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A different offseason, but not a different mindset


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3 hours ago, Jesus said:

I don't think they have the leeway of another losing season. They better be in the playoffs next year.

 

3 hours ago, Kaptain Krazy said:

That has been my position as well, playoffs by Year 3. 

What they do in Free Agency this offseason will tell us a lot. As much as they need to draft Defense, you can't count on rookies for 100% of that transformation. 

Yep.

I know people want to think that they have all this time to rebuild but that's just not the reality of the NFL.

When you are going on your third top 10 pick in a row and you're going to have somewhere between 80 and 90 million to spend a free agency.. maybe more if they make a couple contract adjustments.

The reality is that you have to win.

And again I think to Smith's credit... He knows that.

This is a results oriented business and you can make excuses about circumstances and everything else but the reality is they knew the deal when they took the job.

If they do not have winning season and the Falcons are not in the playoffs after 2023 then somebody is going to be gone.

 

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It'll be interesting to see who that is if that does happen.

Normally the coach has axed first however I think the structure now is a little bit different than the traditional structure because Smith doesn't report to TF.

They report to McKay separately.

 

Hopefully they use the resources that they have this off season to put the Falcons back into the contending category.... I want to see the Falcons in the playoffs again dammit.

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1 hour ago, Lethal said:

They were really 1 QB away from being a 10 win football team in 2022...

Also I really don't think Smith and Fontenot are on the hot seat for this year.  Yes, it's year three, but it's essentially year 1 after they finally dug themselves out of the TD hole.  I expect them to be a playoff team next year anyway, but I think if they still suck after 2024, that's when heads may roll.

Agreed. It would take a catastrophic season for them to be fired after 2023. Doesn't mean their seat won't be warm in 2024 if they fail to make the playoffs though. 

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Just now, dirtybirds233 said:

Agreed. It would take a catastrophic season for them to be fired after 2023. Doesn't mean their seat won't be warm in 2024 if they fail to make the playoffs though. 

Very much agree.  Tho I really do feel seeing how we have fared with the scraps we have put together these past two seasons we will see the playoffs next year.  I'm cautiously optimistic about this offseason and seeing what TF does with no hands tied behind his back.

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1 minute ago, Freddies 3rd Cuz said:

Nah...it would be stupid to fire these guys after the mess they've had to clean up. Anybody with an open mind could see that.

Mora was hired to clean up Reeves' mess. 
Petrino was hired to clean up Mora's mess.
Smith was hired to clean up Petrino's mess.
Quinn was hired to clean up Smith's mess.
Smith was hired to clean up Quinn's mess.
??? will be hired to clean up Smith's mess.

The circle of Falcons' life

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1 hour ago, UnrealfalcoN said:

Yea, on their first year. They dragged out the rebuild into  years when the slate could have been wiped better in 2021

Was not possible. I don't know how many times this has to be said. The cap dropped 20 million dollars and we already ate a huge chunk of dead money trading Julio. Trading both was not a possibility 

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3 hours ago, Swayzee said:

Yeah but that was their own doing??

Why should they get a pass? They "could" have had Ryan play this season and the dead cap would have been 40+ less, they chose this path or rather it was chosen for them because of their other decisions.

 

Sure, and then we'd have about 40m less cap space this year + we wouldn't have seen Ridder improve every game at the end of the season. They ripped the bandaid off of a bad situation they inherited. Plus based on Matty's play this year, getting a 3rd was great compensation in hindsight. 

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9 minutes ago, Jesus said:

Mora was hired to clean up Reeves' mess. 
Petrino was hired to clean up Mora's mess.
Smith was hired to clean up Petrino's mess.
Quinn was hired to clean up Smith's mess.
Smith was hired to clean up Quinn's mess.
??? will be hired to clean up Smith's mess.

The circle of Falcons' life

And Quinn was given too much rope and hung himself. TD DQ got to stay way too long. The arrow is pointing up with Arty and Terry just think they'll get a pass to year four.idk we'll see

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1 hour ago, dirtybirds233 said:

Agreed. It would take a catastrophic season for them to be fired after 2023. Doesn't mean their seat won't be warm in 2024 if they fail to make the playoffs though. 

