ATLANTA – Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith worked two full-time jobs before joining his family for dinner on Thursday.

The event-filled Thanksgiving was a non-stop whirlwind that included practice and meetings at the Falcons’ training complex in Flowery Branch and community service 50 miles south in downtown Atlanta.

Smith wouldn’t have it any other way, but you would hardly know it.

In his fourth season as an NFL head coach, Smith has 39 career victories, two playoff appearances and one NFC South title, yet he’s a master at deflecting from himself and to his team.

“Smitty,” as his players and fellow coaches call the 52-year-old coach, is long accustomed to putting his family, players, assistants and fans ahead of his personal agenda.

A few fans approached him to say hello and take pictures Thursday as Smith mingled among 6,000 people at Atlanta’s annual Hosea Feed the Hungry event at the Georgia World Congress Center. But Smith mostly blended in and worked quietly without notice.

He and wife Julie stood next to Falcons owner Arthur Blank for about an hour serving Thanksgiving meals. After Blank left, the Smiths picked up plates and brought them to needy people sitting at tables throughout a big ballroom.

Asked to describe the experience, Smith didn’t want to give himself any credit. He was more interested in discussing those that worked with him at the event — tight end Tony Gonzalez, safety William Moore and linebacker Mike Peterson, defensive line coach Ray Hamilton, not to mention Blank’s family members and other Falcons staffers.

“I believe that you want to be a humble person all the time,” Smith said. “And I think the thing that we want to do as an organization, it comes from the top. Mr. Blank is very involved and our team is very involved with this.”

That’s the Smitty way.

“He’s by far the best coach I’ve ever played for,” said centre Todd McClure, who played under former Atlanta coaches Dan Reeves, Jim Mora and Bobby Petrino. “Smitty is completely genuine. You want to work as hard as you can for a guy like that.”

Smith’s reputation as a players’ coach took root in 1999, his first season in the NFL as a defensive assistant with the Baltimore Ravens. By the time he was promoted to linebackers coach in 2002, the word was out.

His players loved him.

“He’s a guy who kind of came out of nowhere to be a head coach,” Atlanta running back Michael Turner said. “He wasn’t high on everybody’s list, but the Falcons did a great job of hiring him and he did a great job of putting a staff together that works well with the players.”

During his four years as an assistant with the Ravens, Smith often spent Thanksgiving with former Baltimore head coach Brian Billick. They are married to sisters, but the holiday grew bigger when the Smiths moved to Jacksonville when Mike took over as the Jaguars’ defensive co-ordinator in 2003.

Mike Smith grew up in Daytona Beach, Fla., as the oldest of eight kids.

When he and Julie and their daughter moved to Atlanta in January 2008, Smith had taken his career to the highest level, but added responsibilities didn’t affect the traditional holiday weekend.

Julie Smith said the family was expecting 14 guests at their home in Suwanee on Thursday night.

“I’ve always been used to having what seems like a huge crowd at Thanksgiving,” Mike Smith said. “That’s why I feel at home here with all these people. It’s a blessing to give back. For me, this is a great time to give thanks and help those let fortunate than you are.”

By Sunday, when Atlanta (6-4) faces Minnesota (2-8) at the Georgia Dome, Falcons linebacker Curtis Lofton knows Smith will have on his game face. The holiday distractions will be a distant memory.

The only thing that will matter is beating the Vikings.

“If he says something he means it,” Lofton said. “It’s not a guessing game. You don’t wonder where he stands, so as players, we know Smitty’s got our back and we got his back. Whatever we go through, we’re going to go through as a team.”

Though Smith won’t say much about himself or his accomplishments, he does acknowledge feeling his players’ affection.

“I always want to be a consistent person,” he said. “That’s something we try to do each and every day. Some days we are not able to do that, but for the most part we want to be consistent and you want to treat people the way you want to be treated. That’s how I’ve approached coaching and how I’ve approached interacting with other folks.”

Smith was about to leave with Julie and drive home. He was still wearing the community service nametag he filled out with a pen a couple of hours earlier.

It was simple and to the point: Coach Mike.

“It’s great to get out and have an opportunity to see our fans,” he said. “To me, that’s part of one of your duties as a head coach.”

