Arthur Smith Gives Bizarre Rationale For Lack Of Bijan Robinson Touches
Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith likes to get combative with the media. One of the big points of contention is his usage of Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts.
Media members frequently ask why those players don't get the ball more. Smith says things like he doesn't care about fantasy football.
The assumption, of course, is that the media and/or fans only care about fantasy football, which is why they're asking about those players in the first place.
Did he ever stop to consider that people might ask for a different reason? Maybe that reason is because the team drafted Pitts #4 overall in 2021, London #8 overall in 2022 and Robinson #8 overall in 2023.
Perhaps people are wondering why the team would use such high draft capital on players only to not use them.
No, Smith -- who fancies himself the smartest man in every room he enters -- knows that the only logical reason to ask is because of fantasy football.
After all, he's smart enough to know that giving the ball to Jonnu Smith as frequently as possible is much more intelligent than giving the ball to his Top 10 selected rookie running back.
His latest response to a question about Bijan Robinson really raised my eyebrows, though.
"His impact away from the ball can really open things up," Smith said.
Arthur Smith Gives Bizarre Rationale For Lack Of Bijan Robinson Touches
OK, so the idea is that Robinson is more valuable as a pawn to distract the defense than actually handling the football.
Bold strategy, Cotton, let's see if pays off for him.
Except, it isn't paying off. If the Falcons were winning, that would be one thing. But, over the past two weeks the team lost to the Tennessee Titans -- with Will Levis making his first NFL start -- and the Minnesota Vikings -- with Josh Dobbs quarterbacking the team after less than a week on the roster.
Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith doesn't seem interested in using Bijan Robinson and doesn't care what anyone thinks. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Since beating the one-win Carolina Panthers by 14 points in Week 1, Atlanta has three other wins by a combined six points.
The Falcons average 18 points per game, 25th in the NFL. They only score more points than the Panthers, Raiders, Cardinals, Steelers, Jets, Patriots and Giants.
Yet, Smith believes he doesn't need to answer questions about not using his best offensive players.
Fans are growing increasingly tired of Smith's antics and took to X (formerly Twitter) to air their grievances.
It's not just fans, either. Apparently, some Falcons players are willing to publicly air their frustrations too...
Losing fans is one thing, losing the locker room is another.