Coming into the 2023-24 NFL season, fans of the Atlanta Falcons felt something they didn’t have the luxury of feeling since their infamous 2016 meltdown in Super Bowl LI: hope.
The offense was headed in the right direction with the addition of the eighth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Bijan Robinson, the highly acclaimed running back out of Texas. The defense took large strides, thanks in part to off-season acquisitions, including safety Jessie Bates from the Cincinnati Bengals.
Unfortunately, this hope has quickly suffocated in the face of incompetent coaching and overwhelming underperformance from the team. The fact that this Falcons team commands a .500 record this season is inexcusable, intolerable and incomprehensible, especially since our defense has improved significantly from last season, and our offense is loaded with firepower at every skill position.
Much to the Atlanta faithful’s dismay, the Falcons went on a three-game losing streak in one of the easiest stretches of their season, with losses coming to the Tennessee Titans, Minnesota Vikings, and Arizona Cardinals, all of whom have struggled over that same stretch.
Over the past 13 weeks, my heavy heart has been filled with nothing but vitriolic hatred and harsh criticism for the Falcons’ head coach, Arthur Smith, and the rest of the team’s upper management. My extraordinarily talented Falcons have been reduced to a 6-6 laughingstock, who miraculously stand at the top of the “race to the bottom” that has been the NFC South this year .
Instead of the easy win that should have come against the tanking Cardinals, fans were instead subjected to another unimpressive performance. All hopes of a win were dashed out in a game-winning drive from quarterback Kyler Murray, who was seeing his first game action in over a year after tearing his ACL last season.
The losing streak began in Week 8’s game, which featured a 28-23 road loss at the hands of sophomore QB Will Levis and the Titans. In this game, Levis posted 238 passing yards and 4 passing touchdowns in his first start of the season to replace the injured and underperforming Ryan Tannehill.
A prime opportunity for a bounce-back game was promised with a Week 9 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings, who were fresh off losing franchise QB Kirk Cousins for the season to an achilles tear and had star wide receiver Justin Jefferson on injured reserve. To top it all off, replacement QB Jaren Hall was forced out of the game on the Vikings’ first drive due to a concussion.
His replacement? QB Joshua Dobbs, acquired from the rebuilding Cardinals a mere five days prior to the game. Dobbs was so new to the team that he did not even know the names of all of his receivers or the team’s playbook in its entirety.
In a clip that went viral on social media, Dobbs was seen practicing snap cadences with his linemen on the sidelines during the game. Despite such adverse circumstances, Dobbs rallied behind his team and stole a victory in Atlanta courtesy of a brilliant passing TD to WR Brandon Powell with 0:22 remaining in the game.
The losing streak sent the Falcons free-falling to the bottom of the pack in a pitiful race for the NFC South title, ranking third out of four teams. If only the Falcons’ coaching staff was capable of drawing up a semi-competent game plan, we would never have found ourselves in this situation.
Just like every suburban dad lecturing their son after a bad outing in little league tee-ball, “I’m not mad; I’m just disappointed.” I am mad, though, and I definitely am disappointed. The Falcons have a wide array of talent on the offense in the form of former first-round draft picks Drake London, Kyle Pitts and Bijan Robinson. These players, if utilized properly, could be the components of a well-oiled offensive machine.
RB Robinson was drafted to be a high-volume ball carrier to spearhead the offense and open up lanes for the passing game. The times he has been entrusted to carry the ball, he is amazing at it!
In the first four games of the season, Robinson was getting adequate volume, resulting in success for the team. He was averaging over 100 yards per game and fulfilling his promise of establishing himself as a threat that would alleviate pressure from the rest of the offense.
In response to this success, Smith restricted his touches and said he felt he was asking too much of the rookie. He then inexplicably benched Robinson for nearly the entirety of the game against Tampa Bay Buccaneers until using him in the final drive to capture an ugly win.
I guess no good deed goes unpunished if you are Robinson.
In the face of embarrassing failure, Smith remains convinced that Pitts is just a really fast and athletic offensive tackle. He continues to use him as a blocker or decoy at every opportunity. Smith has used Pitts in just about every role on the offense possible besides running a route and catching the ball, the very thing he was drafted to do.
