Coach Arthur Smith Gets ‘Defensive’ on Falcons’ Red-Zone Offense

The Atlanta Falcons struggles in the red zone contributed heavily to their 31-13 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Falcon Report Staff | Dec 20, 2021

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The Atlanta Falcons had plenty of opportunities to win the game Sunday at the San Francisco 49ers, but failing to score in the red zone on multiple occasions cost them.

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith calls the plays for Atlanta, and he was asked about the sequence of plays that failed to garner points. The Falcons appeared to have scored a touchdown after recovering a 49ers fumble on the opening kickoff.

Replay overturned the Cordarrelle Patterson touchdown, and to rub salt in the wound, spotted the ball back to the one-yard line instead of inches from the goal line.

"That's kind of stating the obvious there," Smith said when asked about the opening drive hurting the Falcons. "It's probably a difference in the game.”

After the touchdown was overturned, Atlanta's sequence of plays included a run, a play-action pass, a run, and another pass. Smith was asked if he considered just pounding it in, and he got a bit defensive.

"We consider everything," said Smith. "We go in there and game plan, you're always looking for an advantage. … Obviously, it comes down to execution and the defense has a say as well. We'll continue to look at everything."

The failure on the goal line set the tone for the rest of the game as the Falcons were turned away on short-yardage situations multiple times throughout.

Said Smith: “You try to punch it in, think you're in, you're not. So, you come back, try to get them, because they play overaggressive, something we saw.

“Obviously, they did a nice job covering it."

On the next sequence, a failure on the offensive line hurt the Falcons chance of converting.

"Same thing," said Smith "the guy upfront made a play, moved us back … Clearly, we didn't do a good enough job executing, though."

The Falcons fell to 6-8 with the loss, and are all but eliminated from playoff contention. Their record currently puts them ninth in the NFL Draft order for 2022. A Seattle win against the LA Rams on Tuesday night would move the Falcons up to No. 8.