Too Much Blame On One Man’s Shoulders

So the Atlanta Falcons have fired Mike Smith and we currently do not have a head coach. Prior to us hiring Smith, the Falcons never had back to back winning seasons. NEVER. Despite not having a quality defense, and some suspect offensive players, Smith had a career record with the Falcons of 67–49 (.578), from 2008 – 2014. That is not great, but it’s better than any other coach we had, it’s the best in franchise history.

As I look back over this season, I have said that Mike Smith should not be out head coach, but I have had some time to reflect and think about that. And I am no longer of that opinion. I have been one of the biggest criticizers, and supporters of my Atlanta Falcons, I love this team, and they have their ups and downs. Lord knows being a Falcons fan is not easy, but they are my team. Until the day I die, I will be a Dirty Bird.

That being said, we can not place all the blame on Mike Smith. Smitty did a decent job with the tools he was given. The real issue is that our shitty GM, Thomas Dimitroff, did not give him the tools to do a better job. Until Dimitroff is replaced with a competent GM, our problems will not get better, and the firing of Mike Smith is just the latest example of passing the buck by the ownership.

So as you people cheer and seem to be happy that Mike Smith is gone, remember, he is not the one who makes the decisions of what players we get. He is not the one responsible for us not having a quality defense. He is not the one responsible for letting good players go and signing garbage players.

Yes, he is the head coach, and a lot of the blame is on him, but, in my opinion, more of that blame falls on Thomas Dimitroff, the General Manager. The man who is responsible for the players we have on the team. But why was he not fired? Why does he still have a job? That is a question that we may never get an answer to. And honestly, I would have less issue with the firing of Thomas Dimitroff and the keeping of Mike Smith.

Sportsmanship

So as I sit here watching the Falcons dominate against the Cardnials, the comment was made about teaching the youngsters about sportsmanship. The context was this. The falcons are up 41-7, and have the ball on the Arizona 5 yard line. The guys in the booth were commenting on weather or not the Falcons would elect to just take a knee for a few plays or try to score.

Someone then says that what do you do in a situation like this, especially when trying to teach the young kids about sportsmanship.

Now the question that I have is this. Why is it unsportsmanlike to continue to play hard and score points? What about that is unsportsmanlike? To me, you play until the final whistle. So can someone please let me know what is it that makes it unsportsmanlike to continue playing hard and pounding in more points?