The former Atlanta Falcons head coach discusses al the biggest stories in the NFL and makes his prediction for the big game between the Falcons and Eagles.
Former Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith believes coach Andy Reid will be the difference for the Kansas City Chiefs when they face the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl LIX.
The Chiefs are making their fifth Super Bowl appearance in six years, and have won three with Reid at the helm. They are going for their third straight title and are currently the favourites in the Super Bowl betting odds.
In our exclusive interview, Smith also discusses some of the biggest stories around the NFL, including the Falcons’ future with Michael Penix Jr. at quarterback, the Dallas Cowboys’ latest head coach hire and how the Tennessee Titans should use the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft.
Michael Penix Jr. seems to be the future for the Atlanta Falcons. What did you make of how the Falcons handled the quarterback situation and Penix’s play?
“When he got the opportunity to be the starter, Michael Penix Jr. showed everyone what he’s capable of.
“He was as advertised. He’s got great leadership qualities and a very strong arm. To be thrust into the starting role as a rookie on a team chasing a playoff spot, it was a difficult situation but he handled it extremely well.
“This is a unique situation. Last offseason, the Falcons wanted to make sure they were going to have a capable quarterback for this season, so they decided to sign Kirk Cousins via free agency.
“Then with the NFL Draft, which was a deep one for quarterbacks, some people were predicting the top four or five could be gone before the Falcons pick. They might’ve had a feeling that a top QB prospect would not fall to number eight.
“But when it came to the pick, Penix Jr., J. J. McCarthy and Bo Nix were all available and they went with their guy in Penix Jr.
“Cousins was signed to a big contract. In hindsight, could they have done it differently? Yeah, but hindsight is always 20/20.
“For Atlanta, it’s not the best situation to have as they have all this money tied in to Kirk Cousins, $65million if he’s cut before June 1.
“But this isn’t the first time this has happened. The Denver Broncos have just gone through something similar with the Russell Wilson deal.
“While it looks like a tough situation because at first glance, you’re putting a lot of cash in one position, Denver managed to move Wilson, swallow the $85million in dead cap and they managed to come through it. They drafted Nix in the first round and made the playoffs. So, it’s not like it hasn’t been done before, it can be worked out.
“It will be tight because the Falcons want to improve their defense. Offensively, they feel pretty good with their offensive line led by Jake Matthews. They feel good with both running backs in Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier and they have a good group of weapons in the pass game.
“They made some changes in the offseason with the coaching staff, bringing in Jeff Ulbrich as Defensive Coordinator. That will be a good advantage for the Falcons because he and Coach Raheem Morris have worked together before.
“The situation the Falcons are in is not something you can’t work through. It sounds like it’s worse than it really is and the Falcons are approaching it the right way.
“Their current stance is that they can keep Cousins and they have options too. They can keep an expensive backup or they can make the cut post June 1st, which would spread the dead money over two years.
“Overall, the Falcons are in a good position with their young quarterback but it will be difficult to improve their team this season due to the cap and dead money situation.
“Trading Cousins will be difficult too, as everybody knows the Falcons are looking to move on.
“Cousins also holds all the cards. He signed that four-year contract which included $100 million guaranteed and he has a no-trade clause so he has to approve any potential trade.”
What position(s) do you expect the Falcons to target in free agency?
“The Falcons have to make their pass defense better. That’s where they struggled this season.
“At the times in games when they needed to make plays, they didn’t make them and that’s why there was a change in defensive coordinator.
“There’s two areas on defense which are really important in today’s NFL. One is having an edge rusher and the other is cornerbacks. The Falcons will be looking at these two positions but it’s difficult because everybody else will too.
“The edge rushers are experienced players but they might be too experienced. Two of the top three pending free agent edge rushers are over 30 years old.
“Khalil Mack is the number one guy but he’s 33 years old and he didn’t have a great season. He had six sacks when he’s usually been a double-digit sack guy for many years.
