A day after quarterback Matt Ryan went to the ground to avoid defenders, Falcons coach Mike Smith defended his team and his quarterback’s toughness.
“Look, the guys in that locker room, they’re a bunch of tough guys,” Smith said Friday, while pointing to his locker room. “They play in the National Football League. They go out, and they compete every single day.”
Before the game, a 17-13 loss to the New Orleans Saints, three former NFL players — Charlie Batch, Heath Evans and Willie McGinest — questioned the Falcons’ toughness on NFL Network’s “NFL Total Access” show. During the “Inside The Huddle” segment that featured the former players, they were unmerciful toward the Falcons.
The topic was what’s wrong with the Falcons?
Batch didn’t think the Falcons were so good last season, when they claimed the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Evans, a former Saints fullback, bashed the offensive and defensive lines and questioned the Falcons’ toughness.
McGinest also questioned their toughness and how the team was built to be an offensive juggernaut with a decent defense.
“When you talk about the message and you listen to Roddy White (say) they need their swagger back,” McGinest said. “It’s not swagger to me, it’s toughness. This team has never been tough. The tough mentality, they’ve never had that.”
When asked about comments, Smith adjusted his seat and tried to temper his comments.
“I’m sure we weren’t watching what the so-called experts were saying before the game,” Smith said. “This is a physical sport that we play. We go out, and we compete every week. We haven’t gotten the results that we want, but there is no question about the character and the toughness of (this) football team.”
Much to the dismay of several fans, with the Falcons trailing 14-10 late in the second quarter, Ryan elected to slide on a third-and-goal instead of trying to barge into the end zone for a touchdown.
Ryan did a nifty job of eluding pressure and went down at the 6-yard line. He appeared to have enough room to make it to the 3, where he would have had to soar over or power through a couple of defenders.
“It was early in the game,” Ryan said. “You’ve got to take the points. You’ve got to make the right play. I felt like that was the right play, and you’ve got to take those three points. We have to trust that we’re going to continue to get down there and continue to score touchdowns.
“In that situation, I felt like that was the right play.”
The offense line struggled, but showed plenty of fight and toughness. Center Joe Hawley romped to the second level blocking several defenders. Right tackle Jeremy Trueblood, who was in a raging battle with Saints defensive end Akiem Hicks, got caught after landing a retaliation punch. Second-year man Lamar Holmes was mixing it up, too.
“You want to see a guys sticking up for their teammates, but we can’t take a swing at a guy after the play is over,” Smith said. “That’s a personal foul and a 15-yard penalty.”
The defense came out on fire, lulled in the first half before bouncing back. It was their strongest showing in weeks. They showed plenty of toughness, but still had issues.
“We did not tackle well in the ballgame,” Smith said. “I believe that we had 14 missed tackles in the ballgame, according to our defensive coaches. That’s way too many.”
It seems like Smith will trade some toughness for some touchdowns, blocks and tackles.
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