Getty Marcus Mariota No. 1 of the Atlanta Falcons talks with head coach Arthur Smith.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith took some heat on Sunday after calling for Marcus Mariota to pass the ball rather than a run play with just under two minutes to go on second-and-goal.
The plan was to target Cordarrelle Patterson in the end zone, but Washington Commanders’ Daron Payne lifted his hands up to deflect the pass and then Kendall Fuller intercepted it, thus ending a potential game-winning drive for the Falcons.
“Those are decisions you make, and you gotta live with them,” Smith said in the postgame press conference. “You like the look, but unfortunately, the result is not what you’re looking for. Give credit to their defensive line. It’s not like they tipped a lot of balls today, and really didn’t get a lot of pressure the way our o-line played. They made one more play right at the end.”
Smith Opens Up About Play Calling vs. Washington
After looking at the film Smith got candid with the media on Monday, November 28 where he thoroughly explained his decision to call a pass vs. run play on the second-and-goal situation:
“There’s a lot that goes into it. Certainly, your thought’s different if you only need a field goal. If you’re down three, being risk averse, if you score a touchdown you’re still going to have to go defend. You’d love to have it where you score a touchdown with one second left, then you kick it, walk off and go home.
“Down six, you call a run the first play and lose two yards. Now it’s 2nd-and-4. There are runs you like, but, do you pass it? You’re probably going to have to throw it at some point if you don’t run in, either on third or fourth down. Those are decisions you make. We were pretty confident in the look we were going to get and we got it. Unfortunately, they made a play and you live with that decision.
“It’s different if it’s a play extension and he throws a pick. People bring up big games where somebody throws a pick on second down. Those are different schemes, different situation, different amount of time left in the game. We feel like we schemed it up with two of our better players in Patterson and Drake [London]. They have good players on their side who battled all day. Daron Payne tipped it, and not only did he tip it but it bounced to Fuller.”
A Missed Opportunity for Atlanta
If the Falcons won on Sunday, it would have put them with better odds for a wild card playoff spot.
Now, their post-season hopes are going to come with a lot more blood, sweat and tears.
“You can’t lie and say that it’s not a missed opportunity, because it is,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett told ESPN’s Michael Rothstein. “But at the end of the day we still have life. We still have stuff ahead of us to be able to strive for.”
Jake Matthews added to that, “In no way are we out of this thing. All I can say is, being this fresh off of it, frustrating. Absolutely expected to punch that in at the end and win it.
“And unfortunately it didn’t happen.”