New head coach has Falcons’ respect

By Jeff Schultz | Monday, May 12, 2008, 10:07 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Flowery Branch — The Falcons’ first full minicamp wasn’t unlike that first spring training scene in the baseball movie “Major League,” except that I’m fairly certain owner Arthur Blank and general manager Thomas Dimitroff did not replicate this exchange between members of the Indians’ front office.

Rachel Phelps (owner): “I want to put together a team that will help us relocate to Miami.”

Charlie Donovan (GM): “What do you mean? Some of these guys are furniture movers?”

Falcons players wore logo-less helmets for three days, which seemed appropriate because nobody can be sure whether they belong here or Bekins. But there is this: By this time a year ago, Bobby Petrino voodoo dolls already would’ve been a hot seller in the locker room. This season, players are at least following Petrino’s successor, Mike Smith.

“He’s a guy you want to fight for,” said Lawyer Milloy, one of the few veteran holdovers. “It’s like night and day. When you create a positive atmosphere, when you don’t mind coming to work, you just do more. That was a little bit of a problem last year. Guys still worked hard last year, but it’s not the same as when a guy comes over and pats you on the back.”

Milloy was a rarity in the three-day camp. People actually recognized him.

When players first walked onto the field Saturday, there was such a high degree of who-are-these-guys that former Falcon Gerald Riggs mused: “It looks like some sort of virus came along and took everybody out.”

Anonymity seldom is a good thing in sports. But the NFL is a strange league. There aren’t that many great teams. Even most of the good ones are just an injury or two north of mediocre. It’s remarkable what an even unspectacular team can achieve when it stays healthy, plays smart and is willing to fight for its head coach.

Petrino lost this bunch early. The same will not happen under Smith. That’s a start.

“If you’re doing something wrong, just tell me — don’t MF me and curse me out,” said Milloy, one of the most outspoken critics of Petrino after his resignation. “Just tell me what I’m doing wrong, and then it’s up to me to be a pro and get it right. Just to curse me out and turn your back on me, that’s not productive. That’s not how you get results. I think [Smith] gets that. And he’s really trusting the few veterans that we have to make his job easier. He asks us what we think about certain things. Any time you have open lines of communication, you get results.”

The Falcons won four games last season. Some would find that a fair over/under for this season.

Smith isn’t thinking that way. He wore a safari hat the last two days of camp, which was his practice as a defensive coach in Jacksonville. “I used to tell them, ‘We’re going big-game hunting, boys,’ ” he said.

But the mind-set now is not about win totals — it’s about attitude. The Falcons haven’t had a winning season since going to the NFC title game in 2004. When a franchise has such a pronounced slide, goals need to be a bigger picture than, “We need a better pass rush.”

“The biggest challenge,” Smith said, “is changing the culture in the whole building. When you change the culture, you change the behavior. When you change the behavior, you change people’s habits. We want to create a winning culture. We want our guys to have the habits that winners have.”

It’s so basic. But it’s no revelation that the Falcons underachieved last season. That’s not all on Petrino. Too many players tanked it, early and often. They didn’t like their contract. Or the game plan. Or the coach. Veterans were as guilty as rookies, even if they wouldn’t admit it.

Losses and discontent are a lethal combination in any locker room, particularly in the NFL, where the season is only 16 games long.

Players fought for Jim Mora in his first season. But Mora lost them during year two when they sensed he started playing favorites. He lost his edge. They lost theirs.

Milloy realizes most don’t expect much from these Falcons. But he said, “After what we went through last year, anything this year will be a cakewalk.”

Most would probably choose other words for the outlook next season. But in May, it works. Let somebody else prove they should be moving a fridge.