FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons safety Jessie Bates III traveled a total distance of 110.8 yards on his big play Sunday.
The distance might as well have been 1 million miles for the Falcons as it may be the play that turned around their season. He ran 92 yards for a touchdown to ignite Mercedes-Benz Stadium and help the Falcons on their way to a 24-15 victory and sole possession of first place in the NFC South.
The Falcons, who had lost three in a row, saw their win probability rise from 27.7% to 54% as a result of the play, according to Next Gen Stats.
Bates has recorded an NFL-high 23% ball-hawk rate since 2020 (for players with a minimum of 100 targets). The distance traveled was the second most in Week 12 and ninth most this the season. Now, the Falcons (5-6) will attempt to build on the big win when they play the New York Jets (4-7) at 1 p.m. Sunday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Bates stepped in front of a Derek Carr pass that was intended for Saints running back Rashid Shaheen.
“I think as soon as I caught it and I didn’t fall,” said Bates, when asked when he knew he was in the clear. “A lot of my interceptions, I’ve been catching, I’ve just been falling. I think once I caught it and put my foot in the ground, I’m fast enough to kind of run away from people. That was a good feeling.”
Mercedes-Benz Stadium erupted. The whole house was rocking.
At about the 5-yard line, Bates threw up the “Peace” sign to the Saints he left in his dust.
“Yeah, yeah,” Bates said. “It’s just the dumb stuff like that you do when you get tired. You might get fined and all of that kind of stuff. I have to do better next time.”
Bates, who signed a four-year, $64 million contract in free agency, is having a strong season and making an impact on the team.
“He puts in the most work almost out of anyone on the team, so it’s not surprising to any of us that he’s going out here and performing the way he does,” Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder said. “He’s a leader not only on the defense, but on the team as a whole. He’s a person that all 53, all the guys count on in that locker room. He shows up in big times and makes big-time plays.”
Bates, who started his career with the Bengals after playing at Wake Forest, has been a mentor to the defensive backs.
“When I was drafted, Jessie reached out to me and let me know that he was excited to play with me,” said rookie safety DeMarcco Hellams, who was drafted in the seventh round. “I was excited to play with him. He’s been one of those guys that I’ve known about since he was in college.”
Normally, it takes a veteran new to the team some time to earn the respect of his new teammates.
“I just try my best to not only being accountable for him, when I’m out there with him,” Hellams said. “Also, I watch when I’m on the sidelines taking mental reps. Watch what he does. Watch how he communicates. Just watch for the impact that he makes for our defense and our team. Just try my best, when my time is called, to make plays just like he does.”
Bates has a laid-back leadership style.
“He’s an extremely hard practice (player),” Falcons defensive coordinator Ryan Nielsen said. “He works really hard. He’s a lead-by-example (guy). ... He’s not a very big vocal leader on the field in terms of the hollering, yelling and screaming, that type of deal.”
Bates is a technician in the back of the defense.
“He plays,” Nielsen said. “He’s get lined up. He flies over. ... But then you’ll see him, he’s got a nice way of how he handles it. If a guy makes a mistake, he’ll kind of work his way over there and correct the mistakes.”
Bates has picked up his leadership style along the way.
“It’s just really throughout my career, learning from guys who have done it for a long time,” Bates said. “Just taking notes and learning from the good and the bad and what that looks like.”
If there is something that needs to be addressed, Bates will do so directly.
“When somebody messes up, the best way to learn from it, is to kind of go talk to them,” Bates said. “Ask, straight up, what were they kind of seeing. It’s football. It’s different perspectives. People see stuff through different lenses.
“Just go up there and ask questions. Then, hey, it should look like this. It should be like this. We should communicate like this. I try not to overstep, but that’s what leaders do. That’s what you need to do on good teams.”
Bates knows the Falcons are facing Jets quarterback Tim Boyle, who’s set to make his fifth NFL start and his second of the season. But the Falcons have struggled in that situation this season against Tennessee’s Will Levis, Minnesota’s Joshua Dobbs and Arizona’s Kyler Murray. The latter had not played in 11 months.
“You learn as the season goes, if we just do our job,” Bates said. “I think if you look back in the games we got beat in, we gave up explosive plays. We weren’t disciplined in our rush lanes. You definitely learn from those when you get beat like that. You learn from them and you move on. Use that to get better as a defense.”
With Bates’ help via the interception return and a forced fumble, the Falcons stopped their losing streak. They have not won back-to-back games since season-opening wins over the Panthers and Packers.
“It’s been a big sense of urgency,” Bates said. “You kind of see where we are right now. We had a win against the Bucs, and the next thing you know we lose three (in a row). We’ve been a part of that. Now, we want to learn from that and continue to build off this one. Which was a big one for us.”
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