Mike Smith: Atlanta Falcons’ playoff woes not on Matt Ryan
Published: August 6th, 2012 | Tags: NFL AM, Atlanta Falcons, Julio Jones, Matt Ryan, Michael Turner, Mike Smith, Roddy White, Tony Gonzalez
Matt Ryan has taken most of the flak for the Atlanta Falcons’ inability to win in the playoffs.
The fourth-year pro is 43-19 in the regular season, but 0-3 in the playoffs, including lopsided losses to the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers the past two seasons.
Falcons coach Mike Smith said on “NFL AM” that his quarterback shouldn’t shoulder the blame for those postseason failures.
“I think in this league, it’s all about winning in the second season,” he said. “We’ve done a very nice job through our first four years, (abd) Matt has won a lot of football games for us. Unfortunately, we haven’t coached well, we haven’t played well in the playoffs, and that is something that we are going to try to stop this season.”
Smith said he expects another season with Julio Jones should help make the Falcons’ offense more dynamic, and hopefully push his team over the playoff hump.
“We anticipate he (Jones) is going to have a big year for us,” he said. “When you put him and Roddy (White) out there and you have Tony Gonzalez and Michael Turner, it gives our quarterback lots of options.”