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.
Recap of Interview by Carl Dukes and Mike Bell, written by Allison Smith
June 13, 2018
Ricardo Allen enters his 5th year as an Atlanta Falcon. From a late cut his rookie year, to the practice squad, to a leader on defense, Rico has had quite a ride in the NFL so far. In the 2017 off season, Rico and wife Grace welcomed their second baby, he graduated from Purdue, and most recently signed his 2nd round tender to stay a Falcon for another season. It was very important to Rico to earn his degree as an example to his children, “Anything you start, you need to finish.” While he hopes to be in Atlanta playing the rest of his career and not need his degree, he is proud of the work he put in to receive it and actually walk at graduation.
After Day 2 of Falcons Mini Camp, Rico spoke to Dukes and Bell (Carl Dukes and Mike Bell of 92.9 The Game’s afternoon show). If you know about Rico, you know he is one of the hardest working guys on the team and is a film nut. As I have reported numerous times, just days after the playoff loss in Philadelphia, Rico was at the Branch watching film and working out. He said that he watched the game over and over on the flight home, already taking notes on things to improve. He noted that the team was a tackle or turnover or an inch away from the SuperBowl last season. He knows this team is not that far off.
When asked about vacation time between Mini Camp and Training Camp, Rico replied, “We had vacation and time off after the season ended. There is no vacation time now, I am ready to go.” Anytime there are not official team activities at The Branch, Rico is working out 2-3 times a day, either at home or at The Branch.
Dukes and Bell asked about the current team and the work outs, Rico said that they are competing and taking care of each other. “Can’t win games right now, but can put in the work.” Rico is the mentee assigned to Isaiah Oliver and said that Oliver is long and can run with any receiver on the Falcons roster, he has great ball skills and comes in very mature.
Asked about some of the new offensive weapons, Rico commented that Ito Smith is fast out of the backfield and finishes every rep like he is going to score a touchdown. He said that Calvin Ridley is a “Good dude. He did not come in like a first round pick, but instead like a rookie willing to work. He is definitely going to make something happen.” He noted that all of the rookies came in knowing the team was already a good team, but there were some roles to fill.
Defensively, Allen commented that “We have allot of speed on defense, and when one of us is coming, know the other 10 are coming too.” As the deepest defender in the secondary, Rico has the best view and depended on for lots of communication to the rest of the defense. He said that he will watch 2 to 3 years of film on an offense to learn all of their tendencies (did I mention film nut?). He also plays allot of Madden. Madden shows their best plays and when a team is in a crunch, that is what they pull out of the bag, so you know Rico is already ready.
Dukes and Bell asked about the best offense they face in the NFC South. Rico said they go against the best of the best each week in practice.
On the Cornerback front, Rico commented that Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford (Tru and Rocky) are good. “They have been grinding, already getting balls popping up in the air” even though there is no tackling happening yet.
Plans for 2018 as a defense…..”Want to get more turnovers.” He noted that they had at least 5 turnovers overturned by penalties last season, clearly they plan to clean that up. After going from a 30something ranking up to the 8th ranked defense last season, Rico wants “Our Defense to be the #1 defense” this season. On the rookies and young defenders, “We got some dawgs out there – pull the leash off of them and let them go.” And commented that we have the fastest linebackers around.
Sounds like the defense is ready to go. We know many of the guys came in bigger and stronger and faster, so the 2018 defense is definitely going to be something to look forward to.
#RiseUp @FalconAlley Owt
**Graduation photo courtesy of Ricardo Allen, Interview photo is courtesy of 92.9 The Game
A much needed win at that, as they head into NFC South play next week, heading up to Carolina, but still remain in 3rd place, behind Carolina and New Orleans.
I’ve seen prettier games, but a W is a W and I will take any win after 3 straight bad losses. Once again, the offense was not efficient in either the red zone or third down conversions, but they did enough to get the win. The playing time was nearly even this week, the Falcons offense being on the field 28 minutes, so the defense could get finally get some rest between outings. Of the 6 trips into the red zone, the Falcons had 2 touchdowns and 4 field goals. They were 4 of 15 on 3rd down conversions.