“The youngest of the three is Josh Sweat at the Philadelphia Eagles. He had a good season this year but it’s tough to see him leaving Philadelphia. I don’t think the Eagles let him leave the building.
“The third one is Haason Reddick of the New York Jets. He had a tough season this year, partly due to injury and he only played in 10 games and had one sack.
“They are the top three edge rushers available, all three could be available or all three could be re-signed to their current teams.
“If the Falcons miss out on them then they have to look to the Draft but they only have four picks this year. So, there’ll be conversations in Atlanta about moving some assets to gain more draft capital.
“The Falcons also need to find a No. 2 corner. They have their number one in A.J. Terrell Jr. but they need someone on the other side too.
“There’s three potential options the Falcons could look at. D.J. Reed at the Jets is the No. 1 guy. The second is Charvarius Ward from the San Francisco 49ers and the third is Rasul Douglas from the Buffalo Bills who has 19 career interceptions.
“Atlanta needs to look to upgrade at the safety position too. There’s three potential options there too and they’re all young guys who are first time free agents in Jevon Holland, Talanoa Hufanga and Camryn Bynum.”
The Tennessee Titans had a season to forget. With the Titans having the first pick, what do you make of Will Levis’ situation? Could his time be up in Tennessee?
“Tennessee had a really tough season and they are definitely in a transition period.
“They had a first-year head coach in Brian Callahan and now they’ve just brought in Mike Borgonzi as General Manager who has been with the Kansas City Chiefs for a long time. He will have a plan in place but plans change in the NFL.
“Today, I’m sure they’re concerned about the position at quarterback and it definitely needs addressing. They will look far and wide in both free agency and the draft. But it was not a good year for the Titans and it’s going to take a year or two to rebuild the roster.
“Whether it’s in Tennessee or another team, writing off Will Levis is jumping the gun though.
“Different guys mature at different rates and teams are in different places to each other and this was not a very strong roster around Levis.
“When they drafted him, they, and many others, thought he was going to be a really successful quarterback in the NFL but that can often take two to three years for a guy to really mature and understand the complications of the NFL, and understand how truly hard it is to play that position in this league.”
With Ryan Day leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to a National Championship, could you see him making a move to the NFL soon?
“Ryan Day has NFL experience, which is something that stands out when you look at NFL hiring cycles. Teams tend to go for guys with NFL experience. Very rarely do we see someone jump directly from college football to the NFL as a Head Coach.
“His time at Ohio State has been unbelievable and I know that Ryan Day would make an excellent NFL Head Coach.
“If you look at what most offenses are doing in the NFL, the first guy to really do it was Chip Kelly. If you watch the tape of his San Francisco teams, they were groundbreaking, now everyone is doing it, and Ryan Day worked with Chip Kelly.
“Kudos to Day for what he’s done with the Buckeyes. The win over Notre Dame was fantastic.
“He’s in such a great position because if he stays in Columbus, he’s always going to get great players and they have tremendous fan support, great support from the administration and great facilities.
“If I was him, I’d stay at Ohio State.
“He’ll have a top 10 team every year, maybe even top five with the way he’s running the program.
“In this NIL world, they’ve got the financial backing to compete with anybody else in the nation. When you’re talking about finances in college football, there’s a small group that are head and shoulders above everybody else. Ohio State is in that group.
“Ohio State is always going to be in the conversation for a national championship and Ryan Day has got it going there.”
The Dallas Cowboys named Brian Schottenheimer their new Head Coach following the departure of Mike McCarthy. What did you make of the way they handled this situation?
“The Cowboys are the biggest wildcard in the NFL because they step to their own beat.
“When the Dallas Cowboys have an opening, it’s not going to go the way people predict because Jerry Jones is the Owner and General Manager.
“While he may use other resources for input, he makes the final decision on his own. If you look at the way the process went, it was just another Jerry Jones decision. That’s happened for years, and they’ve had some recent success but they haven’t had the ultimate success which is a Super Bowl win.
