ATLANTA — Not long into his first training camp as an NFL head coach, Atlanta’s Mike Smith brought in a local comedian to speak to the team — a bit of levity to help clear the stench that had engulfed the franchise during a horrific 2007 season.
It wasn’t long before the routine took a decidedly blue turn.
“He was insulting us,” kicker Jason Elam said. “He was going, ‘All you’ve got to do is just win four or five games and you’ll be like heroes.’ And we’re going, ‘What’s he talking about? We want to be good, not just mediocre.’ ”
Elam, who signed with the Falcons before this season after winning two Super Bowls during a distinguished 15-year career with the Broncos, knows good. But while he and his new teammates were offended by the comic’s schtick, Elam admitted there really wasn’t much evidence to suggest he was incorrect.
The Falcons went 4-12 a year ago, missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season. They began it with iconic quarterback Michael Vick arrested, then suspended from the league for his role in a dogfighting ring. And somewhere in between, Atlanta’s coach, Bobby Petrino, literally quit on the team, leaving a note in the players’ lockers, and taking a college job at Arkansas.
“I wouldn’t wish that year on any other owner, team or city,” owner Arthur Blank said.
To be sure, these days, there are far worse places to be in the NFL. A 34-20 victory Sunday over New Orleans improved the Falcons’ record to 6-3 heading into Sunday’s games against Denver, good enough for a share of second place in the tough NFC South. Now, instead of being roasted from home to Nome, the only chatter surrounding Atlanta is about the playoffs.
No joke.
“Hearing what had happened last year, I really didn’t know what to expect,” Elam said. “I enjoyed the coaching staff and the direction they were trying to go, but the big question was could they go that way. The attitude is great, and we work hard and play hard, but I don’t know if anyone envisioned us being 6-3.”
Culture shift
Indeed, an organization that for so long couldn’t manage to get anything right, now seemingly can do no wrong. Blank, who was one of Vick’s biggest supporters during the quarterback’s six seasons with the Falcons, and has offered to remain that way after Vick is released from prison, says neither that situation nor the debacle with Petrino was overtly embarrassing. “It wasn’t about us as a franchise. It was about a particular player and a coach, their behavior and actions.”
Even so, the owner knew big changes were needed. In January, Blank hired Thomas Dimitroff away from New England to be Atlanta’s general manager. Less than two weeks later, Dimitroff hired Smith.
While his new coach had plenty of NFL experience — Smith was an assistant coach on the 2000 champion Ravens and most recently the defensive coordinator for Jacksonville — Dimitroff insisted Smith assemble a staff well versed with the league. Where Petrino, who had come to the Falcons from Louisville, dipped into the collegiate ranks to fill his staff, Smith has a roster of assistants with 188 years of NFL experience among them. That includes a Hall of Famer, Emmitt Thomas, along with other men who have been at least interim head coaches in the league: Terry Robiskie and Mike Mularkey.
“That was a big thing for us,” Dimitroff said. “Coming off of last year, I was a firm believer in having NFL coaches coach NFL players. There are some fine college coaches out there, but I truly believe you have to have a very strong NFL presence on your staff.”
Not that there really was any other choice, but the Falcons next overhauled their roster, using the draft to add pieces such as prized quarterback Matt Ryan, the replacement for Vick, as well as offensive tackle Sam Baker and defensive back Chevis Jackson, who returned an interception 95 yards for a touchdown against the Saints. Other integral pieces came either from trades, like the move that brought in former Broncos defensive back Domonique Foxworth, or free agency signings, such as Elam and running back Michael Turner, the former backup to LaDainian Tomlinson in San Diego.
“I’m a lot closer to the end of my career than the beginning, and when you have as big of a transition as we’ve had, there’s always some doubt about whether you can get it turned around quickly,” said linebacker Keith Brooking, an 11-year vet who was on the 1998 Atlanta team that lost to the Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII, but has played in only four playoff games since.
“It was a big issue, but once we got together, you could see the camaraderie we had early, which is very important to having a successful season,” Brooking said. “So then, the only question was how Matt would perform. And man . . . he’s just been unbelievable.”
Matty Ice delivers
Before he reached the Falcons as the third pick in last April’s draft, even before a sterling career at Boston College, Ryan acquired the nickname Matty Ice. And indeed, Ryan has been one cool cat, so relaxed he makes Jay Cutler, the Broncos’ laid-back quarterback, look like he’s been channeling the young Jerry Lewis — on speed.
There are numbers that show how well Ryan has performed since being given the starting job early in the preseason — he has completed almost 60 percent of his passes with 11 touchdowns versus only five interceptions. Ryan’s total of 1,909 passing yards may pale in comparison to Cutler’s 2,616, but that figure is deceiving.
The Falcons are second in the NFL in rushing, averaging almost 158 yards a game. And when they do pass, the result often is a very big play. They have had six pass plays of 40 yards or more, matching last season’s total.
Ryan said Sunday that in many ways he still feels like a rookie, but that his approach after joining the team was to never act like one, despite being in the unenviable position of replacing the incredibly popular Vick on a team that didn’t seem like it would be able to offer much in the way of a learning curve — or protection.
Now, with the Falcons threatening to pull off one of the NFL’s best turnarounds, he added that attitude is even more important.
“If you sit back and think about all that’s going on, you can get caught up in it or overwhelmed by it, so I’m making a conscious effort not to worry about any of it,” he said. “I just focus on trying to pull my weight with this team — I’m just trying to play hard and earn their respect.”
That has been accomplished in myriad ways. In the Falcons’ locker room after Sunday’s game he stayed on point through a gauntlet of media, well-wishers and team officials more ferocious that anything the Saints could muster.
At one point, an interviewer from a local hip-hop station tried to throw Ryan a curve by asking him what was playing on his car’s CD. Ryan first pointed out that he drives a truck, then proceeded to say he was a big fan of the rapper T.I. — which has been an endless source of amusement to third-string quarterback D.J. Shockley.
In one fell swoop, Ryan gave props not only to one of Atlanta’s most popular local products, but also let Shockley, who went to Georgia, know that even though he may never hit the field, he still was contributing to the team. The questioner went away impressed — the latest convert in a city full of them.
There still are hurdles to overcome — two of Atlanta’s three losses have come to NFC South teams, and there still are three division games left. But when all is said and done, it’s not hard to envision the Falcons getting the last laugh.
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