The offense did at least take some shots downfield and were more creative in play calling than previous weeks. They had 32 runs and 29 passes, so pretty even, finally, on play calling and could actually set up the play action. Of course, after the 4th fumbled exchange from Alex Mack to Matt Ryan, they did move to the shotgun. Their opening possession consisted of the first 5 passes to the tight ends, who had 9 of the 29 targets on the game. Much of the rest of the game, they started with a run on first down, and Freeman or Coleman got good yardage to set up manageable 2nd and 3rd downs.
The Falcons offense’s only turn overs this week were on 2 of the 4 mishandled snaps from Mack to Ryan. Which was, obviously, caused by the weather. Every time, Mack and Ryan would be over on the sideline trying to work out their issues. Finally, they determined they needed to go to the shotgun and not worry about additional turnovers. A few dropped balls, mostly caused by the weather as well, but the passing overall was better and not overly affected by the rain or wind.
Head Coach Dan Quinn said last week there would be extra time spent on 3rd downs – on both sides, as well as the red zone efficiency. The defense must have paid attention. They held the Jets to only 5 of 15 successful third down conversions. The Jets had 2 yards per carry and 5 negative plays and finished with only 43 rushing yards. The Falcons defense really controlled the line of scrimmage and forced the Jets to throw the ball in the bad weather. Of course, Grady Jarrett and Dontari Poe were getting some great pressure up the middle. It was noted that Grady is taking it personally that teams want to run against him.
With Duke Riley out, Kemal Ishmael has really stepped up and shown his versatility. Ish has been playing on special teams and making an impact, including recovering a fumble today. Now, Ish is in for Riley at linebacker and definitely making his presence known there as well, with 8 solo tackles and 5 assists. Only one significant penalty today, a PI on Ricardo Allen that provided a big first down that led to a touchdown, but at least it didn’t reverse a turnover. Glass half full?!? Of the FOUR fumbled snaps, two were recovered by the Jets and the Falcons defense only gave up 3 points on short yardage. The average starting position of the Jets’ offense was the 48….always short yardage for the D to defend.
Vic Beasley, Jr was giving the Jets left tackle trouble, Jarrett caused at least one offensive hold, and Adrian Clayborn was destroying the line all day. Takk McKinley got his first strip sack of his rookie career. The addition of Ahtyba Rubin (in replacement of IR Jack Crawford) has been a big help as he is very active and brings a similar demeanor to the defensive line and had 2 tackles against the Jets.
You know if DQ was talking to the O and D about “mishaps,” that Special Teams coach, Keith Armstrong, lit up his group. Likely to the Matt’s and Josh Harris (long snapper) he just gave them a nasty look, a quick “WTF” and moved on. Their mistakes were so random and rare, they don’t need to be talked up. They know better. Clearly, he got to the rest of his team and the only real issue with the special teams today was one punt return that Andre Roberts let go by and ended up settling inside the 1-yard line.
The game changing moment of the game was a Bosher punt. The returner, standing at the 25, with the rain and swirling wind, fumbles the ball and Ishmael is quickly there to recover. Bosher was consistent with an average of 42.8 and a long of 55 yards. Of course, Money was back on track, even in the rain and wind, with 4 successful field goals, a long of 45. DQ said of Bryant, that Bryant is someone you “Want to trust in these situations and he nailed it in a big way tonight.” Derrick Coleman, the full back, had several drilling stops on returns, as well as Ishmael being involved with many punt and kickoff stops.
Interesting note, while Julio was grabbing his 8000th+ yards last week, Ryan now has 200+ passing yards in 62 straight games, which is the longest streak in NFL history.
Overall, a win is a win, especially a road win, in the wind and rain. Defense was much improved. Special teams was fixed. Offense, better and more evenly distributing the ball. No injuries sustained. As Grady noted, we were 4 – 3 this time last year, and we all know how that ended. Now, the real fun begins.
