ATLANTA — There was never a doubt what the first question to Arthur Smith would be after the Falcons 19-16 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at home. Smith knew it was coming, too.
The question: Will you be making a change at the quarterback position?
The answer: Well, Smith didn’t say, “Yes.” But he also didn’t say, “No.”
“It’s a unique time when you’re getting ready to go into the bye,” Smith said. “We will evaluate everything. Everything. Every job.”
That, of course, includes the quarterback job.
Sunday’s answer to this question is quite different than it’s been for Smith, who’s been asked about the Marcus Mariota/Desmond Ridder situation before. Take Smith’s postgame press conferences after the Falcons Week 10 loss to Carolina for example.
Reporter: Did you consider going with Desmond Ridder at any point tonight?
Smith: “No. We’re trying to win a game. We got the ball back with a chance to go win it or tie it at the end. Our guys kept swinging. There’s a lot of things that we got to do better and it starts everywhere. It starts at the top with me and there’s a lot more that goes into quarterback play than just stats. We got to protect better. We got to do everything better. You got to give Carolina credit.”
Reporter: Could there be a quarterback change moving forward?
Smith: “I know those are the popular narratives. Those are the easy questions to ask. As a whole football team, we have to do a better job starting with myself. We look every week to make sure that we have the right guys in the right spots. Like I said, we’ve got to protect better. We’ve got to play the run better.”
Reporter: Just to be clear, do you anticipate Marcus Mariota being the starter next week?
Smith: “Guys, you can make it about the quarterback. How about the team? We’ve had an opportunity at the end of the fourth quarter the last two weeks. In a lot of different ways and a lot of different phases, we’ve got to get better.”
There wasn’t blame directed at Mariota in Smith’s responses, but there was deflection away from him. What about the team? Smith said. We have to run the ball better. We have to protect better. We – as a team – have to be better. That was Smith’s take three weeks ago.
Even when he was asked about the quarterback “situation” in the days that followed the loss to Carolina, Smith said without hesitation that, “there is no situation.”
Since then, though (and with the bye week approaching), the answers to these questions have shifted.
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