Sport
LATEST NEWS: Arthur Smith Revealed big A problem about spacing
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — It didn’t take very long into the 2023 season for the word “spacing” to come up.
Directly following the Falcons’ Week 1 win against the Carolina Panthers, then-head coach Arthur Smith took note of it, and not necessarily in the way you’d want.
Desmond Ridder was sacked four times in that game, and while Smith did note it was a number that lends itself to showing issues in pass protection, he believed it actually depicted issues in spacing.
“We can all be better in our spacing, and targets are the most misunderstood thing in the National Football League. There’s progressions, there’s spacing, if somebody underneath is not right, that’s the stuff where I’m a little irritated as a coach,” Smith said after the Week 1 game. “We had to fix it at halftime. That’s on me. That’s on everybody.”
Spacing became a catch-all callback for some of the Falcons’ struggles in the pass game last season. For simplicity’s sake, more often than not, the Falcons passing attack was congested. At times there were too many guys in the same area of the field. Other times, not enough.
As the season wore on, Smith wasn’t the only one who made note of spacing issues. On the road or at home, this idea of needing to be better in spacing came up in many post-game locker room sessions.
By October, some opponents recognized the Falcons’ issues through the air, explaining that it limited what they could do from an offensive standpoint — or even would try to do.
“They got wide receivers if they use them,” safety Jimmie Ward said prior to the Falcons facing the Texans in Week 5. “… I don’t think they’re trying to pass the ball.”
By November, when FOX 5 Atlanta sat down for a virtual interview with former Falcons receiver Terrance Mathis, spacing came up yet again.
“I’m a strong believer that if you want to throw the football, I don’t care if you have two receivers, three receivers, four receivers, five receivers: They have to be spread out, or if they start tight, they’re going to have to flair out,” Mathis said. “I’ve seen so many times where receivers were in the same spot over and over and over again.
“And when that happens, the window is tighter for a quarterback to see.”
But all of this is the past.
So, let’s fast forward almost a year to the present and what this idea of spacing means now. Spoiler alert: It’s changed.
