The Atlanta Falcons lost their Week 1 showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and based on what the quarterback situation was, it's impressive the defeat was only by a touchdown.

Cooper Rush did the best he could, but a third stringer going up against one of the best pass rushes in football and one of the most fearsome players in T.J. Watt went about how logic would dictate. Rush struggled, the offense sputtered, and most importantly, Atlanta is now 0-1. 

Offensively, there was not a whole lot to take away other than a strong day for Bijan Robinson, however there was a major bright spot on the other side of the ball from a position where many had concerns with before the year began.

Late free agent add Za'Darius Smith had perhaps the best day of any player not named Watt in the loss.

Atlanta signed Smith during training camp in what was a bit of a desperation move after losing Jalon Walker to a torn ACL and James Pearce Jr. to an eight game suspension which is costing him half of his second season in the NFL.

Pass rush was an area this team thrived in last year, but faced all of the sudden with the reality that their two young building blocks would not be part of the puzzle, the Falcons pivoted to the veteran Smith and gave him a relatively lucrative one-year deal to come in and provide some help getting after the quarterback.

He responded with a team debut in which he had two sacks, two quarterback hits and three tackles for loss, numbers which helped keep his team in the game despite the struggles on offense.

If this is the version the Falcons get of Smith all year long, he could go a long way towards replacing what they have lost due to injury and suspension. Atlanta clearly is going to be a work in progress on offense, so it's even more important that the defensive side of the ball is up to snuff and able to bail the offense out at times.

A leader in the locker room as well, Smith has already been an extremely valuable addition to this team and will continue to do so on the field as the season goes on.

Nobody likes to lose Week 1, but Smith's play should have Atlanta fans very excited here moving forward.