Though fans and Atlanta sports talk radio have called for Arthur Smith’s head, the Falcons are unlikely to move on from him.
Jeff Schultz of The Athletic recently did a piece where Smith stated he didn’t believe a decision on his job would be made before the season’s end. Now, that doesn’t mean it won’t happen after the 2023 campaign.
Moreover, Schultz added that if Arthur Blank wanted to fire Smith, he would have done it already. It makes sense. The Falcons owner has never been one to fire a head coach on a knee-jerk reaction. In fact, he’s held on too long to the last two head coaches.
Schultz noted that Blank doesn’t want to go through another regime change, so I find it highly unlikely that Arthur Smith will be fired this offseason.
“Blank is 81 years old. He’s tired. He doesn’t want to go through another coaching/front office makeover. If he had decided to fire Smith, he would’ve done so by now. But he likes Smith, just as he did Dan Quinn and Mike Smith. (Bobby Petrino? No. Jim Mora? No — it was over for Mora when he went on a Seattle radio show and said the University of Washington was his dream job … while he was still the Falcons’ coach.),” Schultz stated.
In my assessment, the Falcons have a quarterback problem. Obviously, Smtih isn’t devoid of blame, but I think most of the Falcons’ shortcomings stem from Desmond Ridder’s inconsistencies.
He’s committed six red zone turnovers and 16 total, which ranks third in the NFL. Moreover, Ridder has fumbled the ball at an inexcusable rate, so that turnover total could easily be even higher had the Falcons lost more of those.
I’m not defending Arthur Smith by any means. He deserves a share of the blame, but the quarterback position has been the single biggest factor that has held this Falcons club back.
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Photographer: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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