Falcons’ Mike Smith long overdue to unleash Matt Ryan, passing game
First came the decision to trade five selections in order to move up in the 2011 NFL Draft for receiver Julio Jones.
Then players and media members used words like “explosiveness” to describe their offense.
Then came the fizzle.
Mike Smith is 43-21 as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. With the exception of Dan Reeves, who led the Falcons to their first and only Super Bowl appearance, Smith is the best coach the team has had in its 46-year history. His players love to play for him and he’s brought stability to a franchise that has long lacked consistency at the head coach position.
But if he doesn’t tweak his overall philosophy when it comes to the Falcons offense, he will become the modern day version of Marty Schottenheimer – if he hasn’t already.
Like Smith, Schottenheimer used to stockpile victories during the regular season. But because he was unwilling to change his style when it came to coaching in the postseason, he never won anything of substance. He was 5-13 in the postseason with no Super Bowl appearances and nary a conference title to call his own.
Smith is 0-3 in the playoffs with two utterly embarrassing performances by his team the last two years. The Packers drubbed the Falcons 48-21 at the Georgia Dome two seasons ago and the Giants shut Atlanta down 24-2 on their way to a Super Bowl victory last year.
At the root of the Falcons’ postseason failures is a lack of creativity on Smith’s part. Some have suggested Matt Ryan doesn’t have what it takes to win in big games but the fault doesn’t lie in the quarterback, it lies in the overall mentality of the head coach.
The Falcons wanted to beat the Giants on the ground last year because New York was brutal against the run during the regular season. It wasn’t a bad idea but when the Giants bottled up Michael Turner, the Falcons didn’t have a Plan B in place. That falls on Smith, who remains hamstrung by his philosophy that in order to win the NFL, you must grind down the clock, keep the game close, and win in the end. That ideology may work in the regular season against inferior opponents but when a team like the Packers doesn’t mind throwing the ball 40 times in order to beat you, being able to run the ball becomes irrelevant.
Part of the Falcons problem was former offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, who is now the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Ryan has developed into a slow starter over the years but Mularkey was hesitant to put his quarterback in the no-huddle, which often got Ryan into a good rhythm. Mularkey would waste a full quarter of ineffective play from his offense before he got into his no-huddle attack. Whether that was because of Smith’s conservatism or Mularkey’s unwillingness to allow Ryan to call the shots is not known outside of Atlanta. But either way, it was shocking that the Falcons didn’t use the no-huddle more last season.
In steps new offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, who was limited in Jacksonville because of the lack of weapons at his disposal (save for Maurice Jones-Drew, that is). Koetter is a gifted playcaller and has already said that he will install the no-huddle for Ryan, who could benefit from having someone other than Mularkey put game plans together. The hope is that a creative play-caller like Koetter is the missing piece.
But everything comes back to Smith, who ultimately decides what kind of philosophy his team will have on Sundays. The Falcons ranked eighth in the league in passing yards per game last season so this isn’t about stats – it’s about a mentality. Will Smith allow Koetter to design his game plans around Ryan instead of Turner? Will he allow the Falcons to actually use the assortment of weapons (Jones, Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez, Harry Douglas, etc.) that they have in their arsenal? Will Smith finally allow the Falcons to shake hands with the present day NFL and become a team that beats opponents through the air?
If he doesn’t, Smith’s list of critics will grow by leaps and bounds. His job is safe for now but he must change his ways in order for this talented Falcons team to reach its full potential. Ryan was maxed out in Mularkey’s run-first offense but he still has untapped potential as the architect of a fast-paced attack. It’s just a matter of whether or not Smith will take the chains off.
If he doesn’t, the new “Martyball” will become entrenched in Atlanta.
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Posted in: NFL
Tags: 2012 NFL Season Preview, Atlanta Falcons, Dirk Koetter, Falcons offense, Julio Jones, Matt Ryan, Mike Mularkey, Mike Smith, Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez
Wow . . . too many knocks on Marty Schottenheimer in a post about the Falcons.
