Falcons hire Titans offensive coordinator Arthur Smith as head coach

The Tennessee Titans fell to the Baltimore Ravens in last Sunday's playoff matchup between the two teams and then lost their offensive coordinator on Friday. 

Late Friday afternoon, the Atlanta Falcons confirmed that they hired Tennessee offensive coordinator Arthur Smith as their new head coach. It was reported earlier in the day that the Falcons offered Smith the job. 

Under Smith, Tennessee running back Derrick Henry led the NFL in rushing yards in back-to-back seasons, and quarterback Ryan Tannehill had a career revival. For the 2020 campaign, the Titans ranked fourth in the league in scoring with 30.7 points per game, second in rushing yards with 168.1 yards per game and third in offensive yards with 396.4 per contest. 

Smith replaces Dan Quinn, who was fired along with general manager Thomas Dimitroff by Falcons owner Arthur Blank on Oct. 11 after Atlanta started the season with five consecutive defeats. Raheem Morris served as interim coach through Week 17 and guided the team to a 4-12 record. 

Smith, 38, may be tasked with rebuilding the Atlanta offense from scratch. Earlier this month, Blank told reporters that the Falcons could move on from both quarterback Matt Ryan and wide receiver Julio Jones during the offseason. 

"You cannot hire the very best people you can hire, whether it be general managers or head coaches, and then tie their hands and tell them, well, this person is off limits and that one is off limits and that one," Blank explained at that time. "What you're asking them for, which is not off limits and needs to be probed deeply, do they have a championship plan, do they have a plan on turning around the franchise sooner rather than later so we're winning in 2021? Do we have a plan that's sustainable over a long period of time so we can make sure this team is competitive not just for the next year or two but over a longer period of time than that? … However that affects certain players, it affects certain players."