First-year Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith has received plenty of criticism throughout the first few weeks of the season. From questionable offensive play calls, to the lack of involvement of key players, everyone has an opinion about what’s wrong when the team is 1-2.
However, anyone familiar with the Falcons’ roster and salary cap should have known that this could be a rocky transition. Whether or not Smith succeeds or fails, it will come down to how much he improves along the way. As he does every Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. ET, Smith joined 92.9 FM The Game‘s Dukes and Bell radio program. This time, he discussed the need to constantly evolve and improve as a coach.
“There’s always things to improve,” said Smith. “It’s my mindset at every job that I’ve had. I think you got to constantly look at yourself and try to improve. If you don’t do that, I always joke, you don’t want to become Blockbuster, right? So, you want to constantly evolve and know it’s a work in progress and never stops. That’s how I look at things.”
Smith’s Blockbuster comment is referring to the former video store chain’s refusal to evolve with the times, eventually leading to its downfall and closing. When it comes to evolving in the NFL, it’s much more challenging than moving your movie rental company online. NFL offenses are fluid and Smith even noted that there is clearly work that needs to be done, in spite of winning their first game of the season.
“So, as we go on, there’s clearly a lot of work we need to do. It’s nice we got a win, then you’ve got to move on. We got another big game this week and you’re never the same team you are in September and the good teams that play in January are the ones that improve throughout the year.”
Atlanta hosts Washington in Week 4, and the team is currently a 1.5-point underdog. Both teams are 1-2 and will look to get back to a .500 record going into Week 5.
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