Falcons 27 - Jets 20
ARTHUR SMITH: Really want to take a minute to thank the NFL and the NFL UK and everybody involved putting on these London games. Our team really enjoyed coming over here. It's been first class the entire time. I know there's a lot of people involved in that. I would like to thank everybody involved in the NFL and NFL UK.
With that I'll open it up for questions.
Q. (No microphone.)
ARTHUR SMITH: Kyle stepped up. Him and Patterson both. Like I said, we'll continue to evolve offensively. It was good. He won one-on-one matchups, he made some big-time plays for us. Like I said, it's a long game for us. Everybody wants the hot pick after week one. You have to see continual improvement. That's why Kyle is here. He'll continue to improve.
Q. (No microphone.)
ARTHUR SMITH: Made the right decision. We're not going to sit here and play in our fears. I was pissed at myself from last week. The worst thing, I'll probably make plenty of mistakes, but I'll try not to make the same mistake twice.
We're not going to live on our fears. We'll be aggressive when we need to be. Had good blocking up front. Didn't give up any sacks today against a really good front. I want guys to have initiative. It was a big-time play. We needed some momentum. We weren't going to sit back two yards in a cloud of dust.
We'll continue to improve. Plenty of things to improve on: the kicking game, turnovers. Really pleased with our team and team efforts.
Q. (No microphone.)
ARTHUR SMITH: That one. I have to look at the tape. Thought our defense played pretty well. We knocked them back in the run game, made the plays they needed to. Late stats, check-down and stuff, that's what you got to do. That's four-minute defense. You can pad the stats there. I thought our defense played very well.
Q. How impressed were you with the stadium and atmosphere?
ARTHUR SMITH: Big-time stadium and atmosphere. Like I said, we love coming over here. It's spectacular. The whole environment since we've been here, we got treated so well. Our operations team along with everybody that worked together over here. Unbelievable stadium and great atmosphere. We were happy to be part of it.
Q. Cordarrelle had a pretty good game today when he picked up on the fourth-and-one. That was key.
ARTHUR SMITH: Yeah, you got your Tennessee hat on for CP?
CP, he continues to help us move the ball in a number of ways. Like I said, I thought today he stepped up big, made a number of plays running the ball, receiving. Good player. Continue to hopefully help us improve on offense.
Q. Coming for today's game, you couldn't come with Calvin Ridley. Did your game plan evolve into involving more of the tight ends before coming over?
ARTHUR SMITH: Twofold. You're going to deal with injuries during the NFL season and that ball is going to get kicked off on Sunday whether we're playing London, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Atlanta. Doesn't matter. New Orleans. We'll be there, be ready to go. We expect the next guys to come up.
Unfortunately the same thing happened to Isaiah Oliver. Midweek injury to Avery Williams. Next guy step up. I thought Darren Hall and Richie Grant did a heck of a job today playing different roles. We just got to find a way. That's what we want our ethos to be, stand up in tough times, continue to evolve and improve.
Q. (No microphone.)
ARTHUR SMITH: I love working with Matt Ryan. You don't get many opportunities to work with players like that. You throw for five thousand completions in this league, I believe he's one of seven guys to do that. Pretty damn special. He's the leader of this football team. I can't say enough good things about Matt.
Q. (No microphone.)
ARTHUR SMITH: All those guys. Yeah, they continue to improve. We've got some really good veteran leadership. A guy that got here, new to this team. It's a great mix of guys. You got some really good leaders in the back end with Erik Harris, Terron and Brady. Continue to help those young guys.
That's what you want to see. You want your leaders to be teachers, too. Our guys do that. Lee Smith, Jake Matthews. It helps. Those young guys get confidence.
Jalen Mayfield, he continues to improve. You play every snap when you're an offensive lineman. It's an underrated position. Maybe I have a little bias towards. Happy with him. Obviously Kyle, Richie, Hall, Avery. Keep naming them. Dorian Etheridge, special teams. Feleipe.
Q. (No microphone.)
ARTHUR SMITH: A lot of it. We have a plan for Richie. As he was evolving, happened to be his number got called this week. We got a lot of confidence in him. He's a good football player. It was naturally going to happen. It got expedited because of the injuries. He stepped up. He's another fearless guy that we like, a young guy to build around.
Q. (No microphone.)
ARTHUR SMITH: Yeah, he just got evaluated. Till we get back to Atlanta, doctors evaluate all our guys, it's hard to comment on the injuries. Fagan played a heck of a game. Another veteran, quiet professional. Enjoy working with Fagan.
Thank you all.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports