Safety Jessie Bates on 10.27.24
After the Atlanta Falcons swept the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and extended their lead in the NFC South, Dave Archer of 92.9 The Game spoke to Defensive Player of the Game, Jessie Bates. Bates had a forced fumbled, that he recovered and an interception in the game.
Jessie told Arch that he was surprised that the Bucs took the ball first, when they did, we knew we needed to set the tone early on defense. On his forced fumble, Jessie said “the guys made a good tackle and I focused on punching the ball and then it was out.” He said that he does that in practice all week, so it translated on the field. You can see Nate Landman punching at the ball too.
Arch was surprised that Buccaneers’ quarterback Baker Mayfield tried Jessie on that interception. Jessie walked us through it. It was a flea flicker with the down safety in zone. They jumped the motion and Micheal Hughes was on the post as the WIL, so Jessie knew the ball was coming. He simply tracked it and picked it out of the air. Which is not completely accurate, Jessie picked it right out of the hands of the receiver.
Arch asked Jessie about the run game difference, 62 yards in the first quarter and 40 yards the rest of the game. Jessie said “once we settle in as a defense, we can stop the run and lay a good defense.” He did say they needed to settle in earlier. It also helps when the offense is scoring so the opposing team isn’t running as much.
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