Falcons 'No Wild Predictions, But ..!' Coach Arthur Smith Reacts to Rising Expectations
The Atlanta Falcons are less than a week and a half away from kicking off the new season - but really, it's more than just another campaign.
It's the year that Falcons coach Arthur Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot have been building towards since being hired in Jan. 2021; perhaps more importantly, it's the third year of a three-year plan the duo laid out in front of owner Arthur Blank before their arrival.
Given a tall task headlined by a veteran-laden team with no cap space and little depth, Smith and Fontenot have entirely rebuilt the roster and will enter their third season with legitimate playoff aspirations.
The Falcons enjoyed a productive offseason during which they had the second-most cap space league-wide and a top-10 pick.
The result was a haul of talented yet experienced players, such as defensive linemen David Onyemata, Calais Campbell, outside linebacker Bud Dupree, linebacker Kaden Elliss and safety Jessie Bates, while the draft netted running back Bijan Robinson, one of the leading candidates for offensive rookie of the year, and starting left guard Matthew Bergeron, among others.
Talent is up ... but so are expectations. The good news for Smith's team is that so many of the veteran additions double as strong, authentic leaders who've helped age a group that was the second youngest in the league last season.
Smith preaches being player-led, and several players have, at various points this offseason, described the culture as exactly that, spearheaded by the free agency signees and a pair of returning staples in defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and offensive tackle Jake Matthews.
Despite largely being similar in age and experience, each player brings their own unique leadership styles, all the while being real with what they're saying, which has helped create a level of buy-in that spread rapidly throughout the roster and fostered a team completely focused on delivering results.
"What I appreciate about the guys we have (is) these guys have real leadership traits," Smith said. "There’s not some phony narrative that people try to hype to justify certain things. These guys are real. That’s what allows you to go out and have a practice where it doesn’t feel like I’m telling guys to focus like I’m a peewee coach.”
For Smith, these types of practices reflect advanced maturity, which he said has been the most pleasant surprise of training camp. It's not that he didn't have faith in his players, but rather the idea that most teams go through lulls during camps.
This was an especially prevalent thought with the NFL's new camp schedule, during which walk-throughs are much more common and the intensity drops from consistently competitive reps in pads.
But Smith believes more walk-throughs can be a positive if approached with the right mindset, and with Atlanta's heavy influx of new players, there was certainly value to be gained ... and by all accounts, the roster capitalized, thanks in large part to the heightened attention to detail led by several of the new additions.
“When you’ve got the right group of guys and the focus – the focus has been there every day," Smith said. "It’s never going to be perfect but that’s what you appreciate. You think you have it but until you go through six weeks, you don’t know. But that part’s made my job a lot easier.”
Another thing that's helped ease stress from Smith is the notion that his team is greatly improved across the board from year's past.
The Falcons are 14-20 under Smith's guidance, having gone 7-10 in each of his first two seasons, which is largely looked back on as an overachievement considering the talent and circumstances he inherited.
As such, there's belief that both he and Fontenot are more than safe in terms of job security, even if this year's team doesn't reach the postseason. But the Falcons don't want to have to worry about that potential scenario anyways, and certainly don't anticipate such a disastrous campaign that talk would heat up.
After all, just look at how Smith has carried himself this summer - he's been noticeably loose in press conferences and genuinely seems to be enjoying the opportunity to coach this group of individuals.
The 41-year-old has noted he's having as much fun as ever before in the lead-up to the regular season, and while he's continually expressed gratitude for all of the players and coaches who came through the building in the first two years, there's clearly more pep in his step.
“Our team is a little bit different with the way that this one is currently built," Smith said. "We have some depth on the lines of scrimmage that I’m excited about, some guys that we’ve invested in early, whether it’s been with draft capital or they were here when we got here. ... We’re excited.
"It’s a fun group to work with, a mature group, and we know the perspective of Week 1 and that this is a long journey ahead of us but we’re ready to go.”
The Falcons will begin that journey on Sept. 10, when the division rival Carolina Panthers voyage to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
It's the start of a week-to-week grind, something Smith feels this year's team is particularly well-equipped to handle with so many experienced presences who know how to ramp up and prepare for what's to come.
And really, perhaps nothing is more important than that last bit - preparing for what this season may have in store.
The Falcons haven't been above .500 the conclusion of the 2017 season, which also marked their last playoff appearance and last year with more than seven wins. They haven't finished better than third in the NFC South since 2019.
But this year could very well be different; it's certainly the best chance Atlanta's had to break all of those droughts under Smith and Fontenot.
So, what does Smith think? He's notedly a disapprover of hot takes, but he feels quite confident in the brand of football his team will put on the field this fall ... and it very well could generate more wins.
“I’m not going to get into any kind of wild predictions or sound bites, but I think what you’re going to see is this is going to be an entertaining team to watch," Smith said. "As we get closer to the season, we have a brand of football that’s going to be aggressive in all three phases.
"It’s our job to go and certainly win games at home, among other things. That means something to us.”
That's always been the job - but Smith's Falcons didn't really have the pieces needed to consistently execute it. That's not the case this year.
As a result, expectations are higher than ever before ... but so is the potential for the 2023 Falcons to be the turning point of the Smith-Fontenot regime.
And that, by all accounts, is more than enough reason for optimism and excitement entering this ever-crucial campaign.
