Blank blasts Falcons for blowing 21-point lead

How much longer will Mike Smith, left, and Arthur Blank be bumping fists? (USATSI)

Two weeks ago, with the Falcons sitting at 2-4, team owner Arthur Blank gave a foreboding outlook on his coaching staff's future, saying he was very disappointed in the season so far.

How must he feel today, a day after Atlanta blew a three-touchdown lead in London against the Lions in what has to be one of the worst franchise losses of all-time to fall to 2-6 on the season?

"You're up 21-0," owner Blank told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "There's no way you lose that game -- just no way. There's nothing else I can say."

Blank doesn't have to say anything else, really. Falcons coach Mike Smith's job is in peril, and it's going to be awfully difficult to save himself. The same goes for general manager Thomas Dimitroff.

Making matters worse, Smith made some horrendous coaching decisions late in the game Sunday that helped push Detroit -- which seemed equally ambivalent about actually trying to win the game -- to the come-from-behind victory.

It doesn't seem likely that Smith will get the Dennis Allen treatment -- when the former Raiders coach was fired almost immediately after his team returned from a loss in London -- but predicting Smith to be the team's coach in 2015 seems foolhardy.

The team, unfortunately for Smith, has come a long way from the optimism surrounding the squad after Hard Knocks.

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