Atlanta Falcons: Ode to Mike Smith
By David Neff
On Black Monday, the Atlanta Falcons made the decision to let go the best coach the Atlanta Falcons ever had. Let me reiterate that, there has been no coach more successful than the years that Mike Smith coached for us. Mike Smith made it our team a legitimate force while learning on the job. His 2008 year was a gutsy, gritty team that hadn’t earned respect until a seemingly doomed Chicago Bears game came back to win with brilliant play calling and trust in his quarterback. That is where Mike Smith faith failed him. His faith in the veterans would cause a limit on the amount of snaps our young players could develop. Back in 2009, Coach Smith would implement a veteran group, almost an old man group, where five guys would come together and truly be leaders on the team. These leaders would become the veteran presence on the team and would teach our rookies how to be better players. The problem? Those same rookies wouldn’t see a proper amount of playing time.
The 2013 year was disastorous because of injury issues and an unwillingness to adjust to those injuries. However, the next man up mantra didn’t kick in here. The Atlanta Falcons had a team that was inexperienced and ill prepared for the job. 2014 saw more of the same issues but, now mistakes happening on Coach Smith’s side. This wasn’t about putting proper talent on the field, it was doing the best with the squad you had. However, this article isn’t about the failures of our team as a collective or of our former coach. It’s about paying respect to the man that trusted a rookie quarterback to throw a 62 yard pass to Michael Jenkins that went for a touchdown. This is a coach that believed in our team to produce one of the most exciting teams in 2012. A man that broke a shadow hanging over him by sweeping the New Orleans Saints this year. Coach Smith, thank you for all the memories. For leading us 10 yards away from a Superbowl, for giving us the ability to Rise Up. You raised the bar for us to expect greatness out of our team.