Read More: Brent Grimes (CB – ATL), Kelvin Hayden (CB – ATL), Julio Jones (WR – ATL), Atlanta Falcons, Minnesota Vikings

The Atlanta Falcons are favored to top the Minnesota Vikings at the Georgia Dome this weekend. Part of why the Falcons are favored: they’re healthy. Only one player on Atlanta’s active roster missed practice on Thursday.

That player, cornerback Kelvin Hayden, has a toe injury, and did not participate in practice on Wednesday or Thursday. The Falcons may be without his services this weekend as a result, but should have Julio Jones, Tony Gonzalez, and Brent Grimes, all of whom did not participate on Wednesday but did on Thursday.

Here’s the full Falcons practice and injury report for Week 12.

DID NOT PARTICIPATE: Cornerback Kelvin Hayden (groin).

LIMITED PARTICIPATION: Offensive tackle Sam Baker (back), cornerback Brent Grimes (knee), wide receiver Julio Jones (hamstring), safety William Moore (quadricep).

FULL PARTICIPATION: Defensive end John Abraham (not injury-related), guard Justin Blalock (ankle), tight end Tony Gonzalez (not injury-related), defensive tackle Corey Peters (knee), linebacker Curtis Lofton (ankle).

For more on the Falcons, head to The Falcoholic; for more on the Vikings, visit Daily Norseman.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – Everyone seems to be playing Monday Morning Quarterback with Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith.

By sending Michael Turner up the middle for no gain, Smith might have doomed the Falcons to an overtime loss to New Orleans, but the fourth-year coach wasn’t surprised by the public’s response.

“I’ll say this, OK? We have passionate football fans here in Atlanta, OK?” Smith said with a smile. “Regardless of what the outcome is, someone has an opinion, and that’s great for your fan base. That’s what you want to have happen, and I’ll just leave it at that.”

Though the move backfired, Smith repeated his postgame stance from Sunday night — that he would do it again given the circumstances and the Falcons’ spotty history of defending Saints quarterback Drew Brees in the late stages of a game.

After watching film of the Falcons’ 26-23 defeat, Smith disputed reports that New Orleans guessed correctly on quarterback Matt Ryan’s snap count and thus had no trouble stopping Turner to set up John Kasay’s 26-yard, game-winning field goal four plays later.

“They didn’t jump the snap,” Smith said. “We didn’t execute on that play. I really don’t want to get into any more details than that.”

Smith pointed out that the offence converted a fourth-and-1 with a similar power formation call late in the third quarter. Turner ran for 5 yards, and Jason Snelling caught a 21-yard touchdown pass on the next play to give the Falcons a 13-10 lead.

But Atlanta’s inability to consistently control the line of scrimmage throughout the game led to its ninth loss in the last 11 meetings with New Orleans.

A lack of pressure on Brees left the middle of the field open for the Saints to pick apart. The Falcons failed to record a sack and hit Brees just twice. They blew coverages, too.

“The Saints did everything that we’ve seen on film and that we expected them to do,” linebacker Curtis Lofton said. “They just caught some guys out of position and what not.”

Defensive end Kroy Biermann wasn’t surprised that the Saints created extra time for Brees by chipping him and other pass rushers with tight ends and running backs. Brees, not surprisingly, completed 30 of 43 passes for 322 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

“Obviously, we didn’t get enough pressure on him,” Biermann said. “He could kind of sit back there a few times and was able to play pitch and catch with his receivers.”

Offensively, the problems were equally glaring. The Falcons failed to score a touchdown in three red-zone possessions against a New Orleans defence that ranked last in the NFL inside an opponent’s 20-yard line.

Smith knows Atlanta (5-4) must correct its mistakes before Tennessee (5-4) visits the Georgia Dome on Sunday.

“Twice in the red zone we had a miscommunication in terms of what we were trying to get done with some protections and we had a free runner” bearing down on Ryan, Smith said. “I think you guys probably saw 94 (defensive end Cameron Jordan) coming off of our right side, but it really was not an issue with what they did. It was an issue of what we did. We didn’t execute very well in the red zone.”

Penalties didn’t help, either. The Falcons were flagged a season-high 12 times — four on offence, four on defence and four on special teams.

“Really, three of them were penalties that you just can’t have,” Smith said. “You can’t flip the field position on 15-yard penalties. One of them, we were able to overcome and ended up kicking a field goal on the first drive, but the other ones, we weren’t as successful in terms of overcoming them.”

Each little setback played a part in the predicament Atlanta found itself in by the 12th play of overtime.

Turner never had a chance.

“I had my choices between the holes I could hit if they were there, but they just came with the all-out blitz, guys shot the gap and things like that,” Turner said. “There really wasn’t anywhere to go. I just tried to try harder and give that great effort to get those couple of inches that we needed.”

Perhaps the best indicator of how big Sunday’s game is between the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons is Roddy White’s verified Twitter account.

For nearly a week now, it’s gone almost silent. White, who never has been one to hold back what’s on his mind, has weighed in a few times on the Joe Paterno controversy, but he hasn’t written a word about the Saints.

That says a lot about what this NFC South rivalry has become. If White’s staying quiet and the Saints aren’t getting their cameras ready for postgame pictures, you know players from both teams are taking this game very seriously. There also is a very good chance they’re following orders from New Orleans coach Sean Payton and Atlanta coach Mike Smith, who realize you don’t need to throw gas on a fire that’s been burning for about four years, and still may not have reached its peak.

It might not have the historic significance of, let’s say, Green Bay-Chicago or Washington-Dallas, but it’s hard to find a rivalry that’s been more heated the past few years.

“This is one of the most overlooked rivalries in football right now,’’ Atlanta running back Michael Turner said. “We’ve been playing some great games. We know we don’t like each other. We’ve been fighting each other since 2008 for this division. It’s a rivalry game.”

The part about not liking each other is about as close as any Saint or Falcon has come to fanning the flames. But that part is pretty well known if you’ve spent any time around either team. It extends even to the fans.

“If you’re just kind of walking around town, fans say, ‘If you do one thing this year, just beat Atlanta,’ ” New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees said. “I think that’s probably the sentiment of fans that have been longtime Saints fans, I’m sure. Maybe longtime Falcons fans say the same thing to them about beating the Saints, I don’t know.’’

It’s pretty safe to say that Atlanta fans — longtime or not — do feel the same way about the Saints.

Two incidents from last season demonstrate just how strong this rivalry has become.

One came long before White turned to more tame tweets — or Smith ordered him to. Before a game with New Orleans last season, White tweeted that the “grace of God’’ was the reason the Saints won their Super Bowl so the “city wouldn’t fall apart.”

That caused outrage by New Orleans fans and probably didn’t score much goodwill with the Saints. But this rivalry flows both ways. After New Orleans defeated Atlanta in the Georgia Dome last season, some of the Saints were seen dancing and having their pictures taken on the Falcons’ logo. Former New Orleans defensive tackle Remi Ayodele made a comment that indicated the Saints were intentionally showing the ultimate disrespect to the Falcons.

That caused a stir, but the Saints insisted they had the utmost respect for the Falcons and the pictures were taken to commemorate an important victory.

As word of that scene spread through the Atlanta locker room, defensive end John Abraham, generally one of the more subdued Falcons, grew visibly angry.

“We can never let that happen again,’’ Abraham said.

The Saints and the Falcons weren’t biting this week when the media asked them about that incident. Not even White.

“They came down here and got a W,’’ White said. “They can kind of do whatever they want to do. That’s kind of what happens. When we won down there, we kind of went on the field. It happens. We kind of did our thing when we went down there and won the game. They won, so congratulations to them.’’

But don’t let the diplomacy fool you.

“I’m not too familiar with that. I heard about it,’’ said Atlanta linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, who tried to be coy when first asked about the incident.

That didn’t last.

“But at the same time, I don’t forget a lot of stuff,’’ Weatherspoon said. “Sometimes you have to have the memory of an elephant.”

Although the Saints and Falcons are the oldest of the four NFC South franchises and played together in the NFC West before realignment in 2002, the rivalry hasn’t been this volatile for long. Both teams struggled through much of their early existence. When one team was good, the other wasn’t.

When Carolina entered the league in 1995, the NFL tried to make the Falcons and Panthers a natural rivalry because the cities are less than a four-hour drive apart. But that never really took off because the Panthers and Falcons were seldom good at the same time.

Without any encouragement by the NFL, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers became the NFC South’s only real rivalry, soon after the division came into existence. In those days, Carolina’s Brentson Buckner and Kris Jenkins and Tampa Bay’s Warren Sapp and Kenyatta Walker, lobbed verbal shots back and forth. Even Carolina punter Todd Sauerbrun and Tampa Bay kicker Martin Gramatica got into the rift and the teams played a series of brutally physical games through the middle of the past decade.

