Here’s what Falcons coach Arthur Smith had to say after the 28-12 win over the Jaguars on Sunday:
OPENING STATEMENT: “A couple of things before we get started. ... The next couple of days there will be a lot of stuff going on with Terry and I. Every guy that we’ve got in that locker room, I appreciate their effort the entire spring, summer, camp. We have some tough decisions ahead of us. I’m always thankful for those guys’ efforts. Regardless that it’s pro football, they get paid. These guys have worked extremely hard and this was a good way to cap the (exhibition) season for us. (Exhibition) season or not, it’s good to get a win a home.”
On the play of Desmond Ridder: “That’s why you need to play these guys. There is no way to develop them. You can simulate things in practice. You teach them lesson, but sometimes the best thing to do is to out there and play and work through it. You’re going to find out a lot about people. The first play of the game, we had one guy up front Olgo the wrong way. He let one mistake become two. Trying to play hero ball. You can live to the next down. So, understood that. He didn’t pout. Puts his head down, comes out the next drive. I thought he was very solid. Then we didn’t. ... We lost a couple of situational things on third down. Didn’t handle overcoming (being) backed up on a penalty. Then, the last one, I wanted to launch one before the half. He had to move in the pocket to reset. I thought we had a chance with Frankie (Darby). Frankie had a good move on that, and I thought I’d give him a chance on that. End of the half, who cares. There are a lot of guys that care more about social media, stats or whatever it is. Desmond is a real football player. You have to come out and keep swinging, keep things perspective. Put the second one on me. Moving, trying to get a play before the half so he could launch one. … (Kid crashes presser) ... I was proud of these guys. We won a game in all three phases. (Bradley) Pinion punted well. (Quinton) Bell (blocked a punt). The defense handled sudden change. Made them kick field goals, and we were able to score touchdowns in the red zone. That’s the name of the game.”
On if there was an update on Dorian Etheridge: “We’ll just have to see. You know, obviously when somebody gets carted off, it looks bad. Not to be evasive, but we don’t know until we get the doctors (to) look at him. We’re very hopeful, but we’ll have to see (if it’s a season-ending knee injury).”
On the running backs: “Yeah, they ran hard. It takes all 11 of us in the run game. The quarterback to get us in the right look. We put a lot on the quarterback. That’s why I’m pushing Dez so hard. There is a more than just calling runs in what we ask our guys to do. I thought the line, the receivers, they blocked. It’s fun as a play-caller when you’re able to get a lead and you get these guys in a flow. There is nothing I enjoy more … maybe I’m messed up in the head because I was a lineman. That’s pretty to me when you are in the fourth quarter and you’ve got a lead. Watching these guys come off the ball and churning out 2-yard runs to 8 to 9. (Caleb) Huntley popped a big one, but it takes all 11 to run the football for us.”
On the cutdown to 53: “It’s our football staff. That’s what we all ourselves. Football staff. We are a team. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. There is a lot more to transactions, the way this thing is going to go. There are a lot of mechanisms now that you can use. You are just going to have to let it play out. You’re able to get more guys to the practice squad. Different mechanisms, what may look like the roster on Wednesday, may look a little different on Thursday and so on.”
On the play of the backup defensive linemen: “I was excited. A lot of it to was not just the sacks, but when you are running certain pressure packages in the games. Everybody being coordinated on the same page so that you don’t open rush lanes. You don’t lose contain. Guys getting the ball out. Even Troy (Andersen), he was upset with himself (on a near sack). He needs to make that play, but guys kept finishing, (playing with) effort. He still got the ball out. He threw (the ball) up, and Nate Landman was able to pick it off.”
On DL players he can trust: “I do.”
On establishing a winning culture at Mercedes-Benz Stadium: “Can’t sit here and live in the past. We’re trying to build something real. It’s going to happen organically. We have to do our part. I love our fans. They come out there and are passionate. This city loves the Falcons. We have to get people to come out here so it can be like a big party on Sundays. But we have to do our part. It will happen. It will happen organically. We have to do our part. Build a winning culture and do things the right way. Because I promise you this place will be rocking once we get this thing rolling.”
On Ridder playing into the fourth quarter: “It was huge. That was our strategy going in. I feel about as good as you can when you get to execute your strategy in the (exhibition) season. We wanted to accomplish playing everybody. Joint practices. The competition that we and there is a reason why. Feleipe (Franks), I let him put the ball up once and I thought he threw a pretty good ball there at the end. You can’t get enough reps. We’re trying develop these quarterbacks and get Marcus (Mariota) going again. They took a ton of reps. The two of those guys. We were able to use the (exhibition) season the right way. I was pleased. He wasn’t perfect, but he got better every time that he went out there.”
On if he feels good about what he’s seen from Ridder: “I feel good about Marcus and all of the offensive players, too.”
On Deion Jones and Isaiah Oliver getting some action: “Absolutely, both of those they are different return to play. They are not on the same timetable. That’s why every injury is different. I was really pleased with Isaiah. Sometimes, it’s not just the physical hurdle it’s a mental hurdle. Whether, if you guys may not realize it or nobody in the stands know it, but (defensive coordinator) Dean (Pees) called the same called that (Oliver) blitzed on and got hurt on against Washington. Sometimes you need to over come it. When he called that I wanted to Zay go back. He basically had to face those fears to know the guy is back. We have to assess, but I was very pleased with Isaiah today.”
On mechanisms to address the roster: “Everything is on the table. It’s going to be around the league. We’ve got a great football staff. We’ll go with every contingency plan. Make sure that we get the right guys through. We’ll turn over every stone that we can to make sure we have the best roster available.”
On the progress of this team: “I think this team we have a chip on our shoulder. We’ve got something to prove. I think we’ve been competitive from Day 1. The peripheral opponents can say what they want. They can rank us 40th roster and 42nd coaching staff out of 32. We don’t care. We are going to go and complete. We have to do our best. We have a lot of work ahead of us to get ready to roll before Sept. 11 when New Orleans comes in here.”
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