“Running the Dallas Cowboys is a tough situation to be in because they are still America’s team. Even though they haven’t been to or won a Super Bowl in decades, they’re always near the top or number one for fan engagement.”
Deion Sanders was linked with the Cowboys job. Would you like to see him back in the NFL as a Head Coach?
“I would love to see Deion Sanders in the NFL. He would do an outstanding job.
“At both Jackson State and Colorado, Deion has shown he is an amazing Head Coach. He’s an excellent recruiter who can create a very strong roster in a very short amount of time. He recruited a future Heisman winner in Travis Hunter to Jackson State.
“His recruitment is a bit unorthodox but he’s always been a trendsetter. He’s been this way as a player and now as a coach.
“He would be an outstanding NFL coach and also, if Sanders is back in the NFL as a Head Coach, it’s going to spike fan viewership because everyone will want to see how he performs. He is a great media personality and the NFL wants to have media personalities.
“Deion was one of the greatest to ever play the game and he’s turned into a damn good football coach.”
The New England Patriots moved on from first-year Head Coach Jerod Mayo. What do you think of the way Robert Kraft handled that situation?
“It’s a tough situation when you make a decision to replace a Head Coach after just one year.
“It’s not an easy thing to do as an owner. I think Robert Kraft addressed this very honestly when he said he put Coach Mayo in an untenable position when he made him the Head Coach after moving on from Bill Belichick.
“Kraft has made a great choice in bringing Mike Vrabel in as Head Coach.
“If he didn’t make that move fast, Coach Vrabel was going to be back in the NFL as a Head Coach for another team.
“He’s the right man for the job. He knows the Patriot way from when they were successful and most importantly, he’s an outstanding football coach.
“He did a great job at the Tennessee Titans and for me, he was the number one available coaching candidate in the NFL this year.”
While Jayden Daniels and other rookie quarterbacks had some success. Caleb Williams had a much more up and down year. What does he need to do in order to take the next step up and should Bears fans be encouraged by his play so far?
“Williams did not have the season people expected. Maybe those expectations were just way out of line considering the Bears’ situation this year.
“The coach Matt Eberflus didn’t make it through the season, they were not very strong offensively, I’m not sure they had the right pieces around Williams.
“But Williams is a Heisman Trophy winner who is an outstanding prospect.
“They went out and got Ben Johnson in as Head Coach, who was the most sought-after candidate in the league.
“He’s going to be able to mold Williams and the Bears similar to how he did with the Detroit Lions offense.
“With Johnson as coach, Williams’ production will go up.
“Williams is in the best possible position he could be in simply by having Ben Johnson as his Head Coach. You will see a big jump from Caleb Williams next season.”
The Baltimore Ravens fell short once again this season, what do they need to do this offseason in order to make it back to the Super Bowl?
“For the last six years, the Baltimore Ravens have been in the championship conversation and you can’t do anything more than put yourself in the position to win.
“John Harbaugh has done an outstanding job alongside Eric DeCosta and in the past Ozzie Newsome running that football team.
“They’ve done a fantastic job. Even with the loss, the Ravens’ future looks great, they’ve got a top-five quarterback in Lamar Jackson, they have the best running back when it comes to carrying a team in Derrick Henry and they have an outstanding younger defense that does a great job going after the ball.
“They’re going to be a force in the AFC for a long time. As long as Harbaugh is there and Jackson stays healthy, they’re going to get more chances to win.
“Lamar’s teammates believe in him, Harbaugh believes in him, it’s just going to be a matter of time before they win a Super Bowl. They’re that type of team and organization.
“Over the last 20 years, they have been a top-five franchise in the NFL and they have a lot to be proud of.
“It’s just so hard to win in the NFL. It just highlights that what Andy Reid and the Chiefs are doing is super difficult.”
