Roddy White pulled out of practice after collision

Flowery Branch — Falcons wide receiver Roddy White was pulled from practice for precautionary reasons Wednesday after a collision inside the team’s practice facility.

“During practice, Roddy had a pretty good collision, and we held him out for part of the practice,” coach Mike Smith said.

White is coming off a big game in which he had eight receptions for 132 yards and a touchdown Sunday to help the Falcons defeat the Green Bay Packers.

He was listed on the injury report with a head injury. The team practiced indoors because it was raining.

“Roddy has had a very impressive start to the season,” Smith said.

Also, defensive end John Abraham, the league’s sacks leader, was excused from practice for family reasons.

“John Abraham was at the hospital, and from what I understand, his second daughter is going to be [born] real soon,” Smith said.

Defensive tackle Grady Jackson (knee), wide receiver Laurent Robinson (knee), defensive tackle Jason Jefferson (high right ankle sprain) and center Todd McClure (calf) did not practice.

Left tackle Todd Weiner (knee) and center Ben Wilkerson (chest) participated in parts of practice.

“Todd Weiner we held out more for being here inside on the artificial turf,” Smith said. “Same thing with Grady.”

Run strength vs. run strength

The Falcons are second in the NFL in rushing yards with 180.6 per game, while the Bears are fourth in run defense, allowing 74.2 yards per game.

“We are always going to set out to be able to run the football,” Smith said. “I think for the most part over the first five games, we’ve done that. When you run the ball effectively, it allows you to do a number of things especially in the passing game.”

The Bears get defensive tackle Tommie Harris back from a one-game suspension and are anchored by linebackers Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher.

“They attack the line of scrimmage, and they also will line up and put eight and nine guys up on the line of scrimmage, which creates a numbers issues,” Smith said. “But we feel that we can go out and run the football. Our mind-set is that we’ve got to be able to run on anybody.”

Hester dangerous as return man

Smith was guarded about whether the Falcons plan to kick to Chicago return man Devin Hester. He hasn’t returned a punt or kickoff for touchdown this season, but has 12 returns for touchdowns in just over three seasons.

“The challenge is he’s obviously a good returner,” punter Michael Koenen said. “Just trying to contain him will be hard.”

Turnovers have produced points

The Falcons’ defense has forced six turnovers, five interceptions and one fumble recovery.

The turnovers have led to 30 points, including a touchdown against Green Bay after Michael Boley’s interception that helped to seal the 27-24 victory.