Tag Archives: Mike Smith
Playoffs: For Falcons, Getting There is Half the Problem
The Atlanta Falcons are not a team with a rich playoff history. As a matter of fact, up until this year the team had never made the playoffs in consecutive years but in past seasons when the Falcons did make the playoffs they usually made it count.
That didn’t occur very often though. The Falcons have only been to the playoffs eight times since the strike-shortened season of 1982 and three of those post season appearances have come in the past four years under Head Coach Mike Smith.
Smith has been more successful getting the Falcons to the playoffs than any coach in the past 30 years but he only has an 0-3 playoff record to show for it. Adding to the Falcons’ playoff ineptitude, all three opponents that beat the Falcons have gone on to play in the Super Bowl.
Before Smith took over, the Falcons had won at least one playoff game in four of their previous five playoff appearances. The first of those coming back in 1991 when the Falcons beat the New Orleans Saints on the road with a 27-20 Wild Card win. They would lose the next week to the eventual Super Bowl winners, the Washington Redskins.
The Falcons didn’t play so well during their playoff berth in 1995. Coach June Jones would lead the Falcons to the playoffs that year using his version of the Run-and-Shoot offense but they would come up short in their Wild Card game against Brett Farve and the Green Bay Packers.
The Falcons would redeem themselves of that early playoff exit three years later. In 1998, the Falcons would win the NFC crown by beating both the San Francisco 49ers and the Minnesota Vikings but they would fall to the Denver Broncos 34-19 in Super Bowl XXXIII. The Falcons only Super Bowl appearance in the history of the franchise.
In 2002, Atlanta would be the first team to beat the Packers on Lambeau Field during the playoffs. Unfortunately, they were unable to get past the Philadelphia Eagles who beat them 20-6 in the Divisional round that year.
Then finally in 2004, the Falcons would beat the St. Louis Rams who still had a few players left from the “Greatest Show on Turf” on their roster before losing to the Super Bowl-bound Eagles in the NFC Conference Championship game. Like I said, Atlanta hasn’t had a lot of playoff appearances over the years but when they have made it to the postseason they usually made a big splash.
That is until Mike Smith became coach. There’s nothing wrong with being a consistent winner during the regular season but eventually that regular-season success needs to translate to the playoffs. Still, he has at least mastered the first half of the equation so let’s see how long it takes Smith to figure out the rest.
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Featured Journalist for The Penalty Flag and NBA Featured Journalist for Shatter The Backboard. He can be contacted at RHall@ThePenaltyFlagBlog.com. You can also follow him on Twitter @rhall_tpfb.
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Swap Meet: Falcons, Jaguars Exchange Offensive Coordinators
Here’s a question for Atlanta Falcons fans. How do you improve an offense that was shutout in the playoffs? By hiring the offensive coordinator of the leagues’ last-ranked offense, that’s how.
Or at least that seems to be the reasoning of Atlanta’s management. After “losing” offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Falcons hired the Jaguars former offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter to replace him.
The Jaguars were dead last in offense last season under Koetter averaging 15.2 points and only 259.3 yards-per-game. It seems that if Koetter were such a good hire then the Jaguars would have retained him like they retained their defensive coordinator Mel Tucker but what do they know?
At least Mularkey was somewhat of an upgrade over what the Jaguars had last season, I just don’t see how Koetter is the answer to Atlanta’s offensive woes. I do see how he got hired though.
Koetter was more a hire of familiarity than a move to improve the team. Falcons Head Coach Mike Smith and General Manager Thomas Dimitroff must be really bad at evaluating coaching talent if the only people they can seem to hire are people who have worked in some capacity with Smith.
In the end, this questionable coaching hire could lead to Smith and Dimitroff’s downfall. With both Brian Van Gorder and Mularkey leaving over the past week, the Falcons had a chance to really upgrade their coaching staff and move the team forward in the next few years. Hiring Koetter kills any chance of the Falcons breaking their playoff-loss streak any time soon, no matter who they hire as defensive coordinator.
That is assuming the Falcons make it back to the playoffs. They didn’t exactly charge their way into the post season this year and with teams like the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys set to improve the Falcons may be on the outside looking in next year.
Either way Falcons fans shouldn’t expect much if any improvement from their beloved Falcons next season. There were plenty of deserving coaching prospects out there who would have made a great fit for the Falcons but Atlanta’s management has shown that it is satisfied with the team’s mediocre play.
And although filling the vacancies at both coordinator spots with solid candidates was important, the offensive coordinator hiring was the one where the Falcons needed to make the biggest splash and Atlanta has failed miserably. So miserable to the point where it really doesn’t matter who they hire to coach their defense now.
Let’s just hope that once they do name their new defensive coordinator, his credentials don’t too closely resemble their new offensive coordinator’s resume. If so then we can be sure that Smith has worked with him before and he probably coached the worst defense in the league last year. I’m just saying…
Roosevelt Hall is an NFL Featured Journalist for The Penalty Flag and can be contacted at RHall@ThePenaltyFlagBlog.com. Follow him on Twitter @rhall_tpfb.
Related articles
- Falcons’ Offense Shutout by Giants? That’s Mularkey! (thepenaltyflagblog.com)
- Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants Wild Card Preview (thepenaltyflagblog.com)
- What the Falcons Must do to Make the Playoffs (thepenaltyflagblog.com)
