Q&A: Mike Smith after the loss to Steelers
Matt Ryan completed 22 of 42 passes for 210 yards with a TD and an interception in a loss to Pittsburgh. (Associated Press)
PITTSBURGH – In the post-game interview, Falcons coach Mike Smith was not pleased with the defense giving up touchdown passes of 77 and 44 yards in the Falcons 34-16 loss to the Steelers on Saturday night.
Here’s what Smith had to say after the game:
OPENING STATEMENT: It was very obvious that we didn’t play to the standard that we need to play to be the team that we want to be. We made way too many mistakes offensively, defensively and on special teams. We gave up too many explosive plays there in the first half in the passing game. But I did like the way that our guys battled back after falling behind 10-0. You can’t open the game off with a kickoff return to the plus-35 with a penalty. We weren’t really able to turn the momentum in our favor. We obviously have a lot of work to do over the next 14 or 15 days. We will get ready and that’s what the preseason is for.
ON THE PLAY OF RAY EDWARDS: Again, I will have to watch the tape. We did get some pressure on the quarterback early there in the first half. We got him on the ground. We had him running a little bit. Unfortunately, they were able to convert two third downs, the 77 yarder and the 44 yarder. I have to watch the tape, but I felt him out there. I certainly did.
ON EDWARDS PLAYING INTO THE THIRD QUARTER: That’s a very good sign. We knew that Ray was going to be able to go. We brought him along slowly. . . It was really good to see him out there.
CONCERNED ABOUT THE PASS DEFENSE?: I’m concerned when you give up big plays. You can’t give up explosive plays. We talk about it all the time. We can’t give them up and you have to try to create them on the offensive side of the football. There were some very good things that took place in the ball game in all three phases. After the opening kickoff that they ran back, I thought our coverage units did a good job. We had a nice punt return by Eric Weems. Defensively, until the first half they weren’t able to run the ball. We thought we had a pretty good handle on them.
ON RODDY’S GAME: It was nice to see Roddy catching the ball. He had some yards after the catch. That is what we anticipate. It’s something that we need to have happen; Roddy playing well.
ON JULIO’S GAME: He had five catches. He had the opportunity for the big long ball. Matt threw a good ball. We just weren’t able to complete the play. Again, it’s a learning experience every time that Julio gets out there. He did some good things in the ball game tonight. His learning curve is continuing to progress.
ON RYAN THROWING 42 TIMES IN THE FIRST HALF: When you are in the preseason you want to do certain things. You want to look at certain things. We had some things in mind that we wanted to look it. You do game-plan a little bit, but you are still in the process of working on some things.
ON THE RIGHT GUARD ROTATION: [Mike] Johnson and [Garrett] Reynolds were rotating in the first half and into the third quarter. In the third quarter, Mike Johnson got more of the snaps. That will be something that we have to evaluate that is ongoing as well as our nickel position.
ON GETTING COREY PETERS AND DUNTA ROBINSON BACK FOR 4TH GAME: [Peters has a knee injury and Robinson has a hamstring.] I don’t know the answer to that. They are continuing to work with our rehab staff. They have been rehabbing on the side. Hopefully, over the next couple of days, we can get them back out there. But the No. 1 goal for us is to have as many healthy guys as we can for the opener.
ON INJURIES: [Center Todd McClure left the game with a knee injury.] I think we came out of it fairly well. I have to talk to the trainers. We had a couple of guys that were not able to go back into the ball game. I’ll visit with those guys here before we get back to Atlanta. I’ll get a full report and we’ll have that information on Monday.
–D. Orlando Ledbetter, The Atlanta Falcons beat blog
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72 comments Add your comment
Loyal Falcon
August 29th, 2011
12:47 am
We’ll see about that hiram
D. Orlando Ledbetter
August 29th, 2011
7:35 am
Rob — They’ve gotten nothing out of the bootlegs for the last two years. The boots to either side. It worked Ryan’s first year and last year against Baltimore. That’s it.
HJones
August 29th, 2011
7:41 am
We need a set of new plays. All the teams and fans know about the predictable bootleg plays.
FlexLuth
August 29th, 2011
8:17 am
Outof the country and missed the game…but damn I sure didnt want to hear anything about Turner juking it up again. When her runs straight he cant be stopped…When he jukes, he is mediocre. Mike Mularkey is on his last leg if you ask me. It may be pre season, but damnit Mike. With all those weapons we need 31 per game. Period. Make it happen or else.
dustymac
August 29th, 2011
8:52 am
People, people listen carefully. This is the preseason, it doesn’t count, again it doesn’t count. I have watched the Falcons for years, and if they were 4 and 0 in the preseason and went 1-15 which has happen to some teams, i would have second thoughts. This is going to be a season to be remembered. I really LOVE this team. Matt, Roddy,Gonzo, Fleet Jones, Harry Falcon, and lets not forget,Jaquez rabbit, and the defence will Fool a lot of people. Don’t let the preseason fool you. GO Falcons!! Love ya Mr. Blank, Mr. Smith, an Our mastermind GM Mr. D.
Chop Buster
August 29th, 2011
8:56 am
Where o where are my comments DLed?
Chop Buster
August 29th, 2011
8:57 am
All I know is we looked a lot better against a top defense than we did against the Jags. We need a vet FS to challenge Decoud for the spot–dude is always out of position or peeking in the backfield. Smitty needs to light a fire under him.
