Abraham gets to rejoin sack race

Flowery Branch —- There’s one Falcon who wished he played last week.

While watching the other games during the bye week, John Abraham —- who entered the break as the league’s sack leader with seven —- saw four players move past him.

“It was a long off week for me, watching everybody get their sacks and stuff,” Abraham said. “I went from one to like five or six.”

Dallas’ DeMarcus Ware (9), Miami’s Joey Porter (8.5), Pittsburgh’s James Harrison (8.5) and LaMarr Woodley (7.5) all moved past Abraham.

Abraham is not sure how many sacks he’ll be able to pick up against Philadelphia’s Donovan McNabb.

“He doesn’t run as much as he did in the past, but he can move around and find open receivers,” Abraham said. “We have to be smart, stay in our lanes and not give him too much.”

Abraham is starting get more help in the pass rush.

Tackles Grady Jackson and Jonathan Babineaux each have a sack. Also, defensive end Jamaal Anderson recorded his first career sack against Chicago.

“We just have to get to him and don’t let him sit in the pocket,” Jackson said. “He can kill you if he’s just sitting there. We have to put a little pressure on him.”

Dress rehearsal

The Falcons were back in full pads on Wednesday for the first time since the Chicago game.

“We had a good practice today,” Falcons head coach Mike Smith said. “It was what we needed to do. We needed to get out and bang a little bit.”

Ticket broker

Quarterback Matt Ryan has not had to make a beeline to the ticket manager’s office for the return to his hometown.

“It’s not bad,” Ryan said of his ticket count for the game. “A lot of my friends and extended family are regrettably season ticket holders up there. So it was kind of nice in terms of ticket requests.”

Cap, T-shirt bet

Center Todd McClure, from LSU, and quarterback D.J. Shockley, from Georgia, have a little wager on this weekend’s college game.

The loser has to wear a cap and T-shirt from the other’s school all next week.

Injury report

Defensive tackle Kindal Moorehead did not practice Wednesday after injuring his ankle on Monday.

Cornerback Brent Grimes (bruised knee) was the only other player not to practice.

“We kept him out for precautionary reasons,” Smith said of Moorehead. “We anticipate that he’ll be ready to go, and we are anticipating that Brent will get an opportunity to practice tomorrow.”

Left tackle Sam Baker (hip) and Jackson (knee) were limited in practice.

Wide receiver Laurent Robinson (knee) and defensive tackle Jason Jefferson (ankle) took part in the full practice.