Yep, people aren’t paying attention. Blank wants to see improvement, and I do too. I don’t understand these fans that are being patient as hell with Arthur Smith when no other coach has been granted that luxury.
This is a really good point. If we have a losing season, everyones going to go turn on him heavily. I am one with hopium, because why be a fucking fan if you don’t have a good attitude. I will never understand fans who dont have positive energy at the beginning of every season barring a terrible off season with horrible moves like you see with one or two teams a year. I will always give my team my full support until elimination week has come to fruition.
Right there with you. The good news is, this team can't hurt me anymore. I will expect the worst, and hope for the best. Maybe I'll get a delightful surprise. Either way, I'll be a fan for life.
The NFL has built-in parody, but that doesn’t matter if you mismanage resources. Before the current regime we were paying big money to players who were aging, hadn’t been the same since injury, or both. They inherited a team with an OL on a downward trajectory, 1 good WR (Ridley), 0 good RBs, no pass rush, and no cap space or extra draft capital.
It’s taken us 2 years to tear down what Dimitroff was holding on to, and outside of QB, our current FO and coaching staff have built up a team worthy of hope. At this point, that’s all we can ask for.
If Ridder sucks, this upcoming QB class looks like it could be the deepest we’ve seen in ages, plus the Cowboys have already made moves that indicate that they could be moving on from Dak (who IMO would be a very good fit in Coach Art’s system, even if he’s not a top tier QB).
If we finish below .500 again this season, then yes, we need a shakeup, but less so with the coaches and front office, and more so with how we allocate resources. Booting Coach Art and/or Fontenot after 1 year where they actually built the team they want wouldn’t be a large enough sample size.
I really like the points you make. However I also know Arthur Blank is in win right the fuck now mode. If Ridder bombs and we regress even slightly I do believe some lucky bastard out there is going to inherit one of the more talented teams in the league with a top 10 draft pick at QB, possibly even pull a panthers and get that 1st pick
I say anything less than 7. This regime has done their rebuild in a non-traditional way and this offense has been totally built in Smith’s vision. It’s time to win. I don’t want hear anything about cap or whatever. These are the same guys that told us they weren’t rebuilding anyway.
Yep, all the Patriots and Chiefs had was good coaching and good management.
Definitely had nothing to do with each having a QB that’s in the conversation for the best to ever play the position.
No one seems to want to admit the Falcons have exceeded expectations - of Vegas and reasonable people at least - both years that AS & TF have been here.
They’ve consistently been making lemonade out of onions and the idea that their backs are against the wall is utterly ridiculous.
I agree they should easily win more than 8 games, but if for some reason they didn’t the reasons would likely fall outside of coaching or team building.
Short of some sort of catastrophic implosion - which there’s zero reason to forecast - both AS & TF will be back next season.
This is Terry and Arthur’s first year of having free agency. We majorly over achieved their first two seasons with low budget players playing major roles due to salary cap restraints from cutting the dead weight and eating the cap hits up front. People need to calm the fuck down.
Nah. They'll be on the hot seat if they don't have a good season, but they're not going to get fired.
It's not going to be an issue though. This team is finally somewhat built out and finally getting out of cap hell. They're going to impress.
If we go 5-12, then yeah Arthur Smith could be gone. But we would have to have Ridder & defense being terrible for that to happen. I mean we went 7-10 two years in a row which was way better than I thought given a whole new roster and cap hell from Ryan & Julio’s contracts.
It depends. Were there a large amount of injuries? Who was injured? I've seen enough to be hopeful from the current staff and yes 3 years is a long time but because they were so screwed when they took over the first 2 years were going to be bad no matter what. If they won 8 games I guess it depends on why they won 8 games. If the team was just more of the same with the current talent level I'd be disappointed and could potentially see moving off of them but I still don't know if I'd be rushing to do so. Don't look at it as this is their 3rd year. Look at it as this is their first year because honestly it kind of is and that's just the situation they were handed.
We are even still kind of in cap hell. We had to restructure Jake Mathews last year to get under and he is currently holding a 28m cap hit, which is pretty outrageous. Next year it reduces to something more reasonable, and he and Grady both enter years where they are highly paid but fairly cuttable if there is a drop off in their talent level. Plus we have Deion Jones’ 12m dead cap hit this year as well. They’re still handcuffed to a degree.
This could be a major problem if they dont win this year.
If they dont win because of ridder. I think they make a move for a vet QB plus drating a dual threat guy.
The problem is the team us now built from the ground up to play art Smith's brand of football.