Another team that fell short was the Detroit Lions. Quarterback Jared Goff had multiple turnovers in the loss to the Commanders, can he still be the guy to lead the Lions over the line? How will the Lions fare with their top coordinators leaving?
“Can Jared Goff lead the Lions to a Super Bowl win? The short answer is yes.
“People will dissect his last game against the Washington Commanders but Detroit just picked the worst time to play their worst game of the season.
“Goff throwing three picks was an anomaly and it had a lot to do with the game getting away from the Lions, so they were forcing the issue. I wouldn’t put too much on that game. Guys have bad games and Goff just had one at a bad time.
“The Lions have got the talent on the football team to be back in contention next season.
“Goff is a top-level quarterback in the NFL.
“The biggest question mark on the Lions is whether they can overcome losing both coordinators in Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn.
“Dan Campbell has a great network and is very well connected in the NFL as a former player so he will have to do his due diligence in order to rebuild the coaching staff.
“It all starts from the top and Campbell does a great job of team building. They will have a very good football team again next season.”
Mike Evans had yet another 1,000-yard season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Just how good is Evans and do you think he will be in the Hall of Fame?
“I had the opportunity and great pleasure to be on a coaching staff where Mike Evans was one of our players.
“Evans is an unbelievable wide receiver and an even better teammate.
“Mike has all the qualities that any coach would want in a wide receiver and football player.
“He is so competitive. Every day on the practice field, he gets out there and wants to compete. He’s got a great attitude in the way that he approaches the game, in practice and in games.
“The thing that stands out to me is that Evans is consistent. You know what you will get every single day.
“His skill set is off the charts, he’s got a great catch radius, is a great route runner and he understands how to get open which is a special skill.
“He has tenacity, resilience, toughness, smarts, physicality and that’s why he’s one of the best receivers to ever play the game.
“Even though he’s not the quarterback, he’s the alpha dog on the team and has been a model of consistency since he was drafted out of Texas A&M.
“What people don’t get to see is that Evans is the type of person he is off the field. He is an unbelievable teammate.
“He will be a Hall of Fame wide receiver five years after he retires.
“He’s a Hall of Fame teammate and a Hall of Fame community guy as well. He does so much for the community where he lives in Tampa Bay and for the community where he grew up. He’s a great guy.”
Pittsburgh Steelers HC Mike Tomlin is receiving criticism from fans due to a lack of recent playoff success? What have you made of this criticism?
“It’s a bunch of noise. People have to talk about something.
“There is a high standard up in Pittsburgh but Mike Tomlin meets that standard, so I think all the criticism is a bunch of noise.
“I just talked about Mike Evans being a future Hall of Famer, I have to say the same thing about Coach Tomlin. He will be in the Hall of Fame when he finishes his career.
“People do not need to be trying to run Mike Tomlin out of Pittsburgh.
“He’s been to two Super Bowls and won one of them. He’s never had a losing season in the NFL as a Head Coach. It blows your mind at how consistent he is. We all know how hard it is to win in the playoffs.
“To me, it’s kind of annoying that people even have those conversations regarding Tomlin. He’s won seven AFC North titles despite being in the same division as the Baltimore Ravens.
“When he doesn’t have success in the playoffs, people might bring the lack of recent success up but he gets them there to the dance every year and that’s what you want. You want to have a chance to play in the playoffs.”
Some offensive players like Patrick Mahomes have been accused of flopping to try and get defenders flagged for personal fouls. As a coach with a defensive background, how frustrating is this and should offensive players be punished for flopping?
“A lot of it is just gamesmanship and with Patrick Mahomes, he’s one of the most competitive guys in the NFL who understands the nuances of the NFL in terms of how they’re going to protect the quarterback.
“They have to protect the quarterback because this is a quarterback driven league.
“They have to protect those guys because there are big investments every year in that position.
“They need to protect the quarterback and continue to figure out ways to protect the quarterbacks so that the game will continue to grow.
