FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons missed nine tackles Friday in the exhibition opener against the Dolphins and there was no cause for alarm.
In the name of player safety, teams do not live-tackle (to the ground) in practice any more. Early in the exhibition games and the regular season, the missed tackles almost are expected.
“I was really pleased with the tackling,” Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake said Wednesday. “Usually, that first game when guys haven’t tackled in over a year, it can really be sloppy. I didn’t feel that after that game. Still (room for) tons of improvement at all three levels. We’ll continue to work to get there.”
In practice most NFL teams, including the Falcons, have their players hit the ball carrier, but then let them run on through. They call it “thudding.” Give him a “thud” and not a full tackle.
The Falcons lost their exhibition opener to the Dolphins 20-13.
“It can always get better,” Lake said. “It wasn’t excellent. Overall, for a first (exhibition) season game. … I believe it was nine missed tackles and then the next defender was there. There wasn’t a lot of the loose yards, which we were really pleased with. We have to do it again on Saturday and continue that.”
Lakes admits that players are tasked with making a leap from tagging ball carriers to actually tackling them to the ground.
“It is difficult, but we have things we do in practice,” Lake said. “We like to finish with great body leverage. We like to finish with what I call chute awareness for our defense, so they know where they can chute on the (ball carrier) and know if they miss it, it’s going back to the other defender.”
The Falcons’ defensive coaches constantly talk about “chute awareness” in meetings and during practices.
There’s no mercy in grading the defenders, even though they don’t get to tackle in practice.
“The same way you grade them any other time – you can’t make excuses for missed tackles because you don’t tackle in (an exhibition) game or you don’t tackle in your practices,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “You’ve got to train angles. You’ve got to train awareness, and those are things that’s been training.”
Morris also was pleased with the tackling against the Dolphins.
“It felt pretty good on the field,” Morris said. “Obviously, (the day after the game) when you look at the tape, you look at it a little bit closer, there’s always something that you miss. But on the field, in live action, it felt good.”
Morris was ticked off about the procedural penalties.
Cornerback Jayden Price led the Falcons with seven tackles, and linebacker Donavan Mutin finished with six.
“I think I tackled well, even though I missed one,” Mutin said. “It was fun to finally really hit somebody, you know what I mean. That was fun to do.”
Mutin didn’t feel that his movements to ball were efficient. He’s taking steps to have better footing against the Ravens.
“Break in some cleats that have a little more grip,” Mutin said. “That’s going to do it. My eyes were all over the place. I was antsy. It was my first game since this time last year. First time going live for me getting extending reps.”
He planned to do some extra tackling work before and after practices before facing the Ravens.
Falcons safety Lukas Denis had one of the missed tackles against the Dolphins.
“It’s more so of a get-your-feet-wet type of thing,” Denis said. “With the first game just being a learning experience for everybody in ever position involved. But we do a lot of drills that help simulate tackling. We just have to bring those to life. As a whole, we can tackle a lot better.”
Denis understands that the coaches are expecting a lot.
“I get it,” Denis said. “You should be able to go from the classroom to the field, to the board and back to the field. It all makes sense to me. I’m always going to do what the coaches are asking and try to put my best foot forward.”
Rookie linebacker JD Bertrand played in his first NFL game against the Dolphins. He was a tackling machine at Notre Dame (266 tackles) and at Blessed Trinity High (278 tackles).
“That’s always, from college to the NFL, that’s always the transition that’s going to be a little bit harder,” Bertrand said. “For me, I try to be able get a couple of extra reps on a dummy sled out there after each practice. Just to be able to work that and work running by feet.”
Falcons outside linebacker DeAngelo Malone doesn’t believe the transition is difficult.
“It’s not hard at all,” Malone said. “I feel that coach Raheem did a great job (with) preparation. I feel like we just come out, practice, be smart, take care of teammates. But when it’s time to hit, we do that.”
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