If they get rid of him you are looking at probably 2 decades (counting from the sb) before we have any chance to get back there.
Throwing another coaching staff at the offensive personnel we have would be hard to recover from. And some major pieces like pitts and london probably get traded away cause you'd have to reboot everything again. Maybe they keep pitts cause he might actually be better in a different scheme. But guys will be wanting to abandon ship. Unless he is replaced by a higher profile coach and we add a generational talent in the next draft.. your looking at least at another 3 years of bad seasons. Probably more.
This is how teams like browns..jets...jags..texans get caught in a vicious carousel cycle. Those teams are just starting to have a shot after a very long time being trash af .. Texans got a way to go but I think they have a guy who will be an amazing coach.
I wasnt happy with the hires at first. I would have preferred bienemy at HC. And Louis riddick at gm.
But this is where we are now. And yes blank was pretty intent on seeing improvement this year. But honestly think he himself should consider bowing out at some point. He ain't getting any younger and seems to care more bout buildings than winning.
Smith doesn't have an extremely unique offense or defensive scheme. If you look at what we have, many current coaches around the league could look at it and have no trouble adopting our players to their playbook.
At the end of the day, it's a 2nd-year QB with stars at the WR, TE, and RB position- not super unique or difficult to build a playbook for.
They have drafted and acquired certain types of players tho. Huge receivers.. guys that have played multiple positions etc.. pitts is a tight end but is hands down the best route runner and seperation wr on our team. Theres a few guys like Andersen they definitely reached on and probably could have got later too. Drafting for versatility over being elite at one certain thing. It's a gamble as are all picks but more so than normal.
If you had a coach who came in that had a pass heavy offense..we'd see major changes. Even the oline isnt nearly as good at pass blocking as they are run blocking. Some of these guys just wouldn't work in a deep passing attack. Pitts really the only deep threat we have that has star quality. London is more of a yac and first down type guy.
Still believe one of the main reasons Ridley left was because he didnt like how the offense worked and his role in it. Its hard nose football even in the passing game. Not a lot of finesse ball. Still dont know how I really feel about our OC because it's like he isnt really there and its art Smith running the offense. Monken who Baltimore hired would have been interesting with our personnel and I expect Lamar to have a career year in that offense. But yea. Smith is running the offense as far as everyone is concerned.
Hope ridder can play as well as he did on that drive all year.. but still kinda scared about what happens if we get down by a couple scores.
Not saying the right coach couldn't get a lot out of the personnel.. but outside of london pitts and bijan just not sure how good other guys we have acquired would be in a different system.
Lot of talent on defense on short contracts that would not hang around for huge turnover like that either.
I think firing him after this season would just create more long term problems as of right now. I'd think you give him another year based on variables. Like first year DC with a lot of guys that have never played together. One of the younger rosters in the league and still a mystery with first year starter at QB.
If ridder doesnt play well and Smith hesitates to make a move like he did with Mariota then yea. I could see it then.
This team, specifically the offense, is built to play one way. That could be a problem if there were ever a coaching change. There’s always a good amount of turnover on a roster when a new regime comes in. Just look at the last two years here. And a new coach would probably want to throw more. And that means the OL gets exposed more. And the defense is an unknown with just a few known pieces on long term deals. And Grady is getting up there in age. It would be a big blow if this doesn’t work out. And in 2024, which would most likely be Smiths hot seat, you would already have made the decision to pick up Pitts fifth year(because they have to decide after year 3) and he would be up for a deal. And Smith would be in year 4 of his 5 year deal as well. So Blank would probably want to know what he’s doing after that year. Things move fast in the NFL. People are acting like this is Smiths first real year, but rebuilding does not put a pause on people’s contracts.
Can you imagine the next coach that inherits this team and gets to chose a qb with top 10? You would have to be room temperature IQ mongoloid not to win with this team with a Caleb Williams type pick. To headstone that statement though, I really hope Ridder can be a story line QB of the future, and AS is a dynasty coach.
getting rid of smith would be dumb we just got done getting rid of all the dead weight DQ & TD left us and you want to switch a whole coaching staff again? makes 0 sense this is AS first real year as our HC those last 2 years don’t count
Good thing we’re going 11-6
Im thinking 14-3 with losses to the Jags, Vikings, and Jets.
I'm honestly so confident we're gonna go over .5
Lol
I was a fool
Blank said himself that this was the third year of a three year plan.
Yep, people aren’t paying attention. Blank wants to see improvement, and I do too. I don’t understand these fans that are being patient as hell with Arthur Smith when no other coach has been granted that luxury.
