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Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff Writer
ATLANTA — Kyle Pitts was one of the last Atlanta Falcons off the field Sunday afternoon. As he walked toward the locker room, the third-year tight end was animated. He had every reason to be.
Sunday’s game had been like something out of his rookie year — 11 targets, seven catches, 87 yards — not his injury-defined second season. Over the last few months head coach Arthur Smith has described Pitts’ recovery following knee surgery “a long journey back.”
It took a positive turn against Houston. Pitts looked like the player he had been as a rookie when it came to speed, route running and making difficult catches. Quarterback Desmond Ridder kept going to him, and it was working.
Pitts said he didn’t necessarily need to see a game like that, though, to know he was making improvement.
“Selfishly, no,” Pitts said. “Just wanted to get back in the win category. That’s more important, that we were coming out with the win and moving on to the next week.”
Now comes the next step in Pitts’ journey: Consistency. The last time Pitts had three straight games over 50 yards receiving was from Dec. 19, 2021 to Jan. 2, 2022: 77 yards against San Francisco, 102 yards against Detroit and 69 yards against Buffalo. Prior to Sunday, his last game with more than 50 receiving yards was on Oct. 30, 2022 against Carolina.
That’s misleading because he injured his knee three games later and had already been playing a lot of the 2022 season with a hamstring injury.
“Everybody is different and when it clicks, it clicks, you know,” Smith said. “See how he feels this week. It’s not, people forget, you get calloused to the fact that some of these injuries these guys come back from, I mean, I know they look like superheroes sometimes, but they are human.
“And it was great to see it. He got into a rhythm and he made some enormous plays for us.”
Pitts had five catches go over 10 yards against the Texans, all on either second or third down. Three of the four passes he didn’t catch were also attempts over 10 yards, showing the Falcons are at least trying to get him involved in the intermediate passing game.
Four of his 10 longest targets of the season came against Houston, and half of his 16 targets of 10 or more yards came against the Texans.
It also might speak to how the Falcons have used Pitts in 2023.
Of his 140 routes run, according to ESPN Stats & Information, 47 came lined up in the slot on the left side (with 10 targets and 10 receptions), 37 came in the slot on the right side (eight targets, five receptions), 22 were lined up wide left (three targets, no receptions) and 19 came wide right (seven targets, three receptions).
Pitts has run routes on 15 plays out of the tight end spot with only three targets and no catches.
Pitts has been on the field 225 offensive snaps — and 211 plays — this season, lining up in the slot 103 times, out wide 64 times and as a tight end 49 times, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
That’s a difference from 2022, when Pitts lined up 185 times at tight end, 144 times in the slot, 95 times out wide and seven times in the backfield, and more in line with 2021 when Pitts played 300 snaps in the slot, 238 at tight end and 229 out wide.
The Falcons continue to use Pitts everywhere, not a surprise in Smith’s offense, but where he’s lined up most often has changed.
A week ago, Smith said there’s “no perfect timetables” for when a player gets fully healthy. Pitts said last week there are times this season where he’s reached that point.
“There are certain things that you see him doing really well right now,” Smith said prior to the game against the Texans. “There are certain things that have been a journey back that he’s going to get there.
“I’d hate to put percentages on it, but you have to acknowledge that, I thought [against the Jaguars], there were some things outside where he looked as fast as he did as a rookie. So it’s getting close.”
Source: www.espn.com