I see the same stuff every game.
They try to throw some little short passes to get him rolling (same w Titans and Chig) and it doesn't wake him up.
He's never open.
Sometimes the D gets comfy and changes coverage. He catches a couple. D reverts back.
QB tries to force some to him just because.
The Falcons hired an additional TE coach when Smith got there.
Parker Hesse is one of the smartest players in the NFL and widely presumed to coach after football. He was a college recruit QB then DE then a TE in the NFL. Pitts praised him a few times for helping him.
Firkser is a Harvard grad that at one point went years catching
of passes when going against zone coverage. He was neither big nor fast just smart and made a short career out of being the best (one metric) zone coverage TE.
Patterson is the elder statesman everyone on the Falcons always raves about for helping them. He played TE some this summer to work w Pitts.
Jonnu was expected to be the blocking TE and an experienced guy for Pitts to learn from. One thing Falcons fans will tell ya is Jonnu didn't even do these plays or this role in camp.
Against the Titans he had Mack in Pitts spot for 2-3 plays and Pitts did not want anything of chatting with him after.
At least once, Pitts turned down an invite to Kittle's TightEndU
A year or two ago, Frank Wychek talked to the Falcons about concussions and spent the rest of the day working n talking w Pitts.
Smith is probably running out of ideas and gets a new one and tries it. I know he's hated by FF folks but it's a two TE base offense and he's done all that extra. Idk what more y'all want or expect from him with Pitts.
What a lot of the haters are also missing is no team is ever rumored to offer a trade for Pitts. If they were right, that would be common
Coaches, drills, watching film, examples, veteran help, teammates help....it's really difficult to think of something else.
Y'all bark about the QB play but Mariota had a top five TE in Delanie and Ridder had a very good college TE that's now on the Titans. They both have a pretty good history of using the TE