Peelle finds comfort zone in Falcons’ offense

Playing tight end in a run-dominated offense wasn’t going to deter Justin Peelle from coming to Atlanta after the Dolphins released him late in the preseason.

Playing behind Ben Hartsock wasn’t going to either.

Outweighing any of that was the encouragement Peelle got from his old college quarterback and close friend, Joey Harrington. And the endorsement packed even more punch because the Falcons had just released Harrington.

“He said it was a great place and the team was going to be very good,” said Peelle, who played with Harrington at the University of Oregon. “He liked the way things were going … and that I’d make a nice fit here.”

Peelle had also played for two years in Miami for Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, who was telling him more of the same.

So he signed as a free agent with only six days to learn Mularkey’s version of the Falcons offense. He did it well enough to get 30 snaps in the season-opening win against Detroit and a call afterward from Harrington, saying: “I told you.”

Now, a dozen games into the season, Hartsock is out for the year with a toe injury and Peelle has shown he’s ready to step into that spot.

In his first game as the starter on Sunday in San Diego, Peelle caught three passes for 38 yards, including the Falcons’ first touchdown on an 18-yard strike from Matt Ryan. It was Peelle’s second touchdown this season. He trails Roddy White (six) and Michael Jenkins (three) in touchdown catches for the Falcons this season.

He’s adding another dimension to the Falcons’ offense.

“Ben Hartsock had been brought in here as more of a run blocker, and Justin has the ability to run block, but he also has the ability to stretch the field,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “Justin not only caught the ball well (Sunday), he did a nice job blocking. With Ben being on (injured reserve), we had to expand his role, and I thought he responded extremely well.”

The Falcons have thrown mostly bootleg passes to tight ends. But on Peelle’s touchdown, Ryan dropped straight back. Peelle made a double-move, out and up, to get to the end zone and showed soft hands, going up high to catch the ball in traffic, with one defender on his back and three more close by.

He keeps this up and a Falcons tight end might actually lose a little anonymity. As it is, it might be tough to find a man on the street in Atlanta who knows who the Falcons’ starting tight end is, much less his replacement.

But that’s all well and good with Peelle, a seven-year veteran of the NFL who played high school, college and most of his professional football on the west coast. He grew up near Oakland.

That’s not why he came to Atlanta.

“After the last couple of years that I’ve been through, all I want to do is win,” said Peelle, who endured seasons of 1-15 and 6-10 in Miami. “I’ll do whatever they ask me to do, and I’ll do it to the best of my abilities. With the injury to Ben, which is a huge loss for us, I’m going to be playing more, so those (throwing) opportunities become more natural. We’ll see what happens. We’re a running team first that, I know that, everybody knows that and that’s my job. Catching a ball here or there is just an added bonus.”

He was OK deferring the spotlight in San Diego to Michael Turner, even though, like Turner, Peelle was drafted by the Chargers and played four years there. He and his wife Sara make their permanent home in San Diego, and they had 30 of their family and friends in the stands.

“Believe me, I didn’t need all that,” said Peelle. “It was strange enough going home. Michael is obviously the feature-player on this team, so that’s fine.”