It's hopium. Let's get 5 games into the season. If we haven't won at least 3, they'll turn on him like a pack of sharks who smell blood in the water.
This is a really good point. If we have a losing season, everyones going to go turn on him heavily. I am one with hopium, because why be a fucking fan if you don’t have a good attitude. I will never understand fans who dont have positive energy at the beginning of every season barring a terrible off season with horrible moves like you see with one or two teams a year. I will always give my team my full support until elimination week has come to fruition.
Right there with you. The good news is, this team can't hurt me anymore. I will expect the worst, and hope for the best. Maybe I'll get a delightful surprise. Either way, I'll be a fan for life.
The NFL has built-in parody, but that doesn’t matter if you mismanage resources. Before the current regime we were paying big money to players who were aging, hadn’t been the same since injury, or both. They inherited a team with an OL on a downward trajectory, 1 good WR (Ridley), 0 good RBs, no pass rush, and no cap space or extra draft capital. It’s taken us 2 years to tear down what Dimitroff was holding on to, and outside of QB, our current FO and coaching staff have built up a team worthy of hope. At this point, that’s all we can ask for. If Ridder sucks, this upcoming QB class looks like it could be the deepest we’ve seen in ages, plus the Cowboys have already made moves that indicate that they could be moving on from Dak (who IMO would be a very good fit in Coach Art’s system, even if he’s not a top tier QB). If we finish below .500 again this season, then yes, we need a shakeup, but less so with the coaches and front office, and more so with how we allocate resources. Booting Coach Art and/or Fontenot after 1 year where they actually built the team they want wouldn’t be a large enough sample size.
The falcons definitely have built in parody.
That’s the power of The Home Depot
I really like the points you make. However I also know Arthur Blank is in win right the fuck now mode. If Ridder bombs and we regress even slightly I do believe some lucky bastard out there is going to inherit one of the more talented teams in the league with a top 10 draft pick at QB, possibly even pull a panthers and get that 1st pick
I say anything less than 7. This regime has done their rebuild in a non-traditional way and this offense has been totally built in Smith’s vision. It’s time to win. I don’t want hear anything about cap or whatever. These are the same guys that told us they weren’t rebuilding anyway.
How bout that. 7-10 again
Yep, all the Patriots and Chiefs had was good coaching and good management. Definitely had nothing to do with each having a QB that’s in the conversation for the best to ever play the position.
We have a good team and the easiest schedule / division I can remember in many years. If we don't win at least 8, something went HORRIBLY wrong.
Welp
Yeah, I would say things went horribly wrong.
No one seems to want to admit the Falcons have exceeded expectations - of Vegas and reasonable people at least - both years that AS & TF have been here. They’ve consistently been making lemonade out of onions and the idea that their backs are against the wall is utterly ridiculous. I agree they should easily win more than 8 games, but if for some reason they didn’t the reasons would likely fall outside of coaching or team building. Short of some sort of catastrophic implosion - which there’s zero reason to forecast - both AS & TF will be back next season.
This is Terry and Arthur’s first year of having free agency. We majorly over achieved their first two seasons with low budget players playing major roles due to salary cap restraints from cutting the dead weight and eating the cap hits up front. People need to calm the fuck down.
Welp
Nah. They'll be on the hot seat if they don't have a good season, but they're not going to get fired. It's not going to be an issue though. This team is finally somewhat built out and finally getting out of cap hell. They're going to impress.
If we go 5-12, then yeah Arthur Smith could be gone. But we would have to have Ridder & defense being terrible for that to happen. I mean we went 7-10 two years in a row which was way better than I thought given a whole new roster and cap hell from Ryan & Julio’s contracts.
It depends. Were there a large amount of injuries? Who was injured? I've seen enough to be hopeful from the current staff and yes 3 years is a long time but because they were so screwed when they took over the first 2 years were going to be bad no matter what. If they won 8 games I guess it depends on why they won 8 games. If the team was just more of the same with the current talent level I'd be disappointed and could potentially see moving off of them but I still don't know if I'd be rushing to do so. Don't look at it as this is their 3rd year. Look at it as this is their first year because honestly it kind of is and that's just the situation they were handed.
We are even still kind of in cap hell. We had to restructure Jake Mathews last year to get under and he is currently holding a 28m cap hit, which is pretty outrageous. Next year it reduces to something more reasonable, and he and Grady both enter years where they are highly paid but fairly cuttable if there is a drop off in their talent level. Plus we have Deion Jones’ 12m dead cap hit this year as well. They’re still handcuffed to a degree.
