The NFL penalized Arthur Smith and the Falcons for breaking the injury report policy.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Falcons and head coach Arthur Smith have been penalized by the NFL for breaking their injury report guidelines during Week 7 against the Buccaneers.
The choice to start rookie running back Bijan Robinson against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7 led to the fines. Robinson was only on the field for 11 plays due to an unexplained sickness that restricted his performance. After an investigation, the league concluded that Smith and the team had broken the injury policy by failing to notify the ailment before kickoff.
On Friday, Smith spoke with the media about the circumstances.
“There are many things when you go through the injury report, and clearly we understood their point of view, but they also understood our point of view, too, which is why it wasn’t some contentious battle,” he added. “For that, I will give the league a lot of credit.” As you proceed, in complete transparency, there is an inquiry and typically you have to reply with a letter; therefore, it’s not as if you’re sitting in court all the time.
So, simply put: Nothing was done to try to game anything like that. This is how we understood it and this is our intention. I took note of their perspective, therefore that was one lesson gained. There will undoubtedly be many more chats in the spring after this one, which was quite nice. That was sort of our point of termination.
This season, Smith’s use of Robinson has been ambiguous on numerous occasions, not the least of which was the game. While this will cost Smith $25k and the Falcons $75k, at least there’s a reason for it.