“It feels ugly right now”

The Atlanta Falcons haven’t scored a touchdown in two games. They were shutout by the New England Patriots 25-0 on Thursday night for their first home shutout since 1988.

A Falcons season that was starting to look a bit interesting after a road win over the New Orleans Saints got them back to .500 after eight games, has quickly spiraled away with the offensive void over the last two weeks.

“It feels ugly right now and in this moment,” Smith told reporters after the game. “You feel, obviously, pretty poor. When you go and get to 4-4, get a big win and then, obviously you guys have all watched the last two games. We’ve done it before. It’s continual improvement. You hope not to ride the roller coaster. We’ve got to fix things and we’re going to get them fixed and we’ll get them fixed in a hurry.”

The Falcons really only had two significant chances to score offensively on Thursday night. A drive inside the Patriots red zone was thrown into reverse on a 13-yard sack of Matt Ryan on third down forced a field goal try. A successful kick from Younghoe Koo was negated due to illegal formation and the ensuing 50-yard attempt missed wide left.

The only other time Atlanta made it inside the red zone, they had consecutive runs stopped dead on third- and fourth-and-1 for a turnover on downs.

“There wasn’t a lot of things that we did well tonight offensively,” Smith said. “You don’t score points and you don’t take advantage when you do have the opportunity. … We didn’t do enough to put us in a chance to win at the end.”

The Falcons were held to just a field goal last week in a 43-3 romp from the Dallas Cowboys. Atlanta hasn’t scored a touchdown since a 6-yard touchdown from Olamide Zaccheaus on a pass from Ryan in the fourth quarter of their Week Nine win over the New Orleans Saints.

“We’ll take this weekend and do a lot of self reflection. We’re gonna get out of this hole. Because we have to and we will. And we’ve got the right guys to do it,” Smith said.

Arthur Smith on offensive struggles for Falcons: “It feels ugly right now” originally appeared on Pro Football Talk