Falcons’ Arthur Smith Shares Plan for Bye Week

The Atlanta Falcons, now 5-8, have entered their much-needed bye week following back-to-back brutal losses to the Washington Commanders and Pittsburgh Steelers.

While the Falcons are “off” this week, they still plan on getting plenty accomplished, according to head coach Arthur Smith.

“We will have some very intense meetings in the next couple of days,” Smith told reporters on Monday, December 4. “Obviously, I know where we’re at. We understand, too, that we’ve been in some close games lately and we need to get back over the hump. There will be changes made. Everything that we decide to do I will be as transparent as possible.”

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A QB Change Could Be Coming

Following Sunday’s loss and a poor performance by starting quarterback Marcus Mariota, Smith was asked whether or not it was time to make the switch to rookie QB Desmond Ridder.

“Everything’s on the table,” Smith told reporters after the game. “It’ll be good to take a step back. There will be changes made. We have to look at everything.”

When asked on Monday about the quarterback switch again, Smith said that he and the rest of the staff were “still working through that.”

That response from Smith is a complete 180 from his press conference following the Falcons’ 25-15 loss to the Carolina Panthers three weeks ago:

“There are a couple plays where you can certainly put the blame on him. But there’s blame to go around operationally,” Smith said after Week 10’s loss to Carolina. “If there’s pressure right there, I don’t know what to tell the quarterback when he’s looking down to pick the ball up because it’s a low snap, he gets up and there’s a defender right in his face. That’s kind of hard to overcome there. It’s the little things that add up to it that we can do better, and we have at times. I wouldn’t pinpoint just on one player.”

Mariota finished that game with 19 of 30 passes completed for 186 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He had a similar outing against Pittsburgh, completing 13 of 24 passes for 167 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Smith doesn’t plan on talking to the media until next Monday when the bye week comes to an end.

“Every change, especially when it goes into the regards of personnel, I’ll be transparent and we’ll have decisions made,” Smith said.

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Mariota Brushed Off Potential QB Switch

While Mariota could be losing his starting job by next Monday, he is not thinking about that.

“That’s not necessarily where my mind is at,” Mariota said on Sunday in response to a reporter asking if he would understand if the team made a QB change. “You’re still trying to reflect on what happened during the game. At the end of the day, they (the coaching staff) have to make a decision that’s best for the team. Whatever happens, happens. But I’m not really thinking about that right now.”

And perhaps he wasn’t bluffing with that answer considering the fact that his wife went into labor Monday morning, per ESPN’s Michael Rothstein.

 

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