Enough was enough.
The blown coverages. The missed tackles. The explosive plays.
After Seattle rookie wide receiver D.K. Metcalf broke wide open in the end zone Oct. 27, for the second time in the game, the Falcons’ defenders had to figure something out.
At halftime, they got together in groups and talked things out. Something clicked, as the Falcons held Seattle to a field goal in the second half.
There were player-led meetings over the bye week, led by free safety Ricardo Allen and linebacker Deion Jones, to help get the defense playing better.
“A lot more player-led meetings,” Falcons passing-game coordinator Jerome Henderson said. “A lot more getting together and talking through issues, just saying that we’re not going to leave the practice field with any gray (areas) has helped.”
The Falcons have not allowed a touchdown since the Metcalf score and have won games over the Saints (26-9) and Panthers (29-3).
“It was some stuff that goes out, and if you’re just going over plays all the time on the playbook or on the board, if it adds up on the board, sometimes it doesn’t add up like that in the game,” Allen said. “Sometimes, as players you have to go make a play by yourself. You have to go and put yourself on the line to maybe get yelled at or maybe be at fault with the play.”
So, the Falcons are relying more on their instincts than X’s and O’s.
“Every play that you draw up on the board, the offense has a play that can beat our defense,” Allen said. “Sometimes, as players, you just have to make it work.”
An example of that was cornerback Desmond Trufant recognizing a Carolina formation and jumping a slant route run by wide receiver D.J. Moore. Trufant came up with his third interception on the season in the end zone.
After the victory against the Saints, coach Dan Quinn was quick to give the players credit for the win. He didn’t want his rearranged staff to receive credit. Although the revival started when wide receivers coach Raheem Morris moved to the defense.
Running backs coach David Brock went back to coaching the wide receivers, where he was Morris’ assistant last season. Special teams/offensive assistant Bernie Parmalee became the running backs coach.
“We’ve been accountable for our play,” Allen said. “If we get beat, we are going to take accountability on that. If not, we’re going to make our plays. We started putting it more on ourselves.”
While the Falcons were using a 5-2 alignment with 3-4 principles for most of the first half of the season, players looked lost at times. Since the bye, they’ve simplified things and are playing less-complex schemes.
“We know what we’re on,” said Allen, who was moved to strong safety. “If we see something, and it was a gray area at practice, we make sure that we get it out before we go home. That way, one person sees it, we all see it that way. If not, somebody has to ask some questions.”
Where was all this clarity when the Falcons were going 1-7 and being out-scored 144-50 in the first halves of the first eight games of the season?
Things were so bad that owner Arthur Blank, in a hastily called news conference in a hallway of Mercedes-Benz Stadium after the Falcons lost to the Rams on Oct. 20, addressed the team’s play and the future of coach Dan Quinn.
“No use looking back at this point,” Henderson said. “We’ve got to beat Tampa (Bay) this week. Find a way to beat them. What is behind us is behind us. All we have is today.”
Allen admits that the recent success does make the porous start hard to swallow.
“When you do come around to success and you start to seeing what you actually can do, it does bother you,” Allen said. “But that’s the life that we live. You can’t change what’s already happened in the past.”
Now, if the Falcons could have managed a win over Tennessee and if Matt Bryant had made the extra point in Arizona. All those type of thoughts are racing through those black helmets.
“You can look at it and try to critique yourself and see the differences in what was happening then and now,” Allen said. “But there (isn’t anything) that you can do about it. Yeah, we wish we would have been playing like this early in the season. We have to just take it for what it is, know that we are doing it now and try to finish out the season the way we know that we can.”
There were some personnel changes, as the Falcons moved Damontae Kazee to free safety and Allen to strong safety. At 174 and 185 pounds, respectively, they probably form the smallest safety tandem in the NFL.
Kazee played free safety last season when Allen was out with an Achilles injury. They have been probing for a solution at strong safety since Keanu Neal went down with a season-ending Achilles injury against the Colts on Sept. 22.
“Kazee is a ball guy,” Allen said. “It’s just natural for him to be back there in the middle of the field, just free-flowing all game and tracking the balls out of the sky. That is what he does. It was just getting everybody into a more comfortable position, let everybody do what they do best. Whatever helps the team, whatever can help us win, I’m all for it.”
While playing closer to the line of scrimmage, Allen had to make an adjustment.
“It’s a little bit more banging,” Allen said. “You have to fight offensive linemen and all that kind of stuff. But just being down there, I get to be in the mix a little bit more.”
Cornerback Isaiah Oliver is coming on with the changes to the defense.
“It was really just a lot of communication changes,” Oliver said. “Better communications and an accountability factor came in, where guys were owning up to the mistakes that they’ve made and looking to fix them.
“We are all just working together, 11 guys on the field working together. It just looked a lot better these last two weeks compared to the last eight.”
The past 10 quarters of touchdown-less football have the Falcons looking like the playoff contender many folks projected for the team coming into the season.
“The rush has picked up,” Henderson said. “The coverage has picked up. Playing together. (Morris’) influence on the defense has really helped.
“I think it’s a combination of things and guys are just saying, this is us. We’re going to play better. We’re going to work harder, and it’s been paying off.”
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