It’s quite possible that Arthur Smith saved his job on Sunday as the Falcons put up a season-high 29 points in a victory over the Colts.
The offense totaled 406 yards as Taylor Heinicke put up 229 yards and a touchdown on nearly 70% passing, but more importantly, the veteran didn’t commit a turnover, which is the sole reason Desmond Ridder is holding a clipboard right now.
Coming into the contest, speculation about Smith’s job security ran rampant. Arthur Blank eventually came out last week, backed his guy, and said they’d wait until after the season to evaluate.
When asked about the future of his head coach, Blank said, “We’re gonna play these last three games; we play ’em to win ’em. And we’ll let the season play out and go from there. Obviously this has not been the kind of year we expected.”
Following the most impressive win of the season, the Falcons owner’s stance hasn’t changed. At least in the public eye, he wouldn’t commit one way or the other. “We have two more games to go. Let’s see what happens. Like I said last week, we’ll play these last two and we’ll go from there,” he said, via The Athletic.
Regardless of the decision, which is an incredibly difficult one to make, Arthur Blank is clearly sticking to his initial comment. When asked just how challenging of a decision it was, Blank expressed the weight of it.
“These are very complex decisions. There’s a million factors that go into it. You know you have to represent the franchise, the fans, the players, the coaches — everybody. You have to make the right decision for the right reason, and you have to live with those consequences. My mother used to tell me that all the time,” he said, via The Athletic.
I don’t think Blank wants to move on from Smith, and if he’s looking for any excuse not to fire him, a look at how his players talk about him is a strong one.
“Sometimes you can tell when the energy is bad in the locker room, you can tell change might be coming,” Calais Campbell said. “We haven’t had that feeling. Just logically speaking, when you lose ballgames and you don’t achieve, people are going to get fired. But we’re definitely fighting to show we believe in him. I think he’s a great leader.”
It’s going to come down to wins and losses but losing the loyalty of the players would be a damning indictment of Arthur Smith’s standing within the Falcons organization. That clearly hasn’t happened despite underwhelming results.
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Photographer: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
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