To the outsider, it doesn’t make sense that Falcons running back Antone Smith gets so few touches.
Smith has scored every 4.3 times he touches the ball this season. His five career touchdowns have averaged 45.6 yards. He’s averaging 14.8 yards each time on touches this season with touchdowns of 38, 48 and 54 yards.
Yet Smith’s 13 touches rank fourth on the team among running backs behind Steven Jackson (54 touches averaging 4.1 yards with one touchdown), Jacquizz Rodgers (23 touches, 4.5 yards, one TD) and Devonta Freeman (22 touches, 4.3 yards, no TDs).
So the question was put to Falcons offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter: How many touches should Smith be getting?
His answer:
"That's a great question. I wish I had a great answer to give you. We've been saying all along, we are deep at tailback. It's probably our deepest position on offense. We have four guys we feel good about. We are always trying to work in touches for those guys. We ran 64 plays last week (at Minnesota). When there is 64 plays, who are you taking touches away from? There's other guys that aren't getting very many touches. One thing about Antone, when he gets his touches he's making the most of them. He played well at Minnesota. Guys earn their touches and he's doing a good job. You can make a great argument that he deserves more."
Smith’s 48-yard touchdown run against the Vikings Sunday was his third score in four games this season. For his career, Smith is averaging 16.4 yards per touch.
Smith, a special-teams standout, had just one rushing attempt and no receptions during his first three seasons with the Falcons. He averaged 29 yards on five carries with a 50-yard TD in 2013. This season he's averaging 29.8 yards per carry with touchdown runs of 38 and 48 yards and he also scored on a 54-yard catch.
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