To put it plainly, Arthur Smith never achieved what was expected from him when he was hired as the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 2021.
For three seasons, the offense was among the most one-dimensional in the NFL: pass-heavy with Matt Ryan in 2021 and run-heavy with the quarterback issues the next two years.
Smith's inability to adapt to his players was a big reason why. Chief among them was having Marcus Mariota launch deep balls despite being the worst deep passer in the league.
After he was fired, he took a job as the offensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and his first season was not pretty.
Going into his second season, he will have to adapt to the oldest quarterback in the league, who wants things done his way, and the media has already realized this could be a big issue.
Steelers reporter details issues with blending Arthur Smith and Aaron Rodgers
Arthur Smith loves to run the ball, while Aaron Rodgers loves to pass the ball and do what he wants to do. Steelers beat reporter, Mike DeFabo, brought out the stats to prove that.
"The Steelers ran the ball the fourth-most last year, while Aaron Rodgers attempted the second-most passes"
Not only should this stat make you concerned if you are Mike Tomlin, but you have to be even more worried about the two personalities leading the offense.
As we saw in Atlanta, Smith will dig his heels in if he thinks something is right.
Meanwhile, Rodgers has been known to ignore his offensive coordinators and call his own plays.
How are they supposed to come together and deal with each other?
What we do know is that the Falcons are glad they don't have to deal with that drama. They are through the roof about the potential of playcaller Zac Robinson and quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
There is nothing the Dirty Birds would trade to go back to those three rocky seasons under Arthur Smith.