Falcons’ defense gets a boost from the return of linebacker Divine Deablo

FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons defense could receive a boost from the return of linebacker Divine Deablo, who has been out with a fractured forearm.

The Falcons (3-7) will be seeking to snap a five-game losing streak when they face the Saints (2-8) at 4:25 p.m. Sunday at Caesars Superdome.

The Falcons were playing at a high level with Deablo in the lineup, until he suffered the injury in the loss to the 49ers. From there, the Falcons struggled to replace him.

“Deablo will be back,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “Get a chance to open up the window and get a chance to go. … Assuming everything goes well, he should be back playing.”

Deablo, who has been working with the training staff, returned to practice on Wednesday. He had a big cast on his left forearm.

Over six games, he had 24 tackles, four pass breakups and 2½ sacks.

He could help to cover Saints tight end Juwan Johnson, who has 43 catches for 491 yards and three touchdowns. He caught a 30-yard TD in the Saints’ 17-7 win over the Panthers on Nov. 9.

The Falcons initially replaced Deablo with J.D. Bertrand and then planned to use a committee approach. In the last game against the Panthers, converted safety Ronnie Harrison played the position and led the team with 10 tackles.

However, he had a missed tackle on the 54-yard catch-and-run by Carolina tight end Tommy Tremble that put them in field-goal range for the victory in overtime.

“Obviously, everybody had really good moments and we had some poor moments,” Morris said. “Harrison had a lot of really good moments, a lot of big time plays, a lot of tackles, a lot of production.”

Harrison said he was trying to punch the ball out and get a turnover, when the Falcons needed a regular old form tackle.

“There’s always going to be moments that you want back, particularly that last play on defense or close to the last play on defense, when they got the big play, big explosive,” Morris said.

The Falcons are also anticipating the return of cornerback Mike Hughes, who’s missed the past two games with a neck injury. Also, nickel back Dee Alford is in the league’s concussion protocol.

Hughes was out at practice during the period open to the media on Wednesday.

Cornerback Natrone Brooks played 69 of 80 defensive snaps (86%) against the Panthers.

Brooks struggled in coverage at times. He was in coverage on a 36-yard touchdown pass to Carolina wide receiver Xavier Legette.

“Brooks went out and made a few plays, gave up a few plays, but he fought,” Morris said. “And it wasn’t always going to be the best game for everybody. But you’ve got to go out there and fight, and (Harrison and Brooks) did that. You have got to give those guys credit for that. But obviously, you want more. You need more in order to get a win.”

Rookie cornerback Cobee Bryant, who was promoted from the practice squad, played 11 (19%) of the snaps.

“He was able to go out there and really have, the thing that’s most noticeable is probably the big-time third down (tackles),” Morris said. “He’s covering the tight end man to man, and then got us to that fourth and one, which Kaden Elliss made the great play on for us.”

Bryant had another stop on a third-down, too.

“He was able to make a tackle, get us off the grass,” Morris said. “He really went out there and contributed on some special team stuff as a whole, as a gunner. So, I saw a lot of good things from Cobee. A lot of growth, a lot of development from that young man.”