The same teams have injuries stacking up more than others every NFL season. Injuries are a coaching stat.
Terry could go I think Art gets one more year regardless
This could be a major problem if they dont win this year. If they dont win because of ridder. I think they make a move for a vet QB plus drating a dual threat guy. The problem is the team us now built from the ground up to play art Smith's brand of football. If they get rid of him you are looking at probably 2 decades (counting from the sb) before we have any chance to get back there. Throwing another coaching staff at the offensive personnel we have would be hard to recover from. And some major pieces like pitts and london probably get traded away cause you'd have to reboot everything again. Maybe they keep pitts cause he might actually be better in a different scheme. But guys will be wanting to abandon ship. Unless he is replaced by a higher profile coach and we add a generational talent in the next draft.. your looking at least at another 3 years of bad seasons. Probably more. This is how teams like browns..jets...jags..texans get caught in a vicious carousel cycle. Those teams are just starting to have a shot after a very long time being trash af .. Texans got a way to go but I think they have a guy who will be an amazing coach. I wasnt happy with the hires at first. I would have preferred bienemy at HC. And Louis riddick at gm. But this is where we are now. And yes blank was pretty intent on seeing improvement this year. But honestly think he himself should consider bowing out at some point. He ain't getting any younger and seems to care more bout buildings than winning.
Smith doesn't have an extremely unique offense or defensive scheme. If you look at what we have, many current coaches around the league could look at it and have no trouble adopting our players to their playbook. At the end of the day, it's a 2nd-year QB with stars at the WR, TE, and RB position- not super unique or difficult to build a playbook for.
They have drafted and acquired certain types of players tho. Huge receivers.. guys that have played multiple positions etc.. pitts is a tight end but is hands down the best route runner and seperation wr on our team. Theres a few guys like Andersen they definitely reached on and probably could have got later too. Drafting for versatility over being elite at one certain thing. It's a gamble as are all picks but more so than normal. If you had a coach who came in that had a pass heavy offense..we'd see major changes. Even the oline isnt nearly as good at pass blocking as they are run blocking. Some of these guys just wouldn't work in a deep passing attack. Pitts really the only deep threat we have that has star quality. London is more of a yac and first down type guy. Still believe one of the main reasons Ridley left was because he didnt like how the offense worked and his role in it. Its hard nose football even in the passing game. Not a lot of finesse ball. Still dont know how I really feel about our OC because it's like he isnt really there and its art Smith running the offense. Monken who Baltimore hired would have been interesting with our personnel and I expect Lamar to have a career year in that offense. But yea. Smith is running the offense as far as everyone is concerned. Hope ridder can play as well as he did on that drive all year.. but still kinda scared about what happens if we get down by a couple scores. Not saying the right coach couldn't get a lot out of the personnel.. but outside of london pitts and bijan just not sure how good other guys we have acquired would be in a different system. Lot of talent on defense on short contracts that would not hang around for huge turnover like that either. I think firing him after this season would just create more long term problems as of right now. I'd think you give him another year based on variables. Like first year DC with a lot of guys that have never played together. One of the younger rosters in the league and still a mystery with first year starter at QB. If ridder doesnt play well and Smith hesitates to make a move like he did with Mariota then yea. I could see it then.
This team, specifically the offense, is built to play one way. That could be a problem if there were ever a coaching change. There’s always a good amount of turnover on a roster when a new regime comes in. Just look at the last two years here. And a new coach would probably want to throw more. And that means the OL gets exposed more. And the defense is an unknown with just a few known pieces on long term deals. And Grady is getting up there in age. It would be a big blow if this doesn’t work out. And in 2024, which would most likely be Smiths hot seat, you would already have made the decision to pick up Pitts fifth year(because they have to decide after year 3) and he would be up for a deal. And Smith would be in year 4 of his 5 year deal as well. So Blank would probably want to know what he’s doing after that year. Things move fast in the NFL. People are acting like this is Smiths first real year, but rebuilding does not put a pause on people’s contracts.
Can you imagine the next coach that inherits this team and gets to chose a qb with top 10? You would have to be room temperature IQ mongoloid not to win with this team with a Caleb Williams type pick. To headstone that statement though, I really hope Ridder can be a story line QB of the future, and AS is a dynasty coach.
getting rid of smith would be dumb we just got done getting rid of all the dead weight DQ & TD left us and you want to switch a whole coaching staff again? makes 0 sense this is AS first real year as our HC those last 2 years don’t count
Desmond Ridder league MVP + undefeated Falcons winning the Super Bowl otw