“A lot of people are Kansas City haters. When you win as much as the Chiefs have, you’re just going to be hated by a lot of people.
“Everyone on the defensive side will complain that they put too much emphasis on protecting the quarterback but wouldn’t you if you were the NFL?
“What if five quarterbacks get injured during the season and they’re the top guys? What will that do to viewership?”
What are your thoughts on the NFL considering changes to the playoff seeding system? Should a 14-win Wild Card team have to play on the road, or does the division title deserve priority?”
“There should be some type of reward for winning the division. You can’t help it if your division is having a down year and you win it with an average record. These things work in cycles and every division will have these down years.
“If I was coaching a team that had a better record than a division winner and I had to go on the road, I’d be complaining about it too. But over the grand scheme of things, the way it is now is pretty good to me.”
The Minnesota Vikings have a decision to make with Sam Darnold. If you were the head coach of the Vikings, would you try and retain Darnold even with J.J. McCarthy waiting in the wings?
“You have to remember, Sam Darnold had just led the Vikings to a 14-3 record. People will say he went out miserably in his last two games and unfortunately he didn’t play well in these games.
“He may have held onto the ball for too long a time or two against the Los Angeles Rams but when you give up nine sacks, it shows that the guys up front weren’t blocking too well.
“You give up nine sacks, that’s not all on the quarterback. It can’t be. It’s on the blocking up front between the offensive line, tight ends and running backs.
“He had a great season as a whole. He just unfortunately played his worst two games at the end of the season.
“The Vikings are in a good situation. They can re-sign Sam Darnold and I think he deserves that.
“If that’s the decision, then they could even use McCarthy in trade conversations. He’s on a rookie contract and is most likely regarded higher than the quarterbacks in this year’s draft.
“For me, they should still keep McCarthy as they could give Darnold a shorter contract which they can get out of after two years after slowly developing McCarthy.
“The Vikings are doing a great job as an organization. They had a great season overall despite the last two games. The coaching staff will continue to do a great job next season.”
How impressed have you been with Jalen Hurts’ play for the Philadelphia Eagles?
“Hurts is an outstanding quarterback. He doesn’t get the props he deserves.
“This is a quarterback driven league and we may hear the likes of Patrick Mahomes talked about before him, but Jalen is a proven winner who has done a great job this year.
“He’s fought through some nagging injuries throughout this season.
“Every other quarterback in the league other than Mahomes would like to be in his shoes right now as a QB who has led their team to the Super Bowl.
“He’s built like a lot of the top quarterbacks today and he’s athletic enough to make plays with his feet and his arm while also having the arm strength. That’s the model of quarterback that works in the league right now.
“The type of athleticism Hurts has is going to lead you to success in the NFL.
How important of a signing has Saquon Barkley proved to be?
“Saquon has done an outstanding job. Rushing for over 2,000 yards is a fantastic achievement. He’s been a perfect fit for the Philadelphia Eagles. He’s a great guy and teammate as well.
“Nick Sirianni and Kellen Moore have done an outstanding job of integrating him into an already good offense to make it a great offense.
“It’s been great to see running backs return to conversations this year and people aren’t just talking about wide receivers.
“There’s been more of a focus on the running back position this season compared to recent years. Without taking away from the running backs, it has a lot to do with the way defenses are trying to defend the pass.
Jalen Carter has been crucial on defense for the Eagles. Just how good is he?
“Without a doubt, Jalen Carter is the most disruptive defensive tackle in the league right now.
“You can’t block him with just one person. When he’s singled, more times than not, it’s going to be a tackle for a loss or a sack.
“I remember watching him as a Georgia Bulldog and he was the most dominating player on the field even back then.
“His dominance says a lot because defensive tackles have a tough job as they’re likely the guys that get doubled. Carter can beat these double teams and if you single him, you better run away from him and run quickly, otherwise he will dominate.
“When he plays with control and keeps his head about him, he is unstoppable.
