Falcons' Arthur Smith on Pre-Snap Penalties: 'Not an Excuse'
The Atlanta Falcons were the team penalized the least in the NFL in 2022, but they didn't look like that in the team's opening drive during their 13-13 tie against the Cincinnati Bengals on Friday night.
The team committed four penalties for 38 yards in a drive that saw them go all the way inside the 5-yard line. Then, an interception from Desmond Ridder resulted in no points. But Falcons coach Arthur Smith was more disappointed in the penalties than the pick.
"The stuff we can control pre-snap, that's 100% on us," Smith said postgame. "That is not an excuse. If you got bad technique, obvious holds, that's bad football. We got to clean that up. I got to see those. Either way, didn't matter at the time, they called them.
"Like I said, if we can carry over what we did last year, we weren't penalized. We were the least in the league. We’ve got to continue to coach that and play the right technique.”
The Falcons have loads of talent on the offensive side of the ball. With Kyle Pitts, Drake London and Bijan Robinson among others, the Falcons should win games with that core. However, if they fail to do the right things pre-snap, all of that talent could be wasted away.
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