he Atlanta Falcons and Tennessee Titans kick-off at Mercedes-Benz Stadium tonight at 7:00pm.
I'll be the first game for Arthur Smith in his new role as Falcons head coach. It'll also be the first opportunity for him to evaluate his new team, not just the younger players, but for the veterans the Smith inherited.
The evaluation process is obviously the most important part for any coaching staff this time of season, especially a new coaching staff that is evaluating so many new players. And every coach goes about it differently.
We just got done with a coaching staff under Dan Quinn that went about it the way that they did. Voice of the Falcons, Wes Durham, joined the Midday Show to discuss how Smith and general manager Terry Fontenot are seemingly going about it.
"I think he's incredibly organized, incredibly bright," Durham told Andy and Randy. "I think he--if you ask a good question, you typically get a really good answer, or at least an answer that answers your question. He doesn't talk in circles which I respect."
"I think he's also very conscientious that he's building a football team here, and he's not going to build the football team in the media...I mean, he's not going to build his football team in the media and neither is Terry."
It's so easy to get focused on the comparison between what Smith is like and what the last regime was like; in their personalities. It's very important to be clear that a lot of different types of personalities can be successful in the NFL. There are guys that are "slogan" guys that have won Super Bowls, and there are also guys like Smith, by the book.
"Just because you're--I don't know what the word is--just because there's no fluff doesn't mean you're going to win," Andy added. "The only thing that matters is winning."
"If Arthur Smith's perso--if that sort of lends itself to being more of cut-throat, talent evaluator or sets up the right sort of situations in practice to where you're able to really hone in on who the guys are that you want and who the guys are that you don't want, great. But it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to work just because it's different than what the last guy was."
"People are very refreshed because you sort of got tired of the slogans because they lost."