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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > October > 06
Monday, October 6, 2008
Current Falcons staff reminiscent of Reeves’ tenure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Is it just me? I mean, for the first time since the Dan Reeves regime, it looks as if the Falcons have a bunch of coaches who actually know what they’re doing.
Guess it isn’t just me.
“I hope I don’t ruffle any feathers, because I don’t want to say anything against (Bobby) Petrino or (Jim) Mora,” said veteran Falcons assistant coach Emmitt Thomas on Monday, reflecting on his old bosses before telling the truth about his new one.
His name is Mike Smith, but to hear Thomas tell it, you could call him Dan Reeves.
“This staff is more like the one coach Reeves had, because it had a nice blend of veteran coaches and young coaches,” said Thomas, among Reeves’ most effective lieutenants. “He held coaches accountable, and he would get on them hard, but he would relax sometimes. And we’ve got the same type of staff here, with some good minds who have been under some good teaching.
“I’m the oldest guy here (65), and you’ve got Terry Robiskie who played in the league, along with Ray (Hamilton). You’ve got Paul Boudreau who has been around a long time, and the same with Mike Mularkey. The players respect that, and they’re buying into the philosophy.”
For verification, consider this big thing: The Falcons are 3-2 under their first-year NFL head coach after shocking the Packers on Sunday in always visitor-hostile Green Bay. Even so, it’s the little things that tell you there is much teaching happening these days in Flowery Branch.
You have the move toward decency of what was a ghastly offensive line. You have Roddy White showing his maturity by going from a dropped-filled game one week to eight catches (in the first half) the next week. You have those tweaks along the defensive line to make John Abraham more potent and Jamal Anderson’s struggles less noticeable. You have Matt Ryan making more progress than not as a rookie quarterback. You also have a young squad (43 percent of its players with three seasons or less NFL experience) that refused to flinch when encountering those ghosts down the stretch at Lambeau Field.
Despite all of that, the Falcons haven’t the talent of, say, Lombardi’s Packers, so we’re back to Smith’s coaches.
Said Thomas, “On defense, for instance, Smitty brought Ray (Hamilton) in. He brought (Brian) Van Gorder in. He brought Alvin (Reynolds) in. They all worked for him previously, and regardless of what I say or anybody else, he’s just like Coach Reeves in that we’ve got to do it his way, and the players understand that.
“Smitty has a little old school and new school in him, and that reminds me of Dan Reeves somewhat. (Smith) knows when to squeeze his players, but he also knows how to let up off of them a little bit.”
Thomas is the definitive expert on all of this, by the way. Not only has he run the Falcons’ secondary for the past seven seasons under four different head coaches, but he is the assistant head coach. He became the interim top guy last year when the stifling Petrino did the franchise a favor with three games left to play by bolting during the middle of the night to call Hogs in Arkansas.
Before Petrino, Mora functioned as the players’ eternal pal to the detriment of himself and his assistants as the Falcons began their three-year slide toward oblivion (8-8, 7-9, 4-12) after reaching the NFC championship game.
Now the Falcons are back to the Dan Reeves future with Smith and his capable group of assistants.
That’s encouraging.
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