'We Control Our Own Destiny': Atlanta Falcons Eye Season Turnaround vs. Arizona Cardinals

The Atlanta Falcons aren't dead yet, coach Arthur Smith said ahead of Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals.

In just two weeks, the Atlanta Falcons went from riding high atop the NFC South with a 4-3 record to seemingly being left for dead.

It's a natural progression when losing back-to-back games to teams with quarterbacks making their first career start, or in the case of Sunday's 31-28 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, giving up 28 points in three quarters to a signal caller acquired five days later.

The Falcons will start Taylor Heinicke under center this Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, which is Atlanta's last game before the bye week, but after that, the quarterback moving forward is anybody's guess.

There's uncertainty. There's negativity. There's the unshakable feeling that Atlanta's lofty preseason expectations won't be fulfilled.

Falcons coach Arthur Smith didn't outplay the situation, instead accepting accountability - but he remains optimistic about the future.

Smith, citing perspective with Atlanta being just one game behind the New Orleans Saints for the lead of the NFC South, believes the season can still be saved.

And with that, the Falcons' hopes of making the playoffs for the first time in six years remain alive ... and in Smith's eyes, Atlanta firmly controls its postseason potential.

“We’re not going to sugarcoat it - you can be frustrated, you can be mad," Smith said. "You’re going to feel all the emotions by it, but we have to go do something about it. As bad as it feels – nobody’s celebrating being 4-5 – but the reality is, after we get these corrections and assess everything, we do still control our own destiny.”

Smith noted multiple times the Falcons aren't dead and later added the Falcons can still change the narrative surrounding their season, which is one of many positives the third-year coach singled out.

Spearheaded by using three top-10 picks on offensive playmakers, Atlanta's offensive personnel has improved, Smith said, claiming there's been growth in the utilization of that personnel.

Another area Smith's been encouraged by is the play of tight ends Jonnu Smith and Kyle Pitts, who are getting back to prior forms. The former had a difficult two-year stretch with the New England Patriots before being acquired via trade this offseason, while the latter has worked his way back after suffering a torn MCL last season.

Jonnu Smith, who spent the first four years of his career with Arthur Smith on the Tennessee Titans, took a screen pass 60 yards to the endzone Sunday against Minnesota. Pitts caught four passes for 56 yards, his second-highest mark this year.

Atlanta's offense ranks just No. 25 league-wide in points per game at 18.4, but Arthur Smith feels the unit is getting closer, and tight end play is at the forefront.

“I haven’t seen Jonnu move like that since I was with him in Tennessee," Smith said. "I mean he was rolling. I don’t know whether you believe in the advanced stats or the GPS or whatever, but seeing that number, that was real. You could see it on the sideline. I haven’t seen that, and I’ve been with him for a couple of years. Watching the film, that’s exciting.

"Even Kyle, as the game got going, he’s starting to go back, so that’s encouraging.”

Offensively, Smith also singled out the offensive line's pass protection, as Heinicke was sacked only once, and the budding play of running back Tyler Allgeier, who scored a six-yard touchdown to give the Falcons the lead with just over two minutes to play Sunday.

The next step for Atlanta's offense is eliminating self-inflicted mistakes, Smith said, with turnovers being the primary cause. The Falcons have had at least two turnovers in five of their last six games, including Sunday, when Heinicke threw an interception and running back Bijan Robinson fumbled.

And while the Falcons' offense has been problematic, the defense hasn't been much better lately, allowing 57 points in two games to the aforementioned trio of signal callers.

Atlanta Falcons coach Arthur Smith is 18-25 in two and a half seasons at the helm / USA Today Sports

But even with the struggles, Smith continued to find positives, pointing to the performance of defensive tackle Kentavius Street, who was acquired via trade from the Philadelphia Eagles last Monday and had five tackles and a tackle for loss in his Falcons debut.

“I thought our interior defensive line – I thought what Kentavius Street did on a short week was very positive," Smith said. "Wasn’t just the fumble he caught. The impact he had, I thought he played really well in the run game and had some good rushes.”

Street played 87 defensive snaps in eight games with the Eagles, collecting four total tackles. He topped his season-long tackles mark in his Falcons debut with five in 47 snaps.

The 27-year-old provided a noticeable spark, but Atlanta's defense still fell short when it mattered most.

That's been the recent trend for the Falcons - but Smith was quick to note that only two of six NFC South games have been played, none against the division-leading Saints.

After Atlanta lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 4, right guard Chris Lindstrom mentioned that in the NFL, it's almost never as good - or as bad - as it may seem.

And so, while the Falcons feel lost, the reality is there's still plenty of time to be found - and Smith is banking on his team taking a step towards doing that this weekend.

“We have half a season," Smith said. "A lot can happen. You lock in and go get this win in Arizona and do something about it. Everything’s in front of us. We have two critical division wins. We still have four more. We have a huge game coming up after the bye, but again, we have to go get this win in Arizona and do everything we can to do that.”

That "huge game" after the bye is a home content against New Orleans ... but Atlanta has work to do to make that matchup mean something.

The Falcons can't overlook the 1-8 Cardinals, who could get starting quarterback Kyler Murray back from last season's torn ACL.

But if Atlanta's locker room is what Smith's long said it is, staying focused on this week and not looking ahead won't be an issue.

“I think we have the right perspective," Smith said. "Frustrated, but we have the right guys that want to go do something about it and understand that we’re not dead. As bad as we feel, we need to go do something about it and go get this win.”

The Falcons started the year strong, riding the wave of momentum that arose after an expensive offseason in which they completely revamped.

But now, Atlanta's back in the same spots it's been the past two seasons - sitting with a 4-5 record and eyeing a second-half push to the playoffs.

Is this the year the Falcons deliver? That's ultimately up for them to dictate on the field, with Smith adamant Atlanta controls its own fate and needs to reach another gear sooner rather than later ... or else, the once-promising campaign will officially be squandered.

“I think there are things we can work on, coaching and players," Smith said. "It’s all of us. When you have the right people and you’re accountable, we’re not a program or a staff or a team that’s going to blame people. We have to find solutions, and we have to do that in a hurry.”

The Falcons and Cardinals are set to kick off at 4:05 p.m. EST Sunday.