Seer1

Over on ESPN Smith is claiming his fourth and nada call was the right one. "We just didn't execute," he said. Didn't execute? My a**! We know who executed! Who Dat?

With us up by ten late in the fourth, it was a play that really shouldn't have had to happen. But now, I'm kinda glad it did.

Halo

It's called CYA for him. Stupid mistake. He was trying to be a hero. He'll never make decisions a la Sean Payton.

Srgt. Hulka

Smith is lucky Atlanta's General Manager didn't execute his a** to the unemployment line.

Mardigras9

Don't think it was as bad of call as they make it seam. If it had worked, he would have been a hero. Playing the percentages for the day, you could justify it. We such at stopping the run, he should have spread the field more however. It was definitely an early Xmas gift.

SaintsBro

I hope he will continue to be spooked by it, again in the future, whenever he plays the Saints, here and at home.

I hope this will cause him to lose his courage in other situations against us -- I hope that thinking about the drubbing and criticism he has received, will cause him to send the punting unit out more often, in other game situations. Once Smith is afraid to take chances, for fear of media and fan backlash, this will render the Falcons incapable of sustaining those long, time-consuming drives against us; drives they can't really pull off without that desperate gambler's mentality, where it seems like they have been going for it on 4th down pretty regularly against us, and our defense can't get them off the field.... Go back and look at how many times the Falcons have been doing that to us on 4th down, in recent games. How many drives turned into 7's instead of 3's, or points instead of no points, because they WENT FOR IT ON 4TH DOWN and got it. It's one of the real reasons why these games have even been close! Without those points gotten by risking going for it, on multiple 4th downs, the Falcons would trail in these games by 7 or 10, at least.

Criticism and doubt about taking big risks on 4th down, now means more scrutiny on every decision Smith makes, more pressure on Ryan on 3rd down, more fan doubts and worries about how Turner might slowly be losing a step, more dislike for Smith on talk radio and more fear of failure in the Falcons locker room and all throughout the team... I hope Smith loses a LOT of sleep over it, and has bad dreams about that play, over and over and over. And I hope he gets roasted in the media about it for the rest of the season.

I hope Smith comes into the Superdome in December feeling meek, timid, and uncertain of himself, feeling anxious, knowing that if he makes ONE more stupid boneheaded decision, against the Saints, and it backfires, his job in Atlanta is DONE. I can't wait to see him punt instead of going for it in the Superdome. Let him NOT call that fake field goal, that hail Mary or that risky trick play that might cost him his job. Let him not be able to decide what to do on short yardage, and end up burning a needless time-out. Do you see why this play was so awesome?

And Payton will probably either find some way to scheme Smith into doing something really stupid, or else he will smell the fear of failure on the other sideline and just bully him all day. Because if the game is on the line and Smith makes ONE more risky coaching decision that backfires on him, he is HISTORY. Just watch.

JoanieNTX

A friend of mine on Facebook is an Atlanta fan. They are putting the blame squarely on Mike Smith's head! They want a new coaching staff, from what he says. Just sayin. I don't blame them!

AlaskaSaints

They made the obvious mistake of making it obvious what they intended to do. A screen to Shanle's side would have gotten them fifteen instead of inches.

Alaska

Kryptonite

I don't think it was a bad call either. When they were lining up to punt it I was telling the wife, "He better not punt that ball. If he does game over." I think the push that the defensive line got contributed to the bad execution. Turner did not know what to do once he saw the gold helmets over the line that soon. He just turned his back and prayed. LOL!

GAwhodat

If it was me I would have gone for it as well. Keep in mind guys this is coming from a team that did a offside kick in the super bowl? If that play would have failed would you have asked for Peytons head??? Something to think about?

AsylumGuido

No, if it had worked they would have had a 1st down at their own 30 yard line and would have still had about 40 yards to go to get into long FG range. Very little reward when the risk of NOT making it was almost a sure loss.

It was a stupid call plain and simple.