Things didn’t work out for Arthur Smith in Atlanta. He can’t wait to hit the reset button in Pittsburgh | News, Sports, Jobs

Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, second from left, instructs quarterback Russell Wilson (3) during the team’s NFL OTA football practice in Pittsburgh, Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Arthur Smith was expected to walk away — far away — from the NFL after the Atlanta Falcons fired him in January just hours after a third straight 7-10 score.

So Smith and his wife Allison traveled halfway around the world to help him clear his head. Dubai. The Maldives. Literally on the other side of the world.

Smith knew he needed a break. Just a short one. He didn’t like even one season. It is programmed to train. As much as Smith tried to clear his head, finding his next landing spot was never too far from his mind.

Phone calls with teams interested in hiring him as offensive coordinator were constant. One of them stood out. The one that had Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin on the other end of the line.

While Smith emphasized that he didn’t cut short his vacation to interview because “I didn’t want to get divorced,” within minutes of his plane landing at JFK, he arranged an in-person interview in Pittsburgh that s t quickly turned into a job offer to help the Steelers overcome five years of mediocrity.

When asked what stood out to him about this opportunity compared to others that might have come his way, Smith pointed to the rich history of the franchise and the mentors he had – l Titans head coach Mike Vrabel and longtime NFL assistant Tom Moore chief among them — who were shaped by their own stops in Pittsburgh.

“There are so many guys, players and coaches that swear by this place,” Smith said before the Steelers began mandatory minicamp Tuesday. “It was a home run for me. It’s funny how life works this way. You know, things don’t go the way you want them to. And then another door opens, and I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.

A situation not unlike the one Smith inherited when he took over the game at Tennessee.

These Titans teams had a bruising running game led by Derrick Henry. The Steelers have one of the best running back tandems in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.

Tennessee entered 2019 with a quarterback looking to revive his career in Ryan Tannehill. Russell Wilson (and Justin Fields for that matter) are trying to do the same in Pittsburgh.

Enter Smith, who couldn’t replicate his success with the Titans during three largely mediocre seasons in Atlanta in which the Falcons essentially operated in place in part because of an offense that struggled to score goals. points consistently.

The stability behind center didn’t help. Atlanta has bounced around from Matt Ryan to Marcus Mariota to Desmond Ridder to Taylor Heinicke during Smith’s tenure. Smith declined to go into detail about what went wrong with the Falcons, saying only that things didn’t “turn out the way you would like.”

He should be given enough time to figure things out in Pittsburgh, where stability at the top has been the norm for decades. The Steelers signed Tomlin — already the longest-tenured coach in the league — to a contract extension Monday that runs through at least 2027.

However, don’t confuse the extension with a lack of urgency. Pittsburgh has lost five straight playoff games dating back to the 2016 AFC Championship Game, a series of setbacks that all look the same, with the Steelers falling behind early for a variety of reasons and an error-prone offense unable to close the gap . .

Rather than promoting from within to fill the coordinator position – which Tomlin did with Randy Fichtner and Matt Canada – the Steelers instead identified an outsider with a philosophy that closely mirrors the “play physical” mindset. by Tomlin.

Only, Smith doesn’t really feel like an outsider. The Steelers have spent the last few months recruiting players who previously played for Smith, such as running back/kick returner Cordarrelle Patterson and receivers Van Jefferson and Scottie Miller. Their arrivals should ease the transition for the holdovers who have spent the better part of the last three seasons playing in a system that has failed miserably.

While Smith remains wary about just about everything – he said Wilson is in “pole position” as the starting quarterback but expects the competition with Fields to “intensify” when the team will report to training camp next month – he is adamant about his desire to stay in the league.

On the surface, moving from head coach to coordinator is a demotion. Smith doesn’t exactly see it that way.

“That’s not the case,” he said. “If you don’t have an ego or you’re (secure in yourself). You need to recalibrate yourself and look at the things you can learn.

Of course, he could have taken an extended break to see if a more prestigious position came up. However, a self-imposed sabbatical would also have led to the risk of the NFL continuing without him. And no globetrotter has been able to overcome his very real fear of missing out.

“I’m not old enough to want to take time off,” Smith, 42, said. “I want to compete and I’m just grateful that the opportunity is there.”

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