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Friday, January 25, 2008
Smith looks, sounds good but …
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Flowery Branch — In addition to snapping the ball dandy enough for 18 seasons to become one of the all-time great Falcons, Jeff Van Note met each of the franchise’s first 13 head coaches. He eased into a smile before offering his assessment of No. 14 across the way. “He sounds good, and he looks good, too,” said Van Note, nodding, while studying the white-haired Mike Smith on the podium.
Added Van Note, “With his glasses on, and when you see his profile, he looks a little like Vince Lombardi.”
Smith does, by the way. This isn’t to say that his Falcons will rush to Super Bowls across the Artificial Tundra of the Georgia Dome field. This is to say that Smith sounds good and looks good.
Whatever that means. I don’t know what any of this means for the Falcons, and nobody does. That said, since the Falcons aren’t close to reaching even mediocrity, why not hire somebody who at least sounds good and looks good?
Just like most head football coaches delivering their state-of-their-new-team address, Smith said all of the predictable things. He said he wants to run the ball and stop the run. He said he has an open-door policy. He said he wants “character” on the roster. Mostly, he said everything in soft tones from his 48-year-old tongue. Said Van Note, “You can tell that he is very analytical, and I like that type of approach to football. That has a lot to do with breaking down film and how you view other people. We’ll see what happens.”
Yeah, we’ll see. Ever hear of Mike Smith before he was introduced this week as the Falcons’ new guy? Join the rest of the universe. With the rumbling, bumbling, stumbling decision-makers of the Falcons searching for somebody to replace Bobby Petrino, who bolted before the end of his first season to do that “woo pig sooey” thing in Arkansas, the Falcons had to hire somebody like Mike Smith. Somebody obscure. Somebody just elated to get his chance as an NFL head coach.
In essence, the Falcons were desperate, because there wasn’t a definitive hire to fix this wretched situation.
The franchise quarterback is sitting in a federal penitentiary. The ever-present owner likes to roam the sidelines and dine with his skipper on Mondays. The roster is flawed and aging. The fan base is dwindling by the moment. Nobody with an accomplished résumé and the slightest name recognition was coming here.
Consider, too, that during Arthur Blank’s six-year ownership of the Falcons, he has preferred to hire coaches (Jim Mora, Petrino) and a general manager (Thomas Dimitroff) out of nowhere. While Mora and Petrino were disasters, Dimitroff is a potential one. He could prosper, too. It’s just that Dimitroff had zero experience as a GM before he was hired by Blank through a webcam interview. Reggie McKenzie also was available after 14 years in the front office of the Green Bay Packers, and he was groomed to run an NFL franchise by legendary GM Ron Wolf. In other words, the Falcons had other legitimate options for their general manager job.
The Falcons had few to zero legitimate options for their head coaching job. So they had to gamble, which is why they snagged Smith, a coordinator for an efficient defense in Jacksonville and somebody with the reputation as a nice guy. That’s opposed to whatever you would call Petrino, who partly opted to flee the Falcons after players hinted that they wished to stuff dirty sweat socks down his throat.
It isn’t likely that Falcons players will have similar thoughts with the personable Smith, and let’s face it: Who would do such a thing to a Lombardi lookalike?
“Nobody’s ever told me I look like Vince Lombardi. I’ve been told I look like Steve Martin,” said Smith, laughing, without sounding wild and crazy. “In fact, I’ve had people chasing me around the airport and saying, ‘There’s Steve.’ “
Smith laughed some more. Now we’ll see if he can keep folks from laughing at his Falcons.
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