Atlanta Falcons head coach and offensive shot-caller Arthur Smith is quite fond of responding to questions about the design of his offense, and his seeming love of ignoring his most explosive playmakers, with comments about how he doesn’t care about anybody’s fantasy team.
Arthur Smith’s hatred for Fantasy Football is comical at this point. It really is. pic.twitter.com/lTddrLaQrr
— Derek Brown (@DBro_FFB) October 25, 2023
Which, of course, isn’t the point. The point is to get the ball in the hands of your best guys, and Smith has come up short in that regard though most of the season. Which is one reason the Falcons came into Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans ranked 24th in Offensive DVOA. This time, Smith had another “interesting” idea that — as you might expect — didn’t work.
With 10:36 left in the first quarter, Smith pulled running back Bijan Robinson off the field at the Tennessee seven-yard line so that… well, so that tight end Jonnu Smith could throw an incomplete pass to tight end MyCole Pruitt.
Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts and you call a trick play in the red zone with Jonnu Smith throwing to MyCole Pruitt?? pic.twitter.com/cX93C4M8eh
— Austin Latham (@AustinLatham25) October 29, 2023
On the next play, quarterback Desmond Ridder was sacked for a 10-yard loss, and Younghoe Koo saved some semblance of scoring with a 29-yard field goal.
If Smith keeps this up, he might soon have a lot more time to play fantasy football — whether he likes it or not.