PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s the first game of the year and the new Steelers offensive coordinator is days away from playing against the organization that fired him as head coach.
How is that impacting Arthur Smith as he prepares for that opportunity?
“Same I do for every game,” Smith said. “You always got a history somewhere. I know this is unusual a little bit, but that’s what it is. Your mindset has to be on our guys and doing whatever they can to win the game. You have to have a neutral mindset about it.”
Smith spent three years with the Falcons after a successful run as the Titans offensive coordinator. Each year Atlanta went 7-10, which is ironically enough, a .412 winning percentage. The Falcons were in position to make the playoffs last year, but had a pair of tough losses to end his tenure, 9-7 to the Bears and then 10-7 to the Saints.
Injuries played into his inability to get into the playoffs, plus transition at the quarterback position would be a convenient excuse. College coaches typically get four, five, six years. Is there emotion there from Smith to show he’s better than what he was able to do in Atlanta?
“I’m not an emotional, petty person,” Smith said Thursday. “You try to have discipline no matter who you are playing. Whether it was us playing Atlanta this week or going to Denver next week for Russ (Russell Wilson). If you get caught up in that, you get caught up in the wrong things.”