FALCONS FIRE HEAD COACH ARTHUR SMITH AFTER BLOWOUT LOSS TO THE SAINTS
The Atlanta Falcons fired head coach Arthur Smith last night, just hours after the Falcons lost in a devastating 48-17 blowout against division rivals, New Orleans Saints, the team confirmed.
“The Atlanta Falcons have dismissed Arthur Smith as the team’s head coach following a meeting Sunday night in Atlanta with Falcons Owner and Chairman, Arthur M. Blank, and the team’s CEO, Rich McKay,” the team statement read. It is presumed that Falcons’ general manager Terry Fontenot’s job is safe, however, as the team confirmed he would have an input into the next head coach hiring.
As reported by Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz, there has been a growing belief in Atlanta in the last two weeks that head coach Arthur Smith would be in trouble if the team collapsed, and Falcons owner Arthur Blank was reportedly unhappy with the performance this year. After last week’s underwhelming performance in a 37-17 defeat to the Chicago Bears and the way last night ended, a breakup between Smith and the organization seemed inevitable.
“Decisions like these are never easy and they never feel good,” said Falcons owner Arthur Blank. “We have profound respect for Coach Smith and appreciate all the hard work and dedication he has put into the Falcons over the last three years.”
“He has been part of building a good culture in our football team, but the results on the field have not met our expectations. After significant thought and reflection, we have determined the best way forward for our team is new leadership in the head coaching position.”
The decision, made by owner Arthur Blank and CEO Rich McCkay, was one the organization felt they needed to make and the team confirmed that both Blank and McKay will lead the head coach search. General Manager Terry Fontenot and other appropriate members from both the Falcons’ organization and Blanks’ AMB Sports and Entertainment organization will provide any additional input. Both owner and CEO are expected to meet with the media on Monday at 4pm EST in their end of season press conference.
Smith’s tenure in Atlanta didn’t end the way he or anybody hoped it would, with back to back devastating losses on the road, and with the ability to still clinch the division and punch the Falcons’ ticket into the playoffs.
The 41-year-old head coach was incensed after the resounding thump on Sunday when the New Orleans Saints scored a touchdown from victory formation with 1 minute and 13 seconds left in the game, a play that Saints head coach Dennis Allen profusely apologized for in his post-game press conference.
“I’m going to start off by apologizing to Arthur Smith and the Falcons,” said Allen. “That was not a play that we intended to run down there to finish out that game. That’s not who we are, that’s not how we operate. We should have taken a knee so, I want to apologize to them.”
“We’ve got a good rivalry. And it’s a heated rivalry but there’s [a] way we go about doing our business and I wasn’t happy about that.”
After a promising start to the year in which the Falcons began 2-0 but went 6-6 after Week 12, four losses out of their last five games helped owner Arthur Blank decide to head in a different direction. All 4 losses came in conference, with three of them coming in-division. Atlanta lost must-have games to the Buccaneers, Panthers, Bears and Saints.
The Falcons’ assessment of the last three years also comes off the back of the team spending their last three draft picks in the first round – all top 10 picks – on offensive weapons, and finishing at 7-10 in all three seasons. Atlanta selected TE Kyle Pitts at no.4 in 2021, WR Drake London at no.8 in 2022, and RB Bijan Robinson at no.8 in 2023. A lack of visible growth in the team’s performance prompted a change. Smith exits Atlanta with a 0.412 winning percentage, after winning 21 games and losing 30.
For now, the search for a new head coach begins in Atlanta, making the NFC South organization one of now five confirmed teams with a vacancy at the head coaching position. The Panthers, Raiders, Commanders and Chargers are the other four clubs which will be in the thick of the head coaching market this offseason.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Atlanta Falcons. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.