Falcons owner Arthur Blank won't commit to Arthur Smith as HC of the future
There's a lot of chatter about whether or not Arthur Smith will be back as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 2024. After three disappointing and painful seasons under Smith, including losing to the worst team in the league, the Carolina Panthers, on Sunday, Falcons owner Arthur Blank won't commit to Smith's future. However, […]
There's a lot of chatter about whether or not Arthur Smith will be back as head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 2024.
After three disappointing and painful seasons under Smith, including losing to the worst team in the league, the Carolina Panthers, on Sunday, Falcons owner Arthur Blank won't commit to Smith's future.
However, Blank will let Smith wrap up the regular season and then assess the situation from there.
"We are committed to Coach Smith. We are going to play these last three games; we are committed to win. We will let the season play out and go from there," Blank said while speaking to Georgia Public Broadcasting on Tuesday. "Obviously, this has not been the kind of year we expected; you would hear that from Coach Smith, you would hear it from our fans and our players. We understand that; we understand the challenges. At the end of the year, we will assess where we are and go from there."
Blank also said that making the playoffs isn't required for Smith to keep his job, though he did expect Atlanta to be a more competitive team this season.
"The requirement was we have more of a competitive team this year. I think through this part of the season, it’s been mixed, quite honestly, that’s what I think. And that’s what the coach would say. Arthur [Smith] is a very honest, very … he looks at himself very critically, so he comes from a beautiful family, that has great values and he reflects those values in his leadership the best he can. So, we’ll see how the season plays out and go from there."
The reality is that the Falcons should have been a contender while playing in the weakest NFL division, but that wasn't the case.
And even after 15 weeks of football, the Falcons still have a quarterback crisis and have once again benched Desmond Ridder for Taylor Heinicke.
Players, fans and the franchise deserve better.
Let's hope Blank makes the right choice.
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