That rivalry has faded. But it’s been replaced by the Falcons and the Saints.

“If you look at the past four years, ever since Mike Smith has been there and Sean has been here, both teams have been up there as far as first or second in the division quite a few times,’’ Brees said. “So I’d say that’s part of the reason why it’s even more competitive now than maybe it ever has been.”

There’s no doubt. When two good teams are going at each other, it makes things more interesting. The Saints are 6-3 and the Falcons are 5-3 and they’ll be playing for first place when they meet Sunday in the Georgia Dome.

Things tend to get heated between the Falcons and Saints these days. But that’s a good thing. It’s the sign of a healthy rivalry. The best rivalry the NFC South has ever had.

Atlanta Falcons news and notes from around the web. The Falcons host the New Orleans Saints in an NFC South game Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

Matchup: Falcons running backs vs. Saints linebackers (D. Orlando Ledbetter, ajc.com)

Falcons’ re-emphasized run attack leads to win streak (D. Orlando Ledbetter, sportingnews.com)

Michael Turner chasing Gerald Riggs in record books (Chris Vivlamore, ajc.com)

Q&A with Reggie Kelly (Ledbetter, ajc.com)

Video: NFC 411 (espn.com)

 

The race for NFC South supremacy has tightened because the New Orleans
Saints have been inconsistent lately while the Atlanta Falcons have reeled off
three straight victories.

The Saints, however, believe they’re poised to get their season back on
track.

With the division lead at stake, first-place New Orleans looks to win
consecutive games for the first time in a month by cooling off the Falcons on
Sunday at the Georgia Dome.

The Saints (6-3) are one-half game ahead of Atlanta (5-3) but haven’t always
looked like a division leader of late. New Orleans followed a 62-7 win over
Indianapolis in Week 7 with a stunning 31-21 loss to then-winless St. Louis. The
Saints rebounded from that defeat with last Sunday’s 27-16 win over a Tampa Bay
team that beat them Oct. 16.

“This is a pretty critical time for us, this month of November,” said Drew
Brees(notes), who has thrown a touchdown pass in 36 consecutive games to tie Brett
Favre(notes) for the second-longest streak in NFL history.

“It’s a time when a lot of teams separate themselves from the rest of the
pack, and we want to be one of those teams. And this is when you want to be on a
roll, so hopefully this is the start of that.”

The Saints haven’t posted back-to-back wins since a four-game run Sept.
18-Oct. 9, but they have won an NFL-best nine straight November games dating to
2009.

“This is the month in which you separate from being a playoff contender or
not,” safety Malcolm Jenkins(notes) said. “Teams that win in November are usually teams
that make the playoffs.”

The Falcons also have done a good job of taking care of business in
November. Last Sunday’s 31-7 win over the Colts was their sixth straight
November victory.

“Coming off the bye week, we wanted to make sure that we started fast and I
really liked the way our team did,” coach Mike Smith said. “But for us, we’ve
got to stay focused on what we need to get accomplished. We know we’re playing
an outstanding football team that has lots of weapons.”

These teams, who split two matchups last season, haven’t met since Dec. 27,
when Brees’ six-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Graham(notes) with 3:24 left gave the
Saints a 17-14 win in Atlanta.

New Orleans has won four of five at the Georgia Dome, including two
straight. The Falcons have suffered only two other losses in their last 22
regular-season home games.

The Saints have won eight of 10 overall in this series as Brees has thrown
for 3,010 yards with 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has 3,004 yards
passing in 2011 to become the first NFL player to eclipse the 3,000-yard mark in
the first nine games of a season.

Although the Saints are obviously a pass-first team, opposing defenses have
had to honor a sound ground game. New Orleans, ninth in the NFL with 126.0
rushing yards per game, is 6-0 when reaching the 100-yard mark but 0-3 when held
below 100.

The rushing attack, led by Darren Sproles(notes) (347 yards) and Pierre Thomas(notes)
(311), could have some trouble finding room to run Sunday. Since the start of
October, the Falcons rank fourth in the NFL in rush defense (87.2 per game). It
is uncertain if rookie Mark Ingram(notes) (329 yards) will return after sitting out the
last two games with a heel injury.

“We’ve got to get a run game going,” left guard Carl Nicks(notes) said.

An improved defense has keyed Atlanta’s winning streak.

After allowing averages of 26.0 points and 383.4 yards through five games,
the Falcons have held the opposition to 13.3 points and 272.3 yards per game in
the last three.

