Report: Mike Smith Likely Out, Falcons Looking at Gase and McDaniels

This may be the third or fourth report believing Falcons current head coach will be gone unless he can push the Falcons to a quality playoff run. This is either terrible timing for the report or good motivation for the team to put together a great finish to the season.

Ha, can you imagine if that second one turns out to be true? From Mr. Canfora's report:

Falcons owner Arthur Blank has informed multiple parties that he plans on moving on from head coach Mike Smith at the end of the season, sources said, and it would take a shocking playoff run to alter that scenario. Blank has also told some confidants that, for now, he expects to retain general manager Thomas Dimitroff, though it could be revisited through the hiring process.

There is so little new information here, this report may was well be episodes 6 through 10 of Serial.

This jibes with popular thinking about the Falcons: Arthur Blank will boot Smith if he finishes with his second consecutive disappointing season, and Dimitroff will not get in the way of Blank's hiring of his preferred coach.

The season is on the line today in New Orleans, and if Mike Smith cannot beat the struggling Saints, he is as good as gone.

What is new here? We have some coaches, and yet again none of them are Jim Harbaugh.

Among the candidates the Falcons are doing due diligence on includes Denver offensive coordinator Adam Gase and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, with team president Rich McKay among those working through backchannels gathering information on top candidates. Stanford coach David Shaw could be a consideration as well.

It is pretty interesting to see Blank is considering offensive-minded coaches. However, McDaniels spectacularly flamed out in his prior head coaching gig, and Gase is the guy who is responsible for telling Peyton Manning, "Get out there and make some plays." Shaw is a pretty interesting target but sounds a lot more like speculation on La Canfora's part than anything else.

Blank is apparently looking for a proven winner, but is currently out of options, forcing him to look at the younger, the unproven, and Josh McDaniels.