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In our two playoff games this year, we have been outscored 42 to 10 in the 2nd half.

In the Mike Smith era, the Falcons have been outscored 98 to 31 in the 2nd half of playoff games. In two of those 5 games, the Falcons been shut out in the 2nd half.

Discuss?

Go to sleep. There are obvious issues, but this constant ranting isn’t going to help without delivering actual reasoning. Defense needs a pass rush simple as that and the offense needs a better running game. Simple as that.

Offense needs a better running game? What about last year? What about the year before? It's not the running game, it's the inability of the coach to put teams away. Make all of the excuses you want, these last two playoff games made it abundantly obvious that the Falcons, under Mike Smith, can not protect a lead. No lead is safe with Mike Smith running the show.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out Rob. 28th ranked running game and a middling defense that thrived on TOs but generated few in January. Not exactly a recipe for success when it comes to protecting leads...

So, is this what we get to listen to until Smith is replaced or we win a SB....or don't? The team needs better balance. A better running game to compliment a superb passing game and a better defense to compliment a good offense. Human nature, I guess, to want more once you get something and also to feel that there is some single person or a couple of people who have to be designated as goats when things don't work out. I guess you are saying Smith faile dlast year to protect our 2 point lead versus NYGs in the playoffs?

that is pretty classic! BTW, thanks for sitting in with the band last night! Glad to see you got home ok.

That was fun. I like what you guys are doing...loose and funky.

Actually, I'm saying that we suck in the 2nd half of playoff games. Last year, Mularkey didn't have a gameplan for the Giants. Mularkey was a crappy OC.

This year, with pretty much the same team as last year, we blew the Giants away.

In the playoffs, we got out to HUGE leads in both of our games this year, but Mike Smith decided that we needed to protect the lead instead of continuing to attack on offense, and we blew those leads.

We discussed last year that Smith was the primary reason for the problems. (Pudge actually said this) I acknowledged that it was possible, but that I'd like to see what Smith did with different coordinators. Well, now we have seen it. The coordinators did make a difference, but Smith's game day strategy still sunk the team.

Smith is a great regular season coach, just like Bobby Cox was a great regular season coach. But when the games get tougher, and every game is your last game, Smith is not the right guy to have on the sidelines. The Falcons needs someone who is going to keep the pedal on the gas for 60 minutes.

Ryan had a first half Qb rating on about 130. In the second half it fell in the 70's......

It seems your logic means Ryan can't win??

We've made the Championship game 3 times in 50 years and now we should fire the coach.?? Who had guess we'd make the Championship game in 5 years.... I just wish
I could take you seriously, sure you can say fire Coach Smith, but this team has never won like this under any other coach!! We made the Championship game for only the third time; Why not fire Thomas D. if you don't like Smith; why not move the franchise??

Ryan can only do what Ryan is asked to do. The Falcons 2nd half play calling handicaps Ryan and our offense. Tell me, do you think that Ryan undergoes some transformation at halftime that makes him a crappy player? I know that you're not convinced, but I am convinced that this team goes into prevent mode at halftime and that causes our offense to peter out.

Look, I have to have RAP's back here a little. I disagree that we need to fire Mike Smith this season. But Robert is only being 'consitant'. I readily admit Im not being consitant. Had we lost last week, which was pretty much this game with 2 less 'mistakes' who here would still be saying 'keep him'? I believe that chorus would have amounted to possibly Pudge, BnB, Cyril and Emmit. But I would have been screaming from the mountaintop to fire fire fire his ass.

But since we got the playoff monkey off our back, I am giving the man a reprieve. Look, Mike Smith would have been fired if we lost last week: Dan Patrick reported it, I spoke on this at least a month ago. You guys can argue about whether or not that is 'wise'. But Im am FIRMLY convinced Blank would have sent Smith packing

RAP is being true, because he is not changing his tune like me or Mr Blank. And although I disagree with him, I stil think I have to have his back, because last week: he would have mine as I argued with you guys about whether or not Mike Smith should be fired. He was right about Mularkey and BVG as well, but I think we all saw that trainwreck coming

Thanks Fun Gus, I appreciate the sentiment.

hey look, we dont always agree here, but I dont mind as long as the arguments are somewhat sound. This aint like last week where some guy came in and said Matt Ryan was the reason we struggled, when that was clearly not the case. The only reason I disagree is because I cant think of a btter solution. However, had we lost last week, I would have said give Nolan the HC job. As it stands now, I'd rather have him continue as DC. Just sayin'...

I hear ya. Honestly, there's not a lot of coaches out there that I think would be superior to Smith. However, I don't think that Smith has a Superbowl in him. I think that his conservative nature requires our team to have a level of talent that we can not achieve. In previous years, we were balanced, but not explosive. This year, we fielded the best trio of receivers that the NFL has seen in a long time, but we still couldn't get it done because we took the foot off of the gas.

Here's the kicker... Smith is a, "defensive coach." He's had 5 years to get the defense worked out, but that just hasn't happened.

I think that Nolan can turn the defense around. I saw what he was trying to do this year, and recognized that we're really only a few pieces shy of having a formidable defense, but those few pieces are considerably huge. For Nolan, nose tackle is going to be huge. If we can get a real 3-4 NT in the off-season, I think it will be a lot easier for Nolan to get things straightened out.

That said, how does Mike Smith benefit the team going forward? If he's the spiritual and strategic leader of the team, I have significant issues with what I saw from our team this year, and in year's past. The team took a couple of games off this year, and even some of the players commented on it. The team, "got complacent," with big leads in playoff games. Who does that fall on?