Mike Smith Ties Dan Reeves Atop Falcons Franchise Win List

The Falcons have not had the proudest history of any team in the NFL.

Exhibit A: The winningest coach in team history before today was one Dan Reeves. Reeves, you may recall, guided the team to its only Super Bowl back in 1998. His regular season track record was a little spottier, though, with an average of seven wins over six full seasons and 13/16ths of another. He wound up with 49 total wins.

Now compare that to Mike Smith, the man who just tied that record. He's now coached a grand total of 70 games for the Falcons, or 39 less than Reeves. He's won 49 of those in the regular season, good for a 70% winning percentage, and has guided the Falcons to three playoff berths. The players and front office have been incredible, naturally, but Smitty's the glue that holds all that together.

The incredible thing is that Smitty will likely own the win record by Week 10, if not sooner. It's unprecedented success, and I think we don't reflect on the fact that we're fortunate to being see it nearly often enough.

So I doff my safari hat to Smitty today and congratulate him on tying the record. Hopefully by the time he walks away, the new record is well over 100.