Mike Smith is both a tinkerer and a perfectionist. He is detail sensitive, thorough and measured. Of course, it helps to be those things and have those qualities when you’re guiding an NFL team through 16 –and hopefully more– games every season.
The Falcons head coach was neither overjoyed nor ambivalent after his team beat the Tennessee Titans 23-17 on Sunday at the Georgia Dome. As he stood at the podium addressing the media, he spent an appropriate amount of time praising some of the player’s individual efforts and the team’s overall execution of the game plan.
But Smith is what he is. He’s the tinkerer, perfectionist, etc. He also spent a little time giving his audience a glimpse of what this Falcons team needs to do better in order to go from simply playoff contender to Super Bowl contender (a label that many prognosticators and media types threw around in preseason) this winter.
Smith’s more or less “Dome improvement plan” looks a lot like this, “Improve red zone efficiency, improve third down efficiency.”
The Falcons (6-4) did a great job getting inside the Titans 20 yard line on Sunday but closing the deal was another story. The Falcons scored touchdowns on a 17-yard Matt Ryan to Tony Gonzalez touchdown pass and on a four yard run by Michael Turner. Other than that, they just proved to be pretty good at kicking short field goals. Matt Bryant chipped three pointers from 19, 33 and 23 yards. Turner fumbled on the Falcons final red zone appearance. Six trips deep in enemy territory, four of which netted just nine points.
The third down efficiency was also surprisingly bad considering team that had a running back rush for 100 yards (Turner) and a quarterback (Matt Ryan) throw for 316 more yards without an interception. But in short yardage situations, the Falcons still seem to be seeking for an identity at times. Sometimes, they’ll simply hand the ball to Turner and trust him to knock the defense back behind a less than dominant offensive line. Many other times in short yardage, the Falcons will work out of a shotgun no huddle formation. They did both against the Titans, and on Sunday, Ryan actually ran two quarterback sneaks on fourth and short. One went for two yards and a first down, the other was nullified by a defensive offsides penalty against Tennessee which resulted in another Atlanta first down. Clearly, Smith knows there’s work to be done here, and opponents can figure that out with a minimum of film study.
The Falcons plain and simple are having trouble getting yards when they need them most, to convert red zone trips to touchdowns and to turn third downs into first downs.
After last week’s excruciating 26-23 home overtime loss to NFC South rival New Orleans, the Falcons had to beat a decent but far from great Titans team. They did, and should be complemented on taking care of business after an emotional, tank draining home loss to a rival seven days before. Now they’ll spend Thanksgiving week preparing for a subpar Minnesota Vikings team, possibly without their star running back, Adrian Peterson.
Smith will work diligently to get the Falcons staff and players ready over the last six games, and possibly, the playoffs. Falcons fans can feel very good about that. He explained the team’s major area for improvement with macro level thinking, “We haven’t played as smart as we want to.” The impression was clear. He’s referring to coaches and players alike. That’s a good thing.
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