others.  Tells you all you need to know about Mike Smith:

2008 NFL Power Rankings: Preseason

CHRIS RADEZJULY 6, 2008

 

A new season is upon us, and many questions await being answered.

With Brett Favre retired, who will be the new face of the NFL? Is it possible that two faces can be "the face" of the NFL (see picture above)? Will the Patriots march through their schedule they way they did last season? How long will it be before we stop hearing the word "spygate" every week? Can the Giants make it back to the big stage to defend their championship? Can the Oakland Raiders finally turn things around and become a force to be reckoned with?

I could go on and on. Maybe we should have a Roundtable Discussion here on Bleacher Report to outline some of these questions, and try to answer them prematurely. That's always fun.

 

But that's for another day. Today, I'm talking power rankings.

(Rank) (Team) (Last Season's Record)

1. New England Patriots (16-0) - I know, a lot of you will scold me for putting the Patriots over the Giants. You may even call me a homer if you've checked my profile and realized my allegiance towards the Pats. Frankly, I don't really care. These guys rolled through their schedule last year, and had arguably the best offense of all time.

They lost Asante Samuel, but they also gained Tank Williams, Victor Hobson and Jerod Mayo. I believe that this years defense will be faster and stronger than last year. Additionally, look for Richard Seymour to bounce back after having a somewhat off year. The front seven should be very disruptive.

2. San Diego Chargers (11-5) - It'd be hard to put any other team here. Since I've already discounted the idea of having the reigning Super Bowl Champions in the top spot, I might as well put them where they really belong, and number two is not that spot.

San Diego gave Indianapolis fits all of last season, so with Indy being one of my top teams it seems logical to place the Chargers here at the number two spot. If they can avoid the injury issues they had last season, expect the Chargers to have a big year.

3. Indianapolis Colts (13-3) - You could put Peyton Manning on the Dolphins and they would immediately be a top ten team in my rankings. Coupled with the fancy running of Joseph Addai, and a defense led by Bob Sanders ... these guys aren't going anywhere. I'm looking forward to that traditional week nine battle.

 

4. Dallas Cowboys (13-3) - Tony Romo is continuing to mature as a quarterback, and this team is on the verge of becoming something special. For the sake of their fans, I hope that we don't start to see character issues this season.

5. New York Giants (10-6) - I tore Eli Manning apart all of last season. What can I say? I didn't believe he had it in him.

He proved me wrong.

Not to mention, the Giants defense was unbelievable in the Super Bowl. If they can perform like that every week, they have a real chance

28. St. Louis Rams (3-13) - Nobody expected the Rams to be that horrible last year, but it's hard to think they'll do much better. They have the ingredients ... but do they have the cookbook?

29. San Francisco 49ers (5-11) - Having Martz on the staff will help this organization to move the football on offense, but they might want to re-evaluate the whole Alex Smith thing. They're going nowhere with him under center.

30. Miami Dolphins (1-15) - The Dolphins have wiped the board and are starting fresh. They've got a few quarterbacks to choose from, and I think that the new staff will do a better job of managing that project.

31. Kansas City Chiefs (4-12) - It may be a while before we see this team turning things around. Who's there quarterback again?

32. Atlanta Falcons (4-12) - Initiate Disaster Recovery Mode.

 

[Geneaut 2,698]

Love this picture:

[mqg96 1,635]

The same season Mark Richt retires too! 

[Dutty Ole Bird 5,903]

Still love Smitty, he was a good HC but a terrible DC. I love how his teams played disciplined mistake free football for the most part and he was good managing the clock till his last 3 seasons.

[JDaveG 29,626]

4 minutes ago, osiruz said:

Still love Smitty, he was a good HC but a terrible DC. I love how his teams played disciplined mistake free football for the most part and he was good managing the clock till his last 3 seasons.

I don't think he was a terrible DC.  I do think he delegated too much to Nolan, and there was a scheme conflict between the two.

Smitty coached some pretty good defenses in Jacksonville.  But he just couldn't get it done in Tampa Bay.  I do think the old saw that the heart attack changed him might be true.  And if so, good for him -- his health is more important than his job.

[runshoot 611]

34 minutes ago, thofin21 said:

Smitty was done coaching about 5 years ago.

This.

[schwarzenegger321 2,082]

29 minutes ago, Falconsin2012 said:

I say this without reservation: Mike Smith is the single most under-appreciated member of the Falcons family

This, this and this again.  Many may not have agreed with his game philosophies or coaching strategies, but there probably isn't a single person who did more to right the Falcons ship than Smitty.  He took a perennial losing organization at probably the lowest it has ever been and not only made this organization relevant but made them consistent winners.  He did this by using discipline and instilling work ethic (trust the process, minimize mistakes) to a team that was all over the place.  Any success this team has had from the time he left can be attributed to him and his hard work.  Thank you coach Smith.

The man deserves to be in the ring of honor.

[putnam6 4,001]

I'll never forget Ryan's rookie year, when Ryan's pass to Jenkins set up the last second winning field goal LOL Ryan jumped in Smitty's arms and Smitty was like get off me ya doofus LOL. Perfect mentality for a shell shocked team. Smitty,Ryan,Turner,Abe and Roddy saved this franchise. 

[falconsd56 15,620]

41 minutes ago, Cole World said:

I wonder how it would make Smitty feel if Quinn wins a Championship with two of his former coordinators.

With him being the Man that he is is.....I think that he would be thrilled to them have success.

[Dutty Ole Bird 5,903]

11 minutes ago, JDaveG said:

I don't think he was a terrible DC.  I do think he delegated too much to Nolan, and there was a scheme conflict between the two.

Smitty coached some pretty good defenses in Jacksonville.  But he just couldn't get it done in Tampa Bay.  I do think the old saw that the heart attack changed him might be true.  And if so, good for him -- his health is more important than his job.

Smitty had a stacked defense in Tampa, and he couldn't ever build one in Atlanta. The truth is he was overrated as a DC.

[JDaveG 29,626]

3 minutes ago, osiruz said:

Smitty had a stacked defense in Tampa, and he couldn't ever build one in Atlanta. The truth is he was overrated as a DC.

"Overrated" =/= "terrible."

[DawnOfThemBirds 10,436]

2 minutes ago, osiruz said:

Smitty had a stacked defense in Tampa, and he couldn't ever build one in Atlanta. The truth is he was overrated as a DC.

 

I just think the NFL passed Smitty by.

 

He couldn't adapt to defending today's offenses. Well atleast he knows its time to go instead of being that coaching dinosaur who keeps making a fool of himself by being in denial.

[Dutty Ole Bird 5,903]

4 minutes ago, JDaveG said:

"Overrated" =/= "terrible."

his defenses were consistently among the worst.

[Sidecar Falcon 5,293]

Smith brought stability to an otherwise unstable franchise. That, in and of itself, is a tremendous accomplishment. He was a good coach but didn’t have what it took to get us to the next level. 

[Dutty Ole Bird 5,903]

2 minutes ago, DawnOfThemBirds said:

 

I just think the NFL passed Smitty by.

 

He couldn't adapt to defending today's offenses. Well atleast he knows its time to go instead of being that coaching dinosaur who keeps making a fool of himself by being in denial.

I think that is what happened as well, his defenses were OK with BVG for the first few years until the Tampa 2 became a dated scheme. It was all downhill from there.