WhoDat!656

On the same day Falcons head coach Mike Smith said he was dissatisfied with the club’s play in the trenches this season, the team said that defensive line coach Ray Hamilton and offensive line coaches Pat Hill and Paul Dunn would not be back for the 2014 campaign.

Smith made his remarks about the club’s play along the line of scrimmage during a press conference with G.M. Thomas Dimitroff on Monday afternoon.

“If we’re going to be successful, we’ve got to be able to control the line of scrimmage,” Smith said. “I don’t believe that we did that effectively during the season, and it’s something that we definitely have to improve on.”

The 62-year-old Hill was head coach at Fresno State from 1997 through 2011 before joining the Falcons’ staff in 2012. Dunn, 53, had been on the Falcons’ staff since 2008, as had the 62-year-old Hamilton.

The Falcons were last in rushing yards gained and 31st in rushing yards allowed in 2013. Also, quarterback Matt Ryan was sacked a career-worst 44 times.

Falcons part ways with line coaches on both sides of ball | ProFootballTalk

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

ScottF

both coordinators have been interviewing also

K Major

Dead man walking for 2014 ... Mike Smith.

TheOak

Passing the buck.

SmashMouth

...more like going for it on 4th down, again!

dizzle88

I'm glad mike smith still has the falcons job, its a guaranteed sweep for us whenever he is in charge

Beastmode

Unless they do a complete 180 Mike Smith won't be far behind. They have to fix almost every area.

TheOak

They were all good enough for the last few seasons, including the 13-3 season last year.

Now all of a sudden they are the problem.

mike27

Think about the last two games--Atlanta almost won the San Francisco and Carolina at the end. Atlanta almost won both Saint's games, and they could have gone either way.

I read an article today about the four teams that didn't say "go" this year. Of the four, I think Atlanta was the best of them.

I wouldn't fire Smith, at least if he wants to continue. He's been a coach, and has a great record there. You can't have 32 coaches with 16-0 records every year--some are going to lose once and a while. Atlanta just had some unfortunate injuries, which is what you have when you depend on a few notable players, instead of a team effort.

I think that is one thing Payton does well, he picks team players, and finds talent that gets overlooked. They are usually very balanced, and not many superstars, at least before they come there. He gets them raw, and molds them into something special--now Ryan helps, and is doing that with the defense.

atltillidie

Well it had to be done.