Falcons work on run defense during bye

By D. Orlando Ledbetter

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Flowery Branch -- Falcons coach Mike Smith has plenty on his "to do" list for team's bye week.

And right at the top is getting the team's run defense re-established after the the team was mangled by the New England Patriots for 168 yards on 39 carries.

"We were not gap sound," Smith said on Monday. "Any time that you are giving up 6-, 7- and 8-yard runs, someone is probably out of a gap. That was definitely the issue [Sunday]."

Backup defensive tackles Thomas Johnson and Trey Lewis filled in for Peria Jerry, the team's first-round draft pick who is out for the season with a knee injury.

For Lewis, it was his first game since Sept. 28, 2007, almost a full 22 months after his knee injury.

"Trey got a number of snaps," Smith said. "He definitely had some rust on him."

But Smith was quick to point out that Lewis was not the sole reason for the porous run defense.

"Trey can play better than he did. We know that," Smith said. "Just because we had Trey and not Peria Jerry, believe me, that was not the reason that we did not defend the run. We do not even want to insinuate that at this point."

Run game upgrade

The Patriots forced the Falcons to get away from their rushing attack. The Falcons only had 49 offensive snaps and ran just 16 times.

"I think the guys are blocking well up front," Smith said. "We have not been running as effectively as we'd like."

Since Michael Turner joined the team last year, the Falcons are 3-5 when the opposition holds Turner to 70 yards or less rushing.

Where's the deep ball?

Smith dismissed the idea throwing more deep passes to help move some of the defensive players off the line of scrimmage and out of the box.

"Our offense is predicated and designed on how people are defending us," Smith said. "If they are defending us to allow us to take deep shots, we will take deep shots."

Roddy White has been targeted on 26 passes. He has 15 catches for 119 yards (7.9 yards per catch). He averaged 15.7 per catch last year and 15.4 yards over 230 career catches coming into this season.

Turner's fumbles

Going back to last season's playoff game, Turner has had three fumbles in his last four games.

Long drives

Both teams had nine possessions in the game but New England had five drives that went at least 11 plays. The Falcons had only double-digit drive all day (12 plays), that coming on their first possession of the game.

Erasing penalties

Smith was not happy with the seven penalties for 54 yards against the Patriots.

The most costly one was the offensive pass interference call on Michael Jenkins that erased a third-quarter touchdown. Also, Smith cited defensive end Jamaal Anderson's roughing the passer penalty on New England's opening drive.

"We want to play aggressively but we want to make sure that we play smart," Smith said.

Pass rush was stymied

New England elected to use two or three tight ends on 50 of their snaps against the Falcons.

"They wanted to make sure they were going to protect their quarterback differently than they did the week before," Smith said.

Etc.

Cornerback Tye Hill is going to get a better chance to work with the Falcons defense during the bye week. ... Running back Jerious Norwood (head) and safety William Moore (hamstring) are expected to be ready for the San Francisco game Oct. 11.