FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Mike Smith has a dangerous throwing arm.

Just ask Thomas DeCoud.

After a touchdown catch by Washington's Todd Yoder in the corner of the end zone on Sunday, Smith decided to challenge the play.

As he ran toward the field, the Falcons coach couldn't find the red challenge flag in his back pocket. Smith kept running, gaining speed and momentum as he kept digging before finally he fired the flag about 15 yards — right at DeCoud's head.

The Falcons safety had to quickly lean back to avoid Smith's toss.

"I thought he didn't have his feet inbounds either, so I was telling him to throw it," DeCoud said. "It just so happened he hummed it at me. I had to pull a little 'Matrix' move to get out of the way."

Smith laughed on Monday when asked if he had been practicing his throws.

"I was worried," he said. "I was digging deep in my pocket and couldn't get the darn thing out. That was a decision to challenge a touchdown so I wanted to make sure it got out there in time before the extra point was attempted."

Smith lost the challenge, but the zeal Smith showed when challenging the play was only part of his emotional day during the Falcons' 31-17 win over the Redskins that left Atlanta (5-3) in playoff contention at the midpoint of the season.

Redskins cornerback DeAngelo Hall wasn't so happy with Smith's sideline demeanor.

The NFL is looking into a sideline incident involving Hall and members of the Falcons after LaRon Landry's late hit on Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan in the second quarter.

Hall followed Landry to the Atlanta sideline and was quickly engulfed by Falcons players and coaches, including Smith. Hall claimed Smith "cussed me out" and tried to put his hands on him "in a harmful way."

From the Falcons' viewpoint, Smith was only sticking up for his players.

"That's the type of coach you want," said Falcons defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux. "You want a coach who's going to stand in there for us and have our back just like we have his back."

DeCoud said players feed off the coach's animated displays of emotion.

"It's great to have a coach who gets fired up on the sideline and gets mad about things and wears his heart on his sleeve pretty much when he's coaching a football game," DeCoud said. "You like to play with that kind of passion and that kind of fire, and it's great to have a coach who emulates the same kind of sentiments and you can feed off his energy as well as his teammates."

Babineaux said Smith coaches as if he wishes he could be in uniform.