Falcons rookie safety Keanu Neal was drafted, in part, to help the defense improve its pass coverage against tight ends.
Neal, who was selected with the 17th overall pick, learned some tough lessons against Kansas City’s Travis Kelce in the 29-28 loss on Sunday.
“He’s a technician,” Neal said. “He’s smart with his routes. He knows how to play the game. He’s a great tight end. I don’t know what to say. He’s a great route runner. He can play ball. That’s why he’s a pro bowler.”
Kelce caught eight passes for 140 yards against the Falcons. He caught a 35-yarder with Neal in coverage on the team’s opening drive.
With the Falcons trying to stop the Chiefs and get the ball back to the offense, Kelce ran another smooth route to get open on Neal in the fourth quarter.
“We were pumped,” Neal said about the opportunity to get a stop late. “We embraced the challenge. We knew that they needed a first down. We wanted to stop them.”
On second-and-10 from Kansas City’s 8, Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith tossed a 14-yard pass to Kelce to keep the game-clinching drive moving.
“There was this one whip route that Kelce had when I was covering him that I didn’t execute on it,” Neal said. “I’m going to evaluate that and move on from there. There were a lot of opportunities out there that we had and we didn’t execute on, especially me personally.”
The Falcons’ defense gave up a touchdown on the opening drive for the sixth straight game.
“I think we are trying to feel the team out that we are going against at the beginning of the game and we don’t just go out and play,” Neal said. “That’s one thing that we’ve talked about as a defense a few times. We just have to continue to move forward, continue to work and really emphasize our play at the beginning of the game.”
Despite the porous play by the defense, the Falcons had the lead late.
“That’s one thing about our team is our finish,” Neal said. “That’s one thing that coach (Dan Quinn) preaches is that when bad things happen, resetting and finishing. That’s what we tried to do tonight, but it just didn’t fall in our favor.”
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