Falcons vs. Titans feels like a reunion
NASHVILLE — Arthur Smith acknowledges coaching against the Tennessee Titans in a regular-season game for the first time after spending 10 years with the franchise will be weird.
Smith will walk into the visitors’ locker room with the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday at Nissan Stadium, instead of the familiar home side. And with this an alumni weekend for the Nashville franchise — players from both the Houston Oilers days and the Tennessee era will be welcomed back — Smith will see even more familiar faces than he might have. That group includes six coaches, a former Tennessee general manager who’s now Atlanta’s senior personnel executive and five Falcons.
So, yes, this game means more.
“You try to pretend that it doesn’t, but you know obviously it does,” Smith said.
A Memphis native and the son of FedEx founder Fred Smith, he was part of four head coaching regimes in Tennessee as he worked his way from defensive quality control assistant in 2011 to offensive coordinator under current Titans head coach Mike Vrabel.
Now in his third season in Atlanta, Smith has the Falcons (4-3) atop the NFC South Division standings coming off a 16-13 road win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last weekend.
Smith’s assistant head coach, Jerry Gray, not only coached defensive backs during the Titans’ lone Super Bowl season more than two decades ago and was a defensive coordinator for three seasons, he also played for the Oilers in 1992.
The Titans expect their largest attendance for this alumni weekend, when Billy “White Shoes” Johnson will be their “legend of the game.”
“You’re going back home, but you’re going to win the game,” Gray said. “It’s like a homecoming, but your job is you coach the Atlanta Falcons.”
Vrabel is on his second offensive coordinator since Smith was hired by the Falcons in 2021. The Titans have lost 11 of their past 13 games dating to last year and two straight, leaving them at 2-4 this season coming off their open date, which followed a 24-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in London on Oct. 15.
Ryan Tannehill, their veteran starting quarterback, was ruled out Friday with a high right ankle sprain that forced him to exit after three quarters in London. Vrabel wasn’t ready to say whether rookie Will Levis will make his NFL debut as a starter — he was the No. 33 overall pick this past April — or whether 2022 third-round pick Malik Willis will make his fourth career start seeking his second win.
Vrabel did continue to emphasize that Atlanta-area native Willis, who entered for the Titans in London after Tannehill exited, and Levis would play.
“We’ll need both of them to help us win,” Vrabel said. “The Falcons are doing some really good things.”
The Titans, 5-0 after a bye under Vrabel, need a win with this their lone home date in a seven-week span before going back on the road for a threegame swing. In addition, the NFL trade deadline is coming Tuesday, and Tennessee has already shipped out two-time All-Pro safety Kevin Byard to the Philadelphia Eagles, a deal largely for draft capital.
Now three-time Pro Bowl selection Derrick Henry — the NFL offensive player of the year for the 2020 season, when he rushed for more than 2,000 yards — could be playing his final game with Tennessee. The 6-foot-3, 247-pounder has put together his best performances this season in Nashville, wins against the Cincinnati Bengals (22 carries for 122 yards, one touchdown) and the Los Angeles Chargers (25 carries for 80 yards, one touchdown). Overall, he has three of the Titans’ five rushing touchdowns this season.
He leads the NFL with 8,760 yards and 81 touchdowns rushing since being drafted 45th overall in 2016. He also has 1,361 yards and three touchdowns receiving in his career, plus four touchdown passes out of the wildcat formation.
The 29-year-old former Alabama standout being in the final year of his contract only makes him more attractive as a trade prospect.
Vrabel made clear the Titans are trying to pile up more draft picks to help with Tennessee projected to have the NFL’s second-most salary cap space in 2024, according to Spotrac. com. The coach’s immediate focus, though, is Sunday and the Falcons.
“We’ve got to find a way to win a game,” Vrabel said. “That’s what it is.”
The Falcons found a way last Sunday, in spite of some obvious mistakes.
One week after throwing three second-half interceptions in a 24-16 home loss to the Washington Commanders, Atlanta quarterback Desmond Ridder lost three fumbles at Tampa Bay, including one when stripped of the ball near the goal line.
The second-year pro has three turnovers in three of the last four games, but he has also thrown for at least 250 yards in three straight games and has six touchdown passes and six interceptions this season.
“I’m just trying to show up to work every day and get better,” Ridder said. “At the end of the day, I feel like I’m playing really good football, other than obviously the turnovers. You’ve got to get rid of those costly turnovers, those costly errors.”
Atlanta’s special teams — notably kicker Younghoe Koo, whose third field goal against the Bucs was a 51-yarder as time expired — and defense have helped offset some of the offensive lapses.
Defensive coordinator Ryan Nielson and Gray have helped lead an impressive overhaul of the Falcons on that side of the ball. The Falcons rank seventh in total defense and have allowed only one rushing touchdown to lead the NFL this fall. Atlanta has not allowed a touchdown on the ground in four consecutive games, though Henry should provide a good challenge.