That Mike Smith was no longer the right coach was obvious, and it’s likewise clear that Thomas Dimitroff is no longer the right general manager. That the latter remains in place while the former was given the gate makes us wonder if the Atlanta Falcons don’t have an even greater problem.
It makes us wonder if Arthur Blank is still the right owner.
He bought the team since January 2002 and became the gold standard for local owners. Granted, he had no real competition — the blithering Atlanta Spirit and the faceless Liberty Media have never been lumped with the Rooneys and the O’Malleys of the sports world — and he had, in the ham-handed Smiths, an easy act to follow. But give him credit: A.M. Blank connected with his constituency in a way the best owners do.
That’s why the disconnect with which Blank apparently views his franchise — the coach had to go because he didn’t get the most out of his many gifted players, even as the past two seasons proved the Falcons are a two-man team — is so jarring. Monday was the time for the Falcons to start over. Instead the owner dealt in half-measures: Smitty out, Dimitroff still in.
Be honest. Were Blank to hire the absolute best coach in the business — Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Nick Saban — today, would that man turn a roster with more holes than Augusta National into a Super Bowl winner 13 months hence? The owner saw the same Smitty-blown games against Detroit in London and against Cleveland in the Dome we all did, but he must have missed the other eight losses.
What tells us that the Falcons were lacking in talent — this in a league where the draft and free agency and a salary cap all but guarantee parity — were the other games. On Sept. 28, the Falcons yielded 558 yards to Minnesota, playing behind rookie quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in his first NFL start. On Oct. 5, they were outscored 20-0 over the final 17 minutes by the New York Giants. On Oct. 12, the Falcons were outgained by 191 yards by Chicago.
Total number of subsequent victories the Vikings, the Giants and the Bears would muster after vanquishing the Falcons: 10 (and Minnesota and Chicago split with each other). All three would finish between 7-9 and 5-11, which should have marked them as the Falcons’ peers. Yet all three beat the Falcons, who finished 6-10, by double figures.
That’s how you know your manpower isn’t powerful enough. If those three games hadn’t hammered home the point, Sunday’s astonishing loss to Carolina should have. Over a 10-game stretch from September into December, the Panthers had won once. Their only victory over a team that would break .500 came against Detroit on Sept. 14. But with a division title in the balance, they beat the Falcons — on the road, no less — by 31 points.
Even the right coach can’t turn substandard personnel into a colossus. This should have been the time for systemic change. Instead the owner took the path of least resistance — though he did suggest that firing Smith “may not be the only move we need to make” — because time’s a-wasting and there’ll be a new stadium to fill come 2017 and those sticker-shocking personal seat licenses are set to go on sale.
In the novel “Smiley’s People,” John le Carre writes of the British spy George Smiley’s last desperate bid to outflank Karla, his longtime Russian nemesis. Toby Esterhase advises his mentor to tread lightly. “You’re an old spy in a hurry, George,” Esterhase says. “You used to say those were the worst.”
Blank has invested too much capital, political and financial, in his new pleasure palace to slow down. He’s 72 and makes no secret of his lust for a Lombardi Trophy. (Heck, even the bumbling Smith family saw the Falcons reach a Super Bowl.) His impatience, once displayed only behind the scenes, grows more blatant with every season that ends short of the prize, as all 13 have.
There’s a forest out there, but Arthur Blank saw only the tree with “Smitty” carved into its bark. He’s an aging owner in a hurry, and those are the worst kind.
About the Author
