The Steelers face the Falcons on Sunday, which means Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Arthur Smith is heading to Atlanta, where he was the head coach the last three years. But that’s not much of an advantage for the Steelers.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said Smith doesn’t have any special insights into how to face the Falcons, despite having coached them.
“Nothing out of the ordinary, to be quite honest with you,” Tomlin said. “Obviously he has an intimate understanding of a lot of their personnel, but everybody in the National Football League has personnel departments. It is our business to understand personnel. So I don’t know that we’ve had any earth-shattering information provided in that regard.”
Smith went 7-10 in each of his three seasons as the Falcons’ head coach and was fired after the 2023 season. Now he begins his first season in Pittsburgh with one more trip to Atlanta.