By: Kenneth Harrison

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

The 2023 NFL regular season has concluded. The Atlanta Falcons had an outside chance at making the playoffs if they beat New Orleans and if Tampa Bay lost in the last weekend of the season. They lost to the Saints, 48 – 17.

It’s never fun to get blown out by your archrival, but the ending of this game was talked about. The Saints put in backup quarterback Jameis Winston and they were supposed to take a knee to run the clock out. They were lined up in “victory formation” but Winston handed the ball off to Jamaal Williams for a 1-yard touchdown with 1:10 left in the game.

Saints head coach Dennis Allen says he had nothing to do with that and he tried to apologize to Smith after the game.

“They did that on their own. That’s not acceptable,” Allen said, adding that Smith “should be” upset about it.

“The score was already 41-17, so I don’t know how much worse it can get, but I got a ton of respect for Arthur Smith and the coach that he is,” Winston said. “I didn’t want to disrespect (Smith). That was not my intention. My intention was to lead the team that I’ve been with the entire year and we made a collective decision that we wanted to get one of our guys that they fight with — blood, sweat and tears, every game — in the end zone. I’m going to feel good about that.”

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith was fired a few hours after the game. Atlanta lost four of five games to end the season.

Smith coached the Falcons for three seasons and had the same record every year, 7 – 10. An interesting fact about him; his father is FedEx founder Fred Smith.

Firing him was the right move but Atlanta should have also fired general manager Terry Fontenot in my opinion. He was also hired in January 2021 with Smith and he is largely responsible with putting the roster together.

The Falcons desperately need a quarterback and so far, Fontenot has failed to address that. I think if they had a serviceable quarterback, they would have won two more games this season.

“Decisions like this are never easy and they never feel good,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said in a statement released at 12:03 a.m. Monday. “We have profound respect for coach Smith and appreciate all the hard work and dedication he has put into the Falcons over the last three years. He has been part of building a good culture in our football team, but the results on the field have not met our expectations. After significant thought and reflection, we have determined the best way forward for our team is new leadership in the head coaching position.”

It is very early so we do not know who the new head coach will be. Blank and Chief Executive Officer Rich McKay will lead the search for Smith’s replacement.

Fontenot will provide input along with other members of the Falcons and AMB Sports and Entertainment organizations.

The 2024 draft order is set for the teams that did not make the playoffs and Atlanta has the eighth overall pick. They desperately need a quarterback but I think they are picking too late to get a franchise QB. We will see if they trade up or try to acquire a veteran.