💯% - it's not hard to figure out but some folks are blind to the fact of what's transforming here. Hard to fix tunnel vision😎

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27 minutes ago, Freddies 3rd Cuz said:

💯% - it's not hard to figure out but some folks are blind to the fact of what's transforming here. Hard to fix tunnel vision😎

I've only been here for a couple of years, but you find out quickly that there are certain posters that just want to complain and/or argue for the sake of it. 

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36 minutes ago, Freddies 3rd Cuz said:

And Quinn was given too much rope and hung himself. TD DQ got to stay way too long. The arrow is pointing up with Arty and Terry just think they'll get a pass to year four.idk we'll see

What possible excuse would you say is a valid reason to not make the playoffs in 23'. Injuries, is the one I could potentially understand, but it would need to be catastrophic.

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1 hour ago, dirtybirds233 said:

Agreed. It would take a catastrophic season for them to be fired after 2023. Doesn't mean their seat won't be warm in 2024 if they fail to make the playoffs though. 

Define catastrophic?.

47 minutes ago, Jesus said:

Mora was hired to clean up Reeves' mess. 
Petrino was hired to clean up Mora's mess.
Smith was hired to clean up Petrino's mess.
Quinn was hired to clean up Smith's mess.
Smith was hired to clean up Quinn's mess.
??? will be hired to clean up Smith's mess.

The circle of Falcons' life

And to be honest it's not even the circle of life for the Falcons..

That is pretty much the NFL today short of three or four franchises.

 

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56 minutes ago, Jesus said:

Mora was hired to clean up Reeves' mess. 
Petrino was hired to clean up Mora's mess.
Smith was hired to clean up Petrino's mess.
Quinn was hired to clean up Smith's mess.
Smith was hired to clean up Quinn's mess.
??? will be hired to clean up Smith's mess.

The circle of Falcons' life

Not all messes are created equal 

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4 minutes ago, Swayzee said:

What possible excuse would you say is a valid reason to not make the playoffs in 23'. Injuries, is the one I could potentially understand, but it would need to be catastrophic.

Injury bugs didn't save OG Smith or Quinn.

OG Smith had his entire offense essentially wiped out in 2013 

And lost an entire starting unit worth of offensive line in 2014....the year Toilolo had to take snaps at tackle because we literally ran out of linemen during a game.

Quinn lost virtually the entire defense in 2018 a season where every single player on defense misses part or all of a game that year and had several key players miss time in 2019.

Even if the Falcons do suffer injuries along those lines I doubt that it will cover up the fact that Smith 2.0 ran with Mariota way past the time that he should have.

His hand picked successor to Matt Ryan was among the worst quarterbacks in the NFL for the vast majority of the season and then quit on the team when he was informed that he wasn't going to start anymore.

Or the fact that Smith had a dumb down his offense to the point where we all but ignored the passing game and ignored to top 10 past catchers allowing the offense to become one dimensional and dormant pretty much the entire second half of the season.

 

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24 minutes ago, FalconFanSince1969 said:

Not all messes are created equal 

The worst by far was after 2007.

That mess was something rarely seen in the NFL.

I'm not sure how many franchises had their new coach quit during his first season after the franchise quarterback and one of true faces of the NFL is sent to federal prison for dog fighting.

And you have a roster full of aging stars like crumpler and Dunn and a whole host of other issues.

 

 

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37 minutes ago, Swayzee said:

What possible excuse would you say is a valid reason to not make the playoffs in 23'. Injuries, is the one I could potentially understand, but it would need to be catastrophic.

For sure injuries, SOS is an unknown from yr to yr, atrocious QB play, lack of development from our 2nd 3rd yr players from the past two drafts, not improving the pass rush due to injuries or lack of FA availability and not over paying for for a qucik fix. TF AS have a plan and vision and we the fans must be patient if it means taking another year. The biggest question mark is QB and that could determine winning 6-8 gms or 8 -12. I won't be shocked either way.  

