Maason Smith is headed back to the Caesars Superdome with plenty on his mind, and not all of it football.
The Falcons defensive tackle grew up in Houma, Louisiana, and Monday night’s game against the Saints will give him a homecoming as well as a chance to put an old injury behind him. Smith has a vivid memory of the last time he played there.
“The last time I played there, I tore my ACL,” Smith said of Caesars Superdome. “Just a whole bunch of emotions, but I’m expecting us to go out there and do what we need to do.”
That injury happened in 2022, when Smith was at LSU and celebrating a defensive stop against Florida State in the Allstate Louisiana Kickoff. He went down with a left ACL injury in the first quarter of that Week 1 game, later returned the next season, and eventually became a second-round NFL Draft pick in 2024.
This trip also comes with a personal touch. Smith said he bought 20 tickets for family members traveling from about an hour away, and he hopes to slip away long enough to get some home cooking from his mother and grandmother.
Atlanta brought Smith in as one of the early moves under new general manager Ian Cunningham, sending linebacker Ruke Orhorhoro to Jacksonville in the April player-for-player swap. After two seasons as a rotational piece with the Jaguars, the 6-foot-5, 306-pound lineman has become part of a Falcons front that has started to look dangerous, even with key players like Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. unavailable.
Smith’s numbers through three games are modest - three tackles - but the impact has shown up elsewhere. PFF gave him an 87.2 for his Week 3 performance in Atlanta’s 35-14 win over the Green Bay Packers, ranking him third among interior defenders. He is also tied for third among defensive tackles in pass rush win rate at 32% this season.
For Smith, though, the job is simple: stay locked in and let the game come to him.
“I go into every game with just a blank mindset. Just a blank space,” Smith explained.
“I don’t think about much. I want to play as hard and fast as I can and look at the outcome at the end of the game.
I feel like when you start chasing plays, you start to get outside the defense and let other things get in the way of playing real team ball. Make the plays that come to you and strive to make the ones that you’re not supposed to make.”
That approach has fit neatly into a defensive line that has carried Atlanta through the early part of the season. Smith, Za’Darius Smith and Brandon Dorlus have kept the unit rolling while others have been sidelined, and the group’s confidence seems to match its production.
“We got the same amount of pride as we did from day one,” he said. “People are still going to doubt us. But we all know what we got and what we can accomplish together.”
The Falcons are also coming off their best offensive showing of the season. Michael Penix Jr. returned from a partially torn ACL injury to start against Green Bay, and the offense finally clicked. Bijan Robinson ran for 194 yards and two touchdowns, while Drake London added nine catches for 194 yards.
Smith said that kind of performance changes everything on the sideline.
“Football is such a complementary sport,” Smith said. “When you get the offense going like that, you get happy about that and for those guys.
You’ve been seeing them grind. So you get excited on the sideline.
Just keeping the momentum on our side.”
Monday night also carries early NFC South implications. Atlanta can move into sole possession of first place if it beats New Orleans and the Carolina Panthers lose to the Detroit Lions.
The Saints have had their own ups and downs, but they enter the game looking improved with quarterback Tyler Shough and Kellen Moore, both in their second seasons with the team. New Orleans is coming off a 35-27 home loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Falcons-Saints kicks off at 8:15 at Caesars Superdome on ESPN for the Oct. 5 edition of Monday Night Football.
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