I think the problem is putting everything into the regular season. Look at the last two SB winners. In 2010 Green Bay started out a limping wreck. They persevered, and started gaining momentum, and was declared indestructible by January.
The Giants were nobody at the beginning of last season, losing to Washington, Seattle, losing 4 in-a-row, and squeaking into the playoffs. But again, they had achieved a momentum that propelled them to a SB victory.
So I think there has to be some adversity in the regular season that a team has to overcome to be successful later on.
Sorry Guys, but you can have a sack full of down field threats,but you have to have an offensive line that can give the Quaterback some time to throw long. Atlanta just doesn’t have a synchronized offensive line to buy the time needed to throw long, if they try that, Ryan will get sacked more than ever. They will try but most defensives will blitz them more and Ryan will get sacked more than ever. They will eventually go back to the short down an out passes to Rodney White for first downs. They were talking about the same long ball last year and Ryan was throwing long to Rodney in practices,but game time it was back to the quick-short throws.It just want happen this year either we don’t have the offensive line for the long ball, maybe down the road but not this year.
Thanks for the comments, guys.
Anonymous – I would agree with your take in 2011 but not 2010. Outside of Sam Baker the Falcons’ O-line gave Matt Ryan protection but Mularkey/Smith never opened things up, which eventually led to the Falcons’ demise.
Take the Baltimore game from that year. The Falcons came out in their no-huddle offense and were firing on all cylinders through halftime. Smith/Mularkey backed off, went to Turner in the second half and the Ravens stormed back. Atlanta has lacked that killer mentality under Smith.
Yes, the offensive line is key. There’s no question that as a unit, the Falcons must be better up front. They were brutal last year and the offense had to stick to three-step drops for Ryan. The left tackle spot is a massive question mark but I fully expect Konz to take over at right guard, and he would be an upgrade over Reynolds and Hawley.
But looking at the big picture, Smith has to change his ways or else it’ll be the last two years all over again.
It appears that Atlanta has never been a long ball threat and most defenses stack the box to stop the run game. I do hope that they can run plays with 4 fast receivers on the field to loosen up other defenses, which in return will open up the surprise run attack. Its almost like most defenses know when Atlanta is going to run the ball and there not worried about the long ball.I really do hope that the new offense can keep others guessing.Atlanta has plenty of fast receivers, why not put them on the field and see what developes.
I’ve been saying that Mike Smith and his conservative power run philosophy has killed the Falcons in the playoffs. Teams have shutdown Turner in reg season games now and I’d venture to say our reg season success would have diminished as we continued the same offensive philosophy. I’ve seen Smitty overrule MM on a 4th and 1 by pulling Rogers out and replacing him with sled foot Turner. For one we never had a power OL to play a true power game. Shoot our OL couldn’t muster a half yard push. Your article is written as though you read my mind…the success of this team depends on Smitty letting his coordinators plan and call the plays.
Anonymous – all good points that I would agree with. The Falcons haven’t threatened teams downfield for a combination of different reasons. The O-line stunk last year, Mularkey’s offense constantly required WRs to stop and run back to the ball instead of running vertical, Smith’s conservatism and yes, Ryan’s lack of a good deep ball. One of those problems (Mularkey) has been removed and I’ve seen Ryan connect with Roddy White downfield so I know he has that in him. We’ll see if the O-line improves under Pat Hill and whether Smith can adopt a more aggressive philosophy.
Da Truth – Thank you and well said. Fans in Atlanta loved to pile on Mularkey but it became apparent last year that Smith is to blame as well. He needs to change if this team is going to win big.
As Darryl Royal famously said: ‘three things can happen when you pass the ball and two of them are bad’. I understand this is a passing league, but Mike. Smith saw what we all saw-his defense was suspect. More passing means more turnovers, less time of possession, and more exposure for the defense. The defense has to be able to hold up or more passing by the offense will equal more scoring by the other team.
Even if he had the ’85 Bears defense Mike Smith is going to keep the ball on the ground, chew up clock and win close games in the end. And he’ll continue to lose in the playoffs if he doesn’t tweak his overall philosophy.