FLOWERY BRANCH -- Falcons coach Arthur Smith, who was with the Titans for the past nine seasons and was Mike Vrabel’s offensive coordinator the past two seasons, is set to make his Falcons debut against his former team at 7 p.m. Friday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Titans are defending AFC South champions and were eliminated in the wild-card round of the playoffs in 2020 after reaching the AFC Championship game after the 2019 season.
With the addition of Julio Jones, the Titans are considered challengers to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC. Even though most of the key veterans, including Jones, are not expected to play, this should be a good test for the re-tooling Falcons.
“I know what they’re about, and they got a pretty good idea of what we’re about over here,” Smith said. “So there’s a lot of mutual respect, and there won’t be a lot of trickery going on Friday night.”
Smith expects to find out how far along the Falcons are after this matchup.
“That’s the beautiful thing about football, you get to make decisions and how you want to attack this, how we want to handle (an exhibition game),” Smith said. “That’s fun. You got 32 different flavors, but it’s a healthy respect. We know what both teams are about. And that’s why I’m glad that we’re playing them. … It’s a good evaluation for us because I know what we’re up against.”
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