Despite being the most talented receiver on the team, London has had four games with three or fewer receptions. This is largely due to Smith’s senseless determination to continue to run the offense through Jonnu Smith and Tyler Allgeier, to no avail.
Another costly error in judgment by Smith was continuing to start QB Desmond Ridder while our clearly superior backup QB, Taylor Heinicke, rode the pine. In his very forgettable career as the Falcons’ starting QB, Ridder has only recorded one career game where he threw for over 300 yards and has been a turnover machine.
Smith’s blatant bias and fixated favoritism towards these players leaves the other Falcons wondering if they will ever see the ball again. Disgruntled Atlanta fans will recall the loss to the Vikings directly caused by running a failed trick play invovlving Smith and Ridder’s two interceptions in the last six minutes of the game against an inferior Washington Commanders squad.
The inability to incorporate these remarkable talents at wide receiver and tight end into the offensive scheme, along with Smith’s stubbornness in starting Ridder at QB, highlights a major weakness of Smith’s coaching, which is his inability and unwillingness to adapt and evolve his game plan as circumstances change.
The results of casting Smith as the Falcon’s lead man have been stagnant, to say the least. Our offense has been extremely underwhelming this season, and the culprit for these shortcomings sits on the sideline with his play-calling menu and the title of head coach. Smith has been entrusted with leading this team to new heights and is failing miserably.
Smith insists on drawing up the most conservative and unimpressive play calls fans have seen in quite some time. The issue is not that the Falcons lack good players but that Smith is married to an unsuccessful philosophy of doing whatever is needed to be done to get wins, no matter the cost, which — to him — means neglecting to use your most important and capable players in crucial moments of the game.
It is one thing to be incompetent at your job, but as a head coach, your responsibility is also to be a leader for your players and instill confidence in the minds of your supporters. Listen to a single response to a question from Smith in any press conference, and you instead get a window into the mind of one of the most arrogant and out-of-touch coaches in the league.
Smith is famous among fans at the moment for drawing up game plans that place less emphasis on star players at times, which proves disruptive for their production in fantasy football, to the point he has all but outright said, “I don’t care about your fantasy teams.”
This perspective would be commemorated if the team produced results on the field, but they are not. His system does not work. Deciding not to target and incorporate his best weapons is not getting the team wins.
If anything, there are games where the offense looks like it is actively regressing in the face of worse opponents. A good coach would recognize such a trend and adapt accordingly, but Smith continues to do the same thing and expect different results — the definition of insanity — and refuses to admit fault for a system that is clearly proving to be ineffective.
To the Falcons’ front office, I implore you to fire Arthur Smith and put an end to this city’s suffering once and for all. Our team is capable of winning now, but under Smith’s tenure, we are actively playing far below expectations and wasting away one of the best opportunities we have had in years to secure a division title, and make a deep playoff run.
Smith’s performance as head coach has been far below expectations, and there is little to suggest there will be any changes in the future. How Smith still has his job befuddles me, as there are times where he seems underqualified to manage the graveyard shift at Cook Out, much less a professional football team.
Deciding to part ways with an unsuccessful coach worked for the Las Vegas Raiders, who just fired dysfunctional coach Josh McDaniels and gave the position to Antonio Pierce. Immediately, the team won their next two games, and the players look like they are having fun along the way.
Nothing about the way the Falcons play right now is fun or exciting. Our offense is stale and predictable, which makes it easier for weaker opponents to game plan against us. I am not saying firing Smith will magically solve all of our problems, but it will rid our organization of his parasitic presence.
Smith is one of the most stagnant and uninspiring figures in the NFL. Without him, this team is good enough to be at least 9-3 and comfortably secure a playoff spot.
Fear not, my fellow Atlantans. The firing of Smith is overdue, but there are still five games left in the season. If the front office gets its wits about it and sends Smith packing for a long, permanent and undeserved vacation to Cancun, we can utilize our talent and rally this team to an NFC South title and a long-awaited playoff appearance.