Bluto
August 29th, 2011
9:34 am
Hopefully the preseason will get all of the bandwagon fans off the wagon.
supamusic25
August 29th, 2011
11:13 am
the falcons are alright..u all fail to mention thatall of these teams were losing until our 2nd and 3rd string defenders came in…only pit. beat our starters…micheal turner not our best back! gimme some of what yall been smokin’…turner only has about 18 total rushes for the preseason wait until he’s wearing a defense down in the 4th quater..now i can’t defend dled and bvd,but i have to give matty ice props for being able to take the game out of their hands…and what coach goes out and shows his game plans b4 the season starts doesn’t make sine or they’d game plan for every preason game…matt is a leader..u guys know there’s only 3 or 4 qb’s u’d trust to replace him…Tom, peyton, aaron rogers or phillip rivers, so fair weather fans back off, my team is already better without ya, you’ve been traded!!!!
RealisticFootballFan
August 29th, 2011
11:30 am
For those of you stating not to panic…let me teach you a little bit about football you clearly don’t know. The game of football is won at the line of scrimmage..meaning OL and DL…In the falcons case…they addressed the DL to an extent by getting ABE some help….HOWEVER….when your DL can’t get to the opposing QB…YOU BETTER have a good secondary or games like GREEN BAY happen…The thing that has people worried is…in the 1st 5 games of this season the Falcons face 4 of the top 12 passing offenses in the league. That could very easily set the Falcons to go 0-5. Realistically I think they’ll go 2-3 on the first five games…The second thing that will haunt the Falcons is the offense. Matt Ryan is still playing not to lose…HE NEEDS TO PLAY TO WIN…he needs to bulk up in the weight room because I’m still not convinced he can even throw the deep ball and to add insult to injury…Mike Mularkey is TOO PREDICTABLE!!!! Julio Jones with Roddy White will give opposing defenses fits…but in order to win a game you have to score more points than the opposing team….to me that means the Falcons will have a good season and they will score some points…but they just didn’t do enough to address their terrible secondary and that is the fact that is going to haunt them like Green Bay did and that fact will keep them from getting any further in the playoffs….The Falcons are a very good team…but hey have yet to be an ELITE team….
Chandler going Deep..
August 29th, 2011
12:14 pm
If the Falcons go 1-4 or 2-3 which is pretty conceivable with the brutal early schedule, would you still consider them to be a very good team?
Didnt think so…..
BazookaJoe
August 29th, 2011
12:15 pm
What a bunch of pathetic chicken little morons. Go find another team. Seriously. The Falcons are finally relevant and people are whining that we need to dump Ryan? Smith? Seriously? It’s obvious y’all know nothing about football. Go be Panthers “fans”.
Balex
August 29th, 2011
1:39 pm
I hopr they learned they still need a 3rd corner to step up, Franks and Decoud are lousy!
Reggie
August 29th, 2011
2:00 pm
Dunta Robinson has to be the worst pick ATL Falcons has ever made. He is garbage. Dimetroff and McKay act as if they are blind to fact our secondart sux. Authur Blank, here is a fact, your a billionare. Spend the dang money and get your team right if you want a Super Bowl ring!!!
T in Chicago
August 29th, 2011
2:12 pm
To read the Pittsburgh paper you would think the Falcons offense man-handled the Steelers and the Steelers got away with a couple of miscommunications from the Atlanta defense. Fans are the same all over… we don’t play…we don’t coach… we don’t make any of the management decisions… our best view is from the stands and we have all the answers…..
THE INFAMOUS DK
August 29th, 2011
2:14 pm
Fire Malarkey and Van Gorder. Lets go in a different direction. Those guys need to be on a college sideline somewhere. And DeCoud is HORRIBLE. That dude is always out of position.
Reggie
August 29th, 2011
2:35 pm
Dunta Robinson has to be the worst pick ATL Falcons has ever made. He is garbage. Dimitroff and McKay act as if they are blind to fact our secondary sux. Get rid of Pires as well. Van Gorder has to get more lead in his pencil. Pittsburgh’s LeBeau is a beast and that’s why the Steelers play so well. Arthur Blank, here is a fact, your a billionaire. Spend the dang money and get your team right if you want a Super Bowl ring!!!
Ken B
August 29th, 2011
2:41 pm
This goes to show you that the Falcons addressed the wrong problem. Julio Jones will be an excellent receiver……no doubt, but they traded away a ton of important draft picks when they definitely have very serious areas of need. They need another quality CB and they desperately need depth in the secondary. Another quality pass rusher and linebacker would also help. They were not “one player away” from a championship and their weaknesses will show again this season.
SAMUEL
August 29th, 2011
3:33 pm
Let’s stop writting blogs based on emotion. I don’t think Michael Turner is washed up, keep in mind he’s not going to be the fastest back at 5′10 244lbs. But he was hurt last year and still ran for over thirteen hundred yards. I like Brent Grimes but the key this year will be Dunta Robinson. He has to play at a probowl level for that secondary to jell. All the teams who are successfull defending the pass has to have a safety who can make big plays. I like William Moore he’s a hard hitter and for a two year guy he’s around the ball alot. But thomas Decoud was drafted for his range and the Falcons were hoping he could turn into a Ed Reed type. It hasn’t happen thus far. We need him to step up and play like an all pro. The key this year will be the defense, collectively that whole side of the ball has got to improve. Hopefully Ray Edwards can help that pass rush get alot better. I’m not concerned with the offense they’ll put points on the board. And if Turner slows they can spell him with the likes of Snelling and Quizz. When teams play the Falcons they must fear our defense first. The Ravens didn’t have an offense like the Falcons in the year of 2000, But what they had was a feared defense who could put points on the board. Wasn’t Mike Smith a part of that?
hiramsaint
August 29th, 2011
4:23 pm
c’mon reggie- dunta got a whole int. last year!
SeenThisB4
August 29th, 2011
5:34 pm
I’m still getting mostly blocked hiramsaint.
Whoa
August 29th, 2011
8:01 pm
Jesus christ are youi people serious? Its preseason. Get a grip you idiots