The 2023 Atlanta Falcons finished the season 7-10 with a blowout loss to the New Orleans Saints. This year’s offense was riddled with errors from the QB position to the situational play-calling to personnel groupings that frustrated Falcons’ fans. We regressed in many offensive categories after spending 3 first round picks on offensive players. Arthur Smith, when questioned about fans’ frustrations with play-calling throughout the season, spoke condescendingly and disrespectfully to the media which rubbed people the wrong way (myself included). The 2023 season was a disappointment for many reasons and for those reasons and more, Arthur Smith is out.
I’m not sure if Smith ever realized speaking to the media is essentially speaking to the fans and when you treat the reporters in a disrespectful manner you are speaking to the fans in a disrespectful manner, especially when the questions being asked are valid and what the fans want to know. Arthur Smith claimed he doesn’t care about fantasy football but if your fantasy players are doing well, generally and I mean GENERALLY, that means the players are doing well in real life, which of course can mean the team is doing well.
To be fair, AS was handed an old, on the way out Matt Ryan, Marcus Mariota, and Desmond Ridder. Matt Ryan stood behind a porous offensive line and defenses teed off. Mariota could escape the pressure better but wasn’t much better than Ridder. Ultimately Ridder became Smith’s downfall in Atlanta. Had there been a better signal caller this year, the season may have gone differently. Ridder never took the step forward many fans were hoping for and for every flash of something special there were many more head scratching moments. Hitching your wagon to Ridder isn’t all Arthur Smith’s doing but in totality the offense took a step back from 2022 and it just wasn’t good enough.
Offensive Regression
The total offense regressed from ’22 finishing in the bottom 7 of total TDs scored (32, down from 38). The Rushing game regressed from a top 3 finish and 2718 yards and 17 TDs on the ground to 9th with 2159 yards and 14 TDs on the ground (after drafting a Rookie RB #8 overall). The passing game actually improved from bottom 2 in the NFL to bottom 11 but interceptions went up from 9 to 17. Total yards did improve from 5645 to 5934 but the regression in TDs can help non-Falcons viewers understand that the redzone is where the majority of the frustration came from this year.
According to TeamRankings.com, the Falcons finished 29th in redzone TD efficiency scoring TDs 46.8% of the time which is down from 55.6% in ’22. Accompanied with this failure was the misuse of Bijan Robinson, questionable play calls and personnel groupings, along with failing to even really attempt to get Drake London or Kyle Pitts touches.
Misuse of Top Players
The failure to get the most out of Bijan, London, and Pitts can ultimately be the straw that killed the fanbase. If we were just going to use these guys as regular role players then drafting them in the top 10 instead of addressing the Oline or Defense leaves everyone feeling like these were wasted picks. In hindsight, they may have been wasted picks since the Oline still has problems and the pass rush, although being better this year, is still going to need addressing for future seasons once the vet contracts expire.
Before the season I thought 10 wins was doable as long as Ridder took a step forward but he never quite looked like a promising “QB of the Future”. I could deal with turnovers if you are looking the part and look like you have a feel for the pocket or command of the offense but he never got there. In fact, Ridder looked to get worse and flip flopping between him and Taylor Heinicke probably didn’t do him any favors in his development.
In short, here are the reasons Arthur Smith had to go:
- Regression on Offense
- Lack of quality QB play
- Lack of talent utilization/maximization (Bijan, London, Pitts)
- Lack of Redzone efficiency
- Attitude towards the press/fans
- 3 losing seasons
- Lost the fanbase
- Off-putting personality and attitude
Bad Attitude
There are many things that can happen along the way to provide a coach leniency in job security but Arthur Smith’s attitude may have been his worst quality. Arthur Smith finished the season cussing out Saints coach Dennis Allen which was a fitting image for many people’s issue with Smith. Often times he would say things in press conferences that left people with a bad taste in their mouths. When you think you’re the smartest guy in the room and you treat people disrespectfully then you need to produce results. If the results aren’t there and you have a bad attitude then you become expendable.
Winning Cures Everything
All problems can be fixed with one thing, winning and Arthur Smith did not win enough. The Falcons finished 7-10 3 years in a row. We still need a QB and so a new QB in a fresh new system is the correct move. Bringing in a new QB to play in Arthur Smith’s system is fine but if we lose Arthur Smith after the 2024 season then having a new QB play in 2 different systems in back to back seasons is not ideal (especially for a Rookie). So it makes sense to couple a new Offensive Coordinator with a new QB so they can move forward together and on the same page.
Hopefully the Falcons get this next one right because last thing the Falcons need to do what the Carolina Panthers are doing with 3 Head Coaches in 3 years. The future relies heavily on who the next QB will be and if the Falcons can get that one right then Terry Fontenot can cook with our current cap situation to finish his retool of the franchise and get us back to a winning way. I wanted Arthur Smith to succeed but his time is up in Atlanta and it’s time to move forward with a different vision.
The Other Side of Sports 