Atlanta Falcons: Maximizing Every Ounce of Potential

(Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

I've heard it all my life: Give 100 percent and you will be rewarded.

When people discuss championship-winning organizations, they always discuss the process that got them there. The process is Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smiths's mantra.

"I'm thrilled and excited to be the new head coach of the Atlanta Falcons," Smith said. "My goal is to build a well-disciplined, hard-nosed football team that will be able to run the football on offense and stop the run on defense. I've always believed that's what makes championship teams."

Coach Smith said that the day he was announced as the Falcons' head coach. Since then, he's begun his "process."

It started with assembling the best coaching staff in the NFL.

"Getting Mike Mularkey was the first thing on my list," Smith said. "My background is defense. To have a guy with Mike’s offensive experience and success is a big advantage."

Mularkey was working as a quarterbacks coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the time he received the offer. He spent the previous season in Miami when the Dolphins went 1-15.

"We (Smith and I) faced each other a couple of times when I was in Pittsburgh and he was in Baltimore, and later when I was in Buffalo and he was in Jacksonville," Mularkey said. "I know of his work, and he knows of mine. I think there's mutual respect."

After creating an offense that incorporated a rookie quarterback, a backup running back, and two under-achieving wide receivers, his offense finished second in the NFL at rushing the ball.

His running back came in second in the MVP voting, his quarterback was voted Rookie of the Year, and his bosses were named Executive and Coach of the Year.

Ask any of them and they will all tell you they owe Mularkey a debt for those accolades. It was all a part of Smith's process.

At the end of this season, the Falcons staff may lose one or two coordinators to jobs elsewhere. But the mark of a good team is consistency despite the odds. Franchises like New England, the New York Giants, and Pittsburgh embrace that belief.

Coaches like Bill Belichick, Bill Cowher, and Tony Dungy created winning organizations from within, maximizing the most from the players they had on their respective rosters. Smith is a players' coach. The players want to play well for him.

There are so many teams in the NFL that look great on paper. Take for example the team the Falcons face today in Dallas. Last season, more than 10 players from that team were voted to the Pro Bowl. We all know that's based on fan bias, but still, it looks good on paper. The Cowboys nonetheless failed to make the playoffs.

As rare as it is to find a true NFL quarterback, it's even more difficult to find that true NFL head coach.

No one can argue that Smith has maximized the potential of the Falcons. This season, the offense has struggled and Brian Van Gorder's defense has picked up the slack.

Van Gorder was a member of the Falcons' dreadful 2007 team. Following that season, Van Gorder had packed his bags and accepted the defensive coordinator position with Steve Sprurrier's Gamecocks due to the departure of Bobby Petrino.

"My situation was one that I just didn't have any control of with Bobby leaving," VanGorder said. "The tough thing for me as a father of my five children, we've had to move around, change schools, and my wife's had to start anew in communities with friendships and those sorts of things.

"Coaching football is coaching football. We can really do that anywhere, but my family—that's the part that's been really difficult."

He stayed in Atlanta as the defensive coordinator.

After a sub-par season in 2008, Van Gorder's defense is showing a lot more aggression in 2009. Through six weeks the Falcons are second in the NFL in forcing turnovers. Opposing teams chew up yards but they pay for each one they get. At present, they are fourth in the NFL (15.4) in points allowed per game.

"One of the most important things that you have to do as a head coach is pick the best staff that you can," Smith said. "I really think we've done that here. I really do."

Follow the process. I believe Atlanta has created something special within its organization. It's hard to deny the results since the hiring of Mike Smith. Will this man be the first to lead the franchise to back-to-back winning seasons?

The process continues today against the Dallas Cowboys. A win puts Smith that much closer to ending one of professional sports' most ominous statistics.

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