After much speculation about his job security, Arthur Smith has officially been relieved of his duties as Falcons head coach, the team announced.
Before I point out the obvious, I want to say that no head coach could’ve succeeded with the quarterback play the Falcons had in 2023. It constantly handicapped the club and ultimately cost Arthur Smith his job.
With that being said, he thought he could get by with Desmond Ridder, and it was evidently clear that his system and coaching couldn’t overcome Ridder’s shortcomings.
Now, the Falcons will search for a new head coach, but I don’t know how fans can be confident that the next guy will be the answer because the same process that led to Arthur Smith is in the fold again — Arthur Blank and Rich McKay.
In the press release, it was said that Blank and McKay will lead the search for the new head coach with “input from Falcons General Manager Terry Fontenot, and several other appropriate members of Blank’s Atlanta Falcons and AMB Sports and Entertainment organizations.”
I don’t know if I need to explain to you that Fontenot won’t have any say whatsoever, but this decision is coming down to Arthur Blank and Rich McKay, who have yet to get it right.
It’s crazy that Arthur Smith is getting all of the blame, and McKay is going unscathed in all of this. Terry Fontenot deserves partial blame, but McKay not even being mentioned and once again sitting on the side of the King’s throne is unsettling.
Prior to the Falcons final stretch of games amid the turmoil and questions about Arthur Smith’s job security, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk pointed out McKay’s liability in the Falcons’ failures.
On if Arthur Blank is thinking about making changes, “I included in that reset button the guy who has still gone on to have a successful career in the NFL despite the fact that he drafted you (Chris Simms), Rich McKay,” Florio said.
“You (McKay) are part of the problem. McKay falls into that very rare category that is prevalent with a lot of teams where if things go well you’re basking in the glow and if things don’t, ‘Hey, I’m not in football operations, don’t fire me.’ But he’s the guy who’s whispering to Arthur Blank this is what you should do.”
Rich McKay deserves the blame as well. He’s not being held accountable like Arthur Smith and Terry Fontenot are but is like the King Whisperer in the Falcons owner’s ear. Think Gríma Wormtongue from Lord of the Rings.
I’m excited for a fresh start, but I’m cautiously optimistic because, at the end of the day, nothing really changed. Blank and McKay aren’t going to change their process of finding a head coach, which will once again hamper the Falcons. It’s the blind leading the blind.
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