ATLANTA (AP) — Arthur Smith was forced to accept the ugly truth of “some tough lessons learned” from his Atlanta Falcons’ lopsided loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
The 20-6 score was bad but from an offensive standpoint, it felt much worse than a two-touchdown margin. Desmond Ridder was sacked seven times, the Falcons (2-1) moved past the Detroit 20 only once and Atlanta’s running game was shut down. The offense managed one field goal in each half.
Too often, it wasn’t just that the Falcons’ offense was beaten. They lost plays before they even had a chance.
“They beat us in every way possible,” Smith said.
Smith said the Lions “beat us off the snap and it was right (away). If it’s the crowd, or whatever it is, we got to do a better job getting into that. We didn’t even get the play started.”