In the first preseason game of the NFL season, Atlanta Falcons coaches, as well as most fans, were looking forward to the opportunity to see the players outside the confines of Flowery Branch, Georgia where the team trains. There were a lot of bright spots for the Falcons against the Washington Redskins in this game, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
Last season, Atlanta’s defense was abysmal, struggling to generate a pass rush. The team ranked last in the league in sacks and in three-and-outs. In the passing game, it struggled to make plays in coverage, ranking 22nd in net-yards-allowed-per-pass-attempt with 6.7.
The Falcons brass has to be pleased with the performance of guys like OLBs Deion Jones who finished the game with five tackles and De’Vondre Campbell who had three. Both guys really showed their athletic ability by being able to move sideline to sideline. Campbell showed some very important skills in making open-field tackles by paying attention to the fundamentals of proper tackling and putting himself in a position to wrap up the opposing player.
Linebacker Sean Weatherspoon made his return (from a nagging Achilles injury) felt as well by flying around, reading and recognizing the play; and reacting in a timely matter.
Quite honestly, this could be said about the Falcons defense as a whole. It was notable the way guys were flocking to the ball and gang-tackling, holding the Redskins running back Matt Jones to one yard in the first half.
Against Washington’s first team wide receivers; the Atlanta corners were able to hold their own, keeping the receivers in front of them and making clean, sure tackles. Something that goes along with this is the Falcons generating a pass rush. Being disruptive in the opposing team’s backfield goes a long way toward helping out the secondary.
It’s just preseason — and the first game at that — but there are a lot of positives to be taken away from the contest the way the young guys on this Falcons defense played. One thing is for certain, Atlanta Head Coach Dan Quinn’s defense, lead by defensive coordinator Richard Smith, now has something that it lacked in a major way last year.