Smith, Falcons grew together before the downfall

To the right side of Mike Smith’s oak desk and near the window, the former Falcons head coach had a beanstalk growing.

On Aug. 1 during an wide-ranging interview about the coming season, it was about five feet tall.

Smith was proud of horticultural skills. He started growing the plant shortly after taking over monumental task of turning around the Falcons in January 2008.

Smith, while watering the plant, said he hoped to double it in size because he wanted to be the Falcons’ head coach “for a long, long time.”

He knew that rebounding from a 4-12 season would secure his future, and he was upbeat on that day in his office about a turnaround.

“No doubt in my mind,” Smith said when asked if the Falcons could rebound in 2014. “I believe the 2013 season was an anomaly.”

He thought he had the right mix of players to post another winning season.

“We’ve got a core group of players that are not only good on the field, but are good off the field,” Smith said.

Things didn’t go so well in 2014. The Falcons finished 6-10, and Smith was fired Monday.

“Without question, coach Smith, the record that Mike Smith put up during that (five-year) period is unmatched in the history of this franchise,” Falcons owner Arthur Blank said.

When Smith was hired by the Falcons, he was a little-known defensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The exhaustive search, which got an early start after Bobby Petrino quit on the team after the 13th game of the season, included interviews with Leslie Frazier, Rex Ryan, Jim Caldwell, Jim Schwartz and Jason Garrett.

Smith, was a 26-year coaching veteran, who received his NFL break in 1999 with Baltimore Ravens. He went on to coach at Jacksonville in 2003. He coached in the college ranks with stops at San Diego State (1982-85), Morehead State (1986) and Tennessee Tech (1987-98).

The Falcons won more games with Smith as coach than with any previous coach. They compiled a 66-46 regular-season record (.589) and were 1-4 (.200) in the playoffs.

When the Dimitroff-Smith team took over, the franchise was in a downward spiral. On the day Petrino quit, the team’s quarterback, Michael Vick, was in a Virginia courthouse being sentenced in his federal dogfighting case.

Smith and Dimitroff went right to work landing key free agents, including running back Michael Turner, and picking up quarterback Matt Ryan, left tackle Sam Baker, linebacker Curtis Lofton and wide receiver Harry Douglas in the 2008 draft. All played key roles as rookies.

In the season opener against Detroit, Ryan’s first pass in the league went for a 62-yard touchdown to wide receiver Michael Jenkins.

Ryan, with Turner churning out the yards on the ground, was an effective rookie quarterback. He went to Lambeau Field and won the fifth game of his career. The following week, he pushed the Falcons record to 4-2 by leading a miraculous rally over the Chicago Bears with only 11 seconds left to play.

The Falcons finished with a surprise 11-5 record and made the playoffs. They were upset in the wild-card round by the Arizona Cardinals, who went on to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

In 2009, the Falcons jumped to 5-3 start, but injuries to Ryan and Turner slowed them in the second half of the season.

But in the eighth game, Smith’s fierce loyalty to his players came out against Washington. Former Falcon DeAngelo Hall, the first player traded by the Dimitroff-Smith regime, drifted into the Falcons’ bench area after a play. The Falcons were protesting a late hit on Ryan by Washington safety LaRon Landry and a scuffle broke out.

Smith was in the middle of it defending his players. He was fined $15,000, but won some major credibility in the locker room.

After losing four of the next five games, the Falcons were eliminated from the playoffs. Despite being out of the race, Smith led the team to a three-game winning streak to finish 9-7. It marked the first time the Falcons posted back-to-back winning seasons since the franchise was founded in 1966.

In 2010, Ryan started to emerge as one of the top quarterbacks in the league and Turner was back healthy. The Falcons knew it was going to be a special season in the fourth game of the season when they pulled out another thriller against San Francisco.

With 1:31 to play, Ryan tossed an interception to 49ers cornerback Nate Clements. Instead of falling on the ground, he tried to return the interception for a touchdown, and he got pretty close. But Falcons wide receiver Roddy White chased him down and poked the ball out. Harvey Dahl recovered for the Falcons at their 7-yard line.

That was plenty of time for Ryan to lead the offense down the field for Matt Bryant’s 43-yard game-winning field goal with six seconds left.

The Falcons went on to post a 13-3 record and earn the NFC’s No. 1 seed for the playoffs. But in the divisional round, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Falcons 48-21 on their way to the Super Bowl title.

In 2011, the Falcons finished 10-6 and lost 24-2 in the wild-card round of the playoffs to the New York Giants, who went on to win the Super Bowl.

In 2012, the Falcons were 13-3 and had the No. 1 seed again. They defeated Seattle in the divisional round of the playoffs, but came up short after they blew a 17-0 lead in the NFC Championship game.

The San Francisco 49ers rallied to win 28-24. The Falcons’ attempt to retake the lead died at the 10-yard line with 1:09 left in the game.

The championship game marked the peak of Smith’s tenure. Beset with injuries in 2013 and 2014, the team descended to the bottom of the league with records of 4-12 and 6-10.

Smith was named the coach of the year in 2008 by the Associated Press and Sporting News. He was Sporting News’ choice for coach of the year in 2010 and 2012.

Before this season, Smith’s team played consistently tough and rarely shot themselves in the foot. They were one of the least-penalized teams in the NFL. The Falcons finished No. 1 in fewest penalties in the NFL twice, in 2012 (60) and 2010 (65).

But in the end, the beanstalk never got a chance to reach the ceiling.