From his first day on the job in 2015, Falcons coach Dan Quinn has preached about taking the ball away.
“It’s about the ball,” Quinn said.
Before getting four interceptions against Carolina on Sunday, the Falcons had not forced a turnover since Jordan Miller pounced on a muffed punt by Houston’s DeAndre Carter in the fourth quarter of that 53-32 blowout Oct. 6. In all, it was a four-game turnover drought.
That was a seven-game drought between interceptions.
The four the Falcons racked up against the Panthers led to a 29-3 thrashing Sunday. The Falcons (3-7) hope to stay on a turnover roll when they play Tampa Bay (3-7) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“It’s been a drought for a while, so whenever you get over that hump it’s good,” strong safety Ricardo Allen said. “Last week, we started to jump with the sacks and now the sacks continue to go. Hopefully, the turnovers continue to roll through. We hope it happens like a snowball effect.”
The Bucs have a minus-10 turnover differential, which ranks 29th of 32 NFL teams, and quarterback Jameis Winston leads the league with 18 interceptions.
The four interceptions against Carolina doubled the Falcons’ turnover count for the season.
The Falcons, now with eight forced turnovers, have a minus-8 differential because they have thrown 10 interceptions and lost six fumbles.
The previous four turnovers were a fumble recovery by Sharrod Neasman against the Eagles in Game 2, two interceptions by Desmond Trufant against the Eagles and the Miller fumble recovery against the Texans.
A combination of a strong pass rush and better zone coverage led to the interceptions against the Panthers.
Linebacker De’Vondre Campbell was in the right place when defensive end Takk McKinley forced an errant throw by Carolina quarterback Kyle Allen on the first interception.
On the second interception, Trufant jumped in front of D.J. Moore’s slant route in the end zone. He attributed his interception to film study. The Panthers’ formation tipped off the route.
On the third interception, Allen came over the top of the defense to intercept a deep pass to Moore.
In the fourth quarter, free safety Damontae Kazee intercepted a deep pass intended for Panthers wide receiver Curtis Samuel.
The Bucs have noticed a difference in the Falcons’ defense over the past two games, in which they have not allowed a touchdown.
"Just looking at those last two games, they look a little different than previously," Bucs coach Bruce Arians said. "Less man-to-man. More zone coverage. The pass rush has been outstanding the last two games. It's a good combination of coverage and pass rush."
In addition to juggling coaches, the Falcons have moved Kazee back to free safety, where he tied for the league lead in interceptions last season, with seven. The Falcons tried to move him to nickel back, but when strong safety Keanu Neal went down the team was looking for help at safety after injuries to James Cyprien and trying the combination of Jamal Carter and Kemal Ishmael.
Kendall Sheffield, a rookie from Ohio State, played outside while Trufant was out with a turf-toe injury, but when he returned against the Panthers, Sheffield went to nickel back.
“When we got Trufant back, we knew that was going to be coming eventually, that would allow (Isaiah) Oliver, Sheffield, and Tru to all play outside,” Quinn said. “When Trufant was out, we had some waiting, so to speak, to get into that spot, and now we felt like with Tru back, hopefully, we’ll be able to stay into that rhythm.”
Oliver may have played his best game of the season against Carolina. The second-year player from Colorado had three tackles and two pass breakups.
“I thought that’s the best that he’s looked this season,” Quinn said. “I thought there was really good technique – he challenged guys at the line of scrimmage. Thought he made a really good play down the sideline on a deep ball, and then in the end zone made a good play on a guy cutting inside.”
Oliver could see some time covering Tampa Bay’s dynamic wide receiver Mike Evans. Oliver plans to be ready for Evans as the Bucs’ vertical passing attack.
“It felt great to get the turnovers,” Oliver said. “That’s something that we are looking to build off of this week. We felt like we could have had even a couple more in that last game. We are looking to try to get another three or four this week.”
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