There isn’t a head coach in the world who would tell you a win doesn’t matter.
No, not even if it’s in a meaningless game at the end of December with a team that’s already been disqualified from the playoffs. In a business gauged solely by wins and losses, getting a win at any time, day or night, matters. Wins keep winners in jobs; losses send losers packing. It’s just how it works, as black-and-white can be.
Sunday’s win in the Meadowlands for new Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith will go in his scrapbook of major coaching memories, if only because it was his first.