Well, no one really expected the Atlanta Falcons to go undefeated, BUT, it is hard pill to swallow even against a solid Buffalo Bills team. You simply cannot hand a team like the Bills the ball 3 times. The defense did play a bit off early in the game, but stood up and made the big stops when necessary, causing 2 long field goals, and only gave up 16 points.
After over 300 passes with no interceptions, in two games, there have been 5 interceptions and a fumble by Matt Ryan. Agreed, these were not all on Ryan, 4 of the 5 interceptions were tipped by our receivers. Point is, catch the ball or don’t touch the ball. It did seem that this week’s passes were a little off, as the receivers were stretching or falling for these and other passes. And it isn’t a single receiver that we can get to and shake, it seems to be something in the locker room they are passing around.
Not sure if Ryan is back to his old days of trying to do too much and getting a little pass crazy, or we are just having some bad luck. Clearly, it did not help with Julio Jones and Mohammed Sanu not returning for the second half, but we have enough receivers to make up those spots…not BE Ju or Sanu, but to catch some passes. I think the biggest issue was the size difference and Ryan is not use to throwing to smaller receivers and couldn’t lay the ball where it needed to be.
Tevin Coleman and Andre Roberts both fumbled, but the ball was recovered by the Falcons, otherwise we could have lost the ball 5 times in a single game. I am sure that “ball control” will be on the top of Dan Quinn’s list of topics this week. Along with “missed tackles.” There were too many of those as well, allowing the Bills to gain too many extra yards. Some are growing pains with the young guys, some are due to being down several starting defenders, Vic Beasley, Jr., Courtney Upshaw, Ricardo Allen, and mid-game, Jack Crawford.
The defense, overall, held up well, especially when the game was on the line. On the final two Buffalo drives, the defense forced a 56 then 55-yard field goals. Kudos to Stephen Hauschka for making these field goals, but as far as they were, they were kicked low, so I would like to have seen one or two of the giant tight ends in the middle trying to block these field goals. Robert Alford had good pressure on the edge for one, but there was not enough pressure to stop either of these field goals.
There were many reasons for this loss. So many missed opportunities. A loss to a good team is acceptable, but when you helped the opposition so much and know you could have won, it is a little harder to swallow. Included with the turnovers, the allowing too many extra yards….there were two questionable plays that went against the Falcons. As fate would have it, the football gods were not smiling on us. According to the announcers, and anyone with eyes, the “fumble for a touchdown” was clearly a forward pass knocked out of Ryan’s hand. And the Nick Williams tipped pass (note, he was laid out reaching for the ball) that hit the ground as Micah Hyde caught it for the “interception.”
The capping blow of the day was the ending drive. After the defense had two great stops near midfield, the offense drives into the red zone, Ryan has 4 straight passes, one a completion to Austin Hooper, but three bad passes over Taylor Gabriel. I don’t know that anyone is sure why, even with limited time on the clock and no time outs, why you would not double up with Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman behind Derrick Coleman and just run the ball in. Heck, let them run behind Dontari Poe or Ben Garland. Try anything better than 3 errant passes. Except for a few times on the day, the running game ran pretty smoothly….even behind the right side. Which again allowed Ryan to take quite a beating.
Buffalo controlled the tempo of the game and it never felt like Atlanta had a rhythm, even when leading. Buffalo was easily doing whatever they wanted with running game. They were doubling up on both Grady Jarrett and Poe and able to knock them back into the linebackers, and some of that was with uncalled holding calls, but that doesn’t matter now. Falcon defenders were never really in space, they were constantly locked up with Bills.
Repping Grady Jarrett
It was black jersey, throwback day, so maybe, hopefully, it was just a throwback type loss for the Falcons. Long time fans know, it can be very nerve racking and frustrating to be a fan from the 1990’s. Close games always went the bad way back in the day. I was repping my brand new black Grady Jarrett jersey, but because of my long hair, you couldn’t see the name, so I took it as a great compliment when someone yelled “Kerney” at me.
