Mike Smith accepts blame for Falcons’ overtime 23-26 loss to Saints – NFL News
Atlanta Falcons’ Head Coach Mike Smith has accepted blame for his team’s 23-26 overtime loss against hated rivals the New Orleans Saints in game week 10 of the National Football League.
Speaking during a press conference on Monday Smith reiterated his stance that he will continue to make risky decisions if the circumstances call for it.
“Yes I am and I don’t really want to rehash it.” Smith said “I think I did a pretty good job last night talking about the reasonings behind it. But what I can tell you guys is the decisions that we make on Sunday, they’re not done
haphazardly.”
Smith also was aware of the fans backlash after his team lost in such circumstances to their division rivals saying
"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."
The Saints and Falcons were tied on 23-23 at the end of regulation time and the game descended into sudden death. The Falcons had possession of the ball in their own 29 yard. Smith called time out and after a few moments decided
to not send on his punting team which at the moment seemed the safest option in the game but instead decided to continue to drive on fourth down justifying the call by thinking that his team could cover the yard to get first down and continue the drive.
That was the one decision that lost the game for the Falcons. Matt Ryan handed the ball to running back Michael Turner who looked up to see himself surrounded in all directions by Saints players and no space to run into. Turner
was pounced upon and in the process the Falcons lost possession of the ball to the Saints just 26 yards to their own end zone.
The rest as they say is history. Saints Kicker John Kasay ran up towards the ball and shot it right through the bars to score a 26 yard field goal. As the ball sailed between the posts the Falcons home crowd stood in dead silence
as Smith bowed his head knowing that a storm of criticism was just around the corner.
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