“We’re starting to jell,” Smith said. “I like the way our guys are running.
We’re a team that has a defense that has some speed.”

The defense is going to face a huge test this week, as the Saints lead in
the NFL in total offense (445.1 ypg) and are second in scoring (31.9 ppg).

Atlanta’s offense also is capable of putting up big numbers, averaging 30.0
points in its five wins, and seems to have found a new playmaker to join Michael
Turner(notes) and Roddy White(notes).

After missing two games with a strained left hamstring, Julio Jones(notes) had
three catches for a season-high 131 yards last Sunday. He became the first
rookie since the 1970 merger with touchdowns of 80-plus and 50-plus yards in the
same game.

“It gives us another good player, another good option to have the football
in his hands,” said Matt Ryan(notes), who has 12 touchdowns and one interception in his
last seven November games. “He’s a good player, and we’re certainly better when
we have him.”

The Falcons could be facing a depleted New Orleans defense if linebacker
Jonathan Vilma(notes) and cornerback Tracy Porter(notes) are unable to play. Vilma sat out
last week with a sore left knee, and Porter left with a neck injury.

The longtime rivalry between the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons has been heating up in recent years, both because of how good the teams have been and because of some elevated trash-talking. Last year, the Saints ruffled a few Falcon feathers when some of their defensive players celebrated and posed for pictures after their Week 16 victory inside the Georgia Dome.

The Falcons are mostly insisting that they have either forgotten about that incident or that it wasn’t a big deal, though some players insisted last year that they would keep it in the back of their minds.

“There is trash talk every week,” Falcons tailback Michael Turner told the Atlanta media. “We know we don’t like each other. We’ve been fighting each other since 2008 for this division. It’s a rivalry game. …

It’s pretty close. This is one of the most overlooked rivalries in football right now. We’ve been playing some great games. We respect each other, but when it comes down to Sunday, we try to be the better team.”

Receiver Roddy White was asked specifically about the postgame celebration, after which Saints defensive tackle Remi Ayodele was quoted as saying, “I pissed on the Falcons logo.” Saints players insisted afterward that they meant no disrespect to the Falcons, and that they often pose for pictures after big road victories.

“Oh wow, that’s kind of crazy,” White said. “They came down here and got a W. They can kind of do whatever they want to do. That’s kind of what happens. When we won down there, we kind of went on the field. It happens. We kind of did our thing when we went down there and won the game. They won, so congratulations to them.

“This is a whole new year. A whole new team; different players and things like that. We’ll be ready to get a W and keep them out of the middle of our field.”

NEW ORLEANS — Over the past few days, I saw several references to LSU-Alabama being the “Game of the Century’’ or at least the decade. We can’t make any claim that grandiose in the NFC South.

But, for the moment anyway, I think it’s safe to call Sunday’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons as the division’s “Game of the Season.” That could change when the teams meet again the day after Christmas. But, for now, Sunday’s game is set up as the best we’ve seen in the NFC South so far.

The Saints are 6-3 and the Falcons 5-3. Atlanta has won three in a row after a rocky start and the Saints got themselves back on track with an impressive victory against Tampa Bay a week after an embarrassing loss to the previously winless St. Louis Rams.

The Saints turned the 4-4 Bucs into a .500 team, which basically is what I’ve suspected they would be. It’s really not a surprise that the Saints and Falcons have emerged as the best in the NFC South. That’s what many expected all along.

But many preseason predictions were divided on if the Saints or Falcons would win the division. Sunday’s game at the Georgia Dome could go a long way in deciding who will win the NFC South.

The Falcons are trying to become the first team in NFC South history to win the division in back-to-back years. The Saints will be trying to prevent that as they try to re-claim the division championship they won in 2009.

That’s enough to create a lot of interest. But there’s a lot more to this game than just that. These two teams share a mutual respect, but that doesn’t mean they like each other.

When the Saints won in Atlanta last season, many Falcons were more than a little upset that some New Orleans players came back onto the field to pose for pictures on the Falcons’ logo. The Saints said they weren’t gloating and were only collecting a memento from what they viewed as a very important victory.

But I can assure you that the Falcons didn’t see it that way and don’t want anyone posing for pictures on their field this time around.

Should make for a very interesting week in the NFC South.

by

Charles Odum
Associated Press Sports Writer

Associated Press