Good news on the day, the Benz Nest was packed with over 71,000 in attendance, al biet too many Bills fans made it in as well. It was a beautiful, breezy day for tailgating. The crowd was loud, excitable, and stayed until the end. If there is anything a Falcons fan knows, if it is close at the end, the game could go either way.
And, as a nice Brotherhood story, after running the “12 Gauge” (the Falcons play call for the Wild Cat), Sanu lined up under center, ran the ball in for a touchdown, was ruled down at the inch line. On the ensuing play, Freeman ran in the touchdown and promptly gave the ball to Sanu. We may be down, but we are never out when we are together in our Brotherhood. Note that Rico was coaching as best he could from the sideline as he was usually lined up close to the defense on the field.
Apparently our strategy this year is to not show ANYTHING on offense until the season begins. This game was rough. Julio Jones and Taylor Gabriel made their preseason debut, however neither had a catch in their limited playing time. Both looked excellent in warm ups, so no concern there, but the rest of the O, under Matt Ryan and Matt Schaub did NOT look like our typical offense.
So, let’s talk about the defense. This was a start studded event tonight. The defense caused 5 fumbles and recovered 3 of those. Everyone looked good, the veterans, the rookies, a fierce “see ball, get ball” D for sure.
Atlanta gave Arizona the ball to start. On their third offensive play, Adrian Clayborn punched the ball out and an offensive lineman recovered. Thanks to Ricardo Allen’s pass break ups, two plays later, Arizona had to punt. That, was also not pretty. Andre Roberts dropped the ball, but luckily Terron Ward had his eye on the ball to recover. Or not, since the Falcons came out and with one offensive play, Matt Ryan’s first play, first pass, was aimed at Levine Toilolo, but was tipped and intercepted.
Again, turn to the positive, the Atlanta D stepped up and with the Cardinals closing in on the end zone, Allen had another pass break up in the end zone, then Keanu Neal caused the 2nd fumble of the game which was recovered by Duke Riley. All of that was still early in the first quarter.
Jack & Takk Show – Crawford causes fumble that McKinley recovers. Photo Courtesy of NFL.com
Defensive highlights include the Jack & Takk Show. Takk McKinley and Jack Crawford have buddied up to disrupt play. Takk knocked a ball out early, but the play was called dead, which Dan Quinn challenged, to no avail. Next play, Takk’s pressure on QB Drew Stanton forced him in to the waiting arms of Crawford, which forced a long field goal. Later in the game, Crawford caused a running back fumble, which Takk recovered after running over the blockers like they were not even there. Takk is going to be incredible this season.
As always, Grady Jarrett and Vic Beasley, Jr. were applying great pressure to the quarterback, forcing rushed and errant throws. Deion Jones had 4 tackles in the first quarter alone, while Neal continued his tough hitting style for which he is known. Courtney Upshaw caused the other fumble that Arizona recovered, and late in the 3rd quarter Jalen Collins caused a fumble which CJ Goodwin was able to recover for the Falcons.
While the defense did give up 24 points, these points were against guys that are likely not going to be on the team this time next week. Not solely based on this game, but a number of guys are not helping themselves.
The offensive highlight is now suddenly Matt Sims. On Matt Schaub’s first play of the game, he had a fumble that Arizona recovered and lead to their 2nd touchdown – on a short field. Sims threw the only touchdown for the Falcons and led them to the successful 2-point conversion.
While special teams still looked questionable, not the key Matt’s of course, Matt Bryant making his field goals, and except for one short kick, Matt Bosher was his typical kicking self. At least no big returns were allowed this week.
Wes Schweitzer did get the start at right guard, however Ben Garland and he split the time evenly and remains “too close to call” per DQ.
Couple of injuries of note. LaRoy Reynolds who started all 3 preseason games at middle linebacker went out early with a shoulder injury. Brian Hill, after looking better with the first team than in the first 2 preseason games went out with an ankle.
While I was frustrated and yelled allot, I am not concerned about our offense once the games are for real. And if this defense cannot get you excited, no need to show up at The Benz this year. Remember, this is just preseason, a test for players and time for others to get into some rhythm.
Safety Jessie Bates on 10.27.24
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