Abraham leads Falcons’ defense

Meet the man who joins two seemingly unrelated concepts. Meet the man who puts “Atlanta Falcons” and “NFL leader” in the same sentence.

Meet John Abraham, the 6-foot-4, 263-pound player who has six sacks through three games.

Tyler Thigpen met Abraham on Kansas City’s first play Sunday at the Georgia Dome. Or perhaps we should say Abraham met Thigpen.

Down went the young quarterback, seven yards behind the line. The tone was set, and it was the sound of bells ringing in Thigpen’s head. The young quarterback didn’t complete a pass the entire first quarter. He was 0 for 7 before he finally connected with a receiver.

The Falcons already had a two-touchdown lead.

And another meeting with Mr. Abraham remained in Thigpen’s future.

Flash forward to the final play of the third quarter. Thigpen seems to have found some confidence. He has led his team to two touchdowns, and he’s 10 yards away from leading them to another. If that happens, a game that looked safe for the Falcons will become just a 10-point affair.

Enter Abraham, again.

This time, he not only hits Thigpen but also knocks the ball loose. Kansas City recovers but faces fourth-and-7. The Chiefs try a field goal, and miss it. And they never score again.

“Two big sacks,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said.

“A special player,” Falcons cornerback Brent Grimes said.

Abraham? He didn’t say much, at least not with his mouth.

“On the first play I just had it in my mind that whole time that I was going to move on [the left] side and do a spin move,” he said. “I didn’t know it was going to work on the first play. I got lucky, I guess you could say.”

No word on whether Abraham bought any lottery tickets on his way home, but if luck explains his recent success he might want to take steps to capitalize on it. Three games into the season, he is on a 32-sack pace. He’s almost halfway to his career-high of 13 sacks in a season, set in 2001 with the New York Jets.

He was 23 then. He’s 30 now.

What’s going on?

“I don’t know, I can honestly tell you,” Abraham said. “I’m doing the same thing I was doing in prior years. I think it’s just getting a few more one-on-ones and being well-rested [by defensive line coach Ray Hamilton].”

One change this season is Abraham flipping from one side of the line of scrimmage to the other to create more difficult matchups for opposing blockers. He said he welcomed that change.

Meanwhile, the Falcons welcome his results.

Abraham’s play shows up not just in negative yardage for opposing offenses but in hurried passes, too. The Falcons intercepted three passes on Sunday; they wouldn’t have had that kind of day without the efforts of No. 55.

“Pass rush is key in football. It helps the defense out tremendously,” said Grimes, one of the interceptors. “And when you’ve got a special player like Abe going in there and making plays, it always helps out your coverage.

“[Thigpen] seemed a little hurried to me. He was a young quarterback playing his first game. It was probably a little rough on him.”