The Atlanta Falcons may have rested their starters on offense, but Friday’s three-point performance against the Tennessee Titans was even uglier than expected. Poor protection up front, penalties and mediocre quarterback play each factored into the Falcons’ 23-3 loss.
After the game, head coach Arthur Smith owned up to his team’s underwhelming preseason debut.
“We did a very poor job of executing,” Smith said to open his postgame press conference. “We had way too many penalties and it put us in a lot of bad, get-back-on-track situations and clearly never got in a rhythm after that. So, I don’t wanna overreact until we go back and see the tape.”
Atlanta was expected to rest most of its starters, but the decision to sit rookie Kyle Pitts was somewhat of a surprise. Smith said if he felt Pitts needed the reps, he would have played.
“Kyle is right on schedule,” said Smith. And If we felt like he was behind, we probably would have put him out there.”
Smith may have done Pitts a favor by keeping him out since the rookie tight end wouldn’t have had many chances. The Falcons completed just seven of 21 passes on Friday. Watch Smith’s full postgame presser below.
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