“Vic Fangio deserves a lot of credit for the Eagles’ success this year.
“They have superstars on offense in Hurts and Barkley but if I had to say who is the most valuable person in Philadelphia, it might be Fangio for what he has done with that defense this season. They have been unbelievable.
“Fangio will go down as one of the best defensive coordinators to ever coach in the NFL.
Despite the loss in the NFC Championship, how good of a season has this been for the Washington Commanders?
“It’s been a great season for the Commanders. They hit on a quarterback in Jayden Daniels who should be the unanimous Rookie of the Year. He’s shown maturity beyond his years as an NFL player.
“They’ve done an outstanding job. Dan Quinn should be up there in the conversations for Coach of the Year as well.
“From where they were a year ago to where they are right now, it has been an unbelievable turnaround.
“It just goes to show that if you can get a special quarterback, you always have a chance to turn things around quickly and be successful in the NFL.
“I can’t say enough about the Commanders and the season they had because nobody gave them a chance of being in the playoffs and they ended up one game away from the Super Bowl.
“Kudos to Jayden, Dan Quinn and his staff. A job well done.
How important has Steve Spagnuolo been to the Kansas City Chiefs’ success?
“You want coaches who know what to do on game day and Spagnuolo is a great game day coach.
“On the defensive side of the ball, you have to do things the offense doesn’t expect in order to get a free runner at the quarterback and Spagnuolo has done an outstanding job of this.
“It hasn’t just been this year either, it’s been for this run the Chiefs have been on for years.
“He is a great play caller and the number of times he can get a free runner at the quarterback is a big problem for opposition offenses. There’s nothing quarterbacks hate more than a free runner coming at them.
“As much as Andy Reid has done for the Kansas City Chiefs and their offense, Spagnuolo has done the same with that defense.
“The Super Bowl is going to be fun because you have two great defensive coordinators in Spagnuolo and Fangio trying to stop two great offenses and two great quarterbacks.”
What does another Super Bowl win mean for Andy Reid’s legacy?
“What Coach Reid has done is ‘Belichickian’. He’s doing similar things to what Bill Belichick was able to do in New England.
“It’s amazing to see what he has done with the Chiefs. To potentially have the only threepeat of the Super Bowl era would be something.”
The Buffalo Bills fell short again this season, what do they have to do in order to make a Super Bowl?
“The Bills are one of the best organizations in the NFL. Unfortunately for them, the timing has been against them.
“When they have had their best opportunities, some of the best teams in NFL history have been competing against them.
“It’s an inch here and there which makes a difference. An inch different and we would be talking about the Bills playing against the Eagles. That’s what makes football great though, the competition and how tight the competition is.
“In order to get to the Super Bowl, they’re going to need the ball to bounce their way and hope next time the game of inches goes their way.
“People do not realise how hard it is to even just make it to a Super Bowl in today’s NFL. So many things have to go your way.
“It’s hard to be a Buffalo Bills fan because they are so close and they do it with such class. Sean McDermott is such a great coach and the difference between the Bills and the Chiefs right now is one inch.”
What is your Super Bowl LIX Prediction?
“Both sides will make mistakes, whether that’s the coaching staff, players or even the officials but like all championship games, this will come down to who makes the least mistakes.
“As a prediction, I have to go with Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs.
“If Vic Fangio can come up with a way to stop the Chiefs’ offense then it could go the other way but it’s such a challenge to play defense against Reid’s Chiefs for 60 minutes.
“I do think it will be a low scoring game though as you have two great defensive coordinators.
“I’m not overstepping when I say Vic Fangio and Steve Spagnuolo, as defensive coaches and defensive minds, are as good as any that have ever coached in the NFL.
“While the fans want to see a track meet which ends with a score of 36-35, in honor of Fangio and Spagnuolo, let’s have a final score of 3-2, one field goal and one defensive safety. Us defensive coaches would love that.”
