Abraham plans to go back on the sack attack

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

FLOWERY BRANCH – Falcons defensive end John Abraham plans to pick up the pace down the stretch.

His numbers are down dramatically and he knows that he'll need a bushel of sacks to match last season's 16 1/2 team-record total. With six games to play, Abraham has only 3 1/2 sacks.

"I'm getting hits, but I'm not getting sacks," Abraham said. "I'm getting close, but the numbers have to come up definitely. I'm just going to keep doing the same thing."

Understandably, Abraham is the focal point of most team's game plans. They rarely leave him in one-on-one situations. There's usually a back or a tight end to assist the tackle in blocking Abraham.

"People are scheming him and he has not had the production he had last year," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "He had, in my mind, a Pro Bowl year."

Abraham moved around last season, playing some right and left defensive end. The Falcons are not shifting Abraham as much this year. He's also made some drops into pass coverage.

"We've got to continue to evaluate how we are using him and how we are getting him free," Smith said.

Tampa Bay coach Raheem Morris plans to have a scheme ready Sunday to keep Abraham away from rookie quarterback Josh Freeman.

"He's always going to have the ability to give you problems," Morris said. "You have to do certain things to protect against him. Everybody does it. ... If you make one mistake and get the wrong block on him on any given down or any given play, you are going to be in trouble."

According to the NFL game summaries, Abraham has 10 quarterback hits.

"I'm getting there, but it's like I'm a half a second too late," Abraham said. "I just have to continue with what I'm doing and hopefully get there a half-second faster."

Abraham has not recorded an unassisted sack since the fourth game of the season against San Francisco Oct. 11. He shared a sack with Jonathan Babineaux against Washington three games ago.

The Redskins game, a 31-17 win at the Georgia Dome, was particularly frustrating for Abraham.

"Against Washington I had [several] quarterback hits, but I only had one sack," Abraham said. "I told [defensive line]coach [Ray Hamilton] that was like the worst game of my life. ... I just have to turn the hits into sacks."

Abraham will not blame his drop in production on the departure of defensive tackle Grady Jackson, who usually gobbled up two blockers last season but was not re-signed.

"He wasn't in on third down so you can't base that strictly on missing Grady," Abraham said. "If you think about it, yeah, I got sacks on first and second down also, but on third down is when you think the pass rush is going to be the most and Grady was even in there.”

Abraham was named to the All-Pro second team last season, but will need to get a roll to earn some post-season honors. He's been studying Freeman and wants get re-started on Sunday.

"He's a young guy so our big thing is to try and pressure him," Abraham said. "I've watched him on tape. He'll fumble the ball if you get close to him and he'll throw the ball away."

The Falcons have had trouble with scrambling quarterbacks and Freeman, despite his size (6-foot-6, 248 pounds) runs well.

"You have to try to contain him too," Abraham said. "He's actually pretty mobile to being so big."