IMHO - if we have a good off season there's no reason to not think we'll be a playoff team and maybe win the division. The Panthers have a better roster and so do the Saints and Bucs but lots of major issues.

With all that said we have the BEST coach in the division unless Sean Payton goes to Carolina. 

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11 minutes ago, falconsd56 said:

Injury bugs didn't save OG Smith or Quinn.

OG Smith had his entire offense essentially wiped out in 2013 

And lost an entire starting unit worth of offensive line in 2014....the year Toilolo had to take snaps at tackle because we literally ran out of linemen during a game.

Quinn lost virtually the entire defense in 2018 a season where every single player on defense misses part or all of a game that year and had several key players miss time in 2019.

Even if the Falcons do suffer injuries along those lines I doubt that it will cover up the fact that Smith 2.0 ran with Mariota way past the time that he should have.

His hand picked successor to Matt Ryan was among the worst quarterbacks in the NFL for the vast majority of the season and then quit on the team when he was informed that he wasn't going to start anymore.

Or the fact that Smith had a dumb down his offense to the point where we all but ignored the passing game and ignored to top 10 past catchers allowing the offense to become one dimensional and dormant pretty much the entire second half of the season.

 

So do you think Arty is a bad coach? 

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16 hours ago, Freddies 3rd Cuz said:

For sure injuries, SOS is an unknown from yr to yr, atrocious QB play, lack of development from our 2nd 3rd yr players from the past two drafts, not improving the pass rush due to injuries or lack of FA availability and not over paying for for a qucik fix. TF AS have a plan and vision and we the fans must be patient if it means taking another year. The biggest question mark is QB and that could determine winning 6-8 gms or 8 -12. I won't be shocked either way.  

IMHO - if we have a good off season there's no reason to not think we'll be a playoff team and maybe win the division. The Panthers have a better roster and so do the Saints and Bucs but lots of major issues.

With all that said we have the BEST coach in the division unless Sean Payton goes to Carolina. 

They absolutely can not get a pass on that. There are all kind's of options that could be looked at this offseason when it comes to the QB position. Whatever course they choose it is on them, and the glory or criticism which comes with that decision.

For example, say they go with Ridder at QB1, and he has a terrible season. They get a pass for missing in their own QB choice when they would have had 3 entire off-season's? Nah, they need to own it in 23'. 

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34 minutes ago, falconsd56 said:

Injury bugs didn't save OG Smith or Quinn.

OG Smith had his entire offense essentially wiped out in 2013 

And lost an entire starting unit worth of offensive line in 2014....the year Toilolo had to take snaps at tackle because we literally ran out of linemen during a game.

Quinn lost virtually the entire defense in 2018 a season where every single player on defense misses part or all of a game that year and had several key players miss time in 2019.

Even if the Falcons do suffer injuries along those lines I doubt that it will cover up the fact that Smith 2.0 ran with Mariota way past the time that he should have.

His hand picked successor to Matt Ryan was among the worst quarterbacks in the NFL for the vast majority of the season and then quit on the team when he was informed that he wasn't going to start anymore.

Or the fact that Smith had a dumb down his offense to the point where we all but ignored the passing game and ignored to top 10 past catchers allowing the offense to become one dimensional and dormant pretty much the entire second half of the season.

 

I don't disagree. 

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42 minutes ago, Swayzee said:

They absolutely can not get a pass on that. There are all kind's of options that could be looked at this offseason when it comes to the QB position. Whatever course they choose it is on them, and the glory or criticism which comes that decision.

For example, say the go with Ridder at QB1, and he has a terrible season. They get a pass for missing in their own QB choice when they would have had 3 entire off-season's? Nah, they need to own it in 23'. 

Yea I don't think they should get.a pass there either. Not with two top 10 picks and you draft a te and a wr. Both guys who rely on said qb pick. Horse before buggy and all that.

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