The Atlanta Falcons will close out the 2023 preseason slate this Thursday when they welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers into Mercedes-Benz Stadium for a 7:30 pm kickoff.
The continued question and anticipation for Falcons fans and critics along the way this preseason, has been on how much actual on-the-field time Head Coach Arthur Smith and his staff have chosen to play the projected starting lineups as they prepare for the regular season opener on September 10th vs Carolina.
Last week, when the Falcons played the Cincinnati Bengals to a 13-13 tie in front of a home crowd thirsty to see what new stars Bijan Robinson, Jessie Bates III, and others will bring to the Falcons in 2023, they only were given a small glimpse as the big name new arrivals were mostly done for the evening by the end of the first quarter.
The projected first team offense led by second-year QB Desmond Ridder played one full drive together verse Cincinnati.
The drive was impressive as Ridder spread the ball around to his many weapons completing 7 of 9 passes.
The one major issue in the only drive the Falcons starting offensive unit was on the field for last week was penalties, four in total, which made the drive much more difficult in reality.
Miles Garrett of FOX 5 Atlanta told Sam & Greg on the Weekends that cleaning up those mistakes has to be the biggest priority for the Dirty Birds heading into the preseason finale.
“The penalties were certainly a little bit of a red flag” emphasized Garrett when analyzing the play of the Falcons offensive unit.
“I feel that it is something they can clean up,” Garrett continued with Sam & Greg, but when asked if they will get the chance to work on the problem in the preseason finale, Miles was unsure when he responded.
“If you are going to get those penalties, let it happen now, and the guys who were getting these penalties (Lindstrom, Mathews) are all pro players. They are going to figure this thing out”, said Miles emphatically.
Will they get the chance to figure it out verse Pittsburgh on Thursday remains the question.