FLOWERY BRANCH – Falcons defensive end Grady Jarrett is getting tired of the tales of resiliency and moral victories.
With their playoff hopes on life support, the Falcons (5-9) are set to play the Ravens (9-5) at 1 p.m. Sunday at M&T Bank in Baltimore.
The Falcons’ defense rallied after going down 14-0 to the Saints in their last outing before losing another one-score game, 21-18. The Saints’ second touchdown came when first-year starting safety Richie Grant got spun around and whiffed when he went for the interception on a deep pass to Rashid Shaheen.
“We can’t go down that early in the game from making mistakes and having explosive plays,” Jarrett said. “We have to cut that out.”
The unit went on to force a punt, fumble and punt on the next three possessions. They gave up another touchdown on the Saints’ first possession of the second half before getting three consecutive stops.
“It’s tough,” Jarrett said. “They guys fight back and we do fight back, but being a competitor and wanting to win, trying to find moral victories is not what I’m trying to keep doing. We’ve got to get better and find a way to stop points from being scored and win some games.”
The Falcons have dropped five of their past six games, mostly because of the offense’s lack of production in the passing game. But Jarrett knows the defense doesn’t have enough room to make big mistakes.
The defense lost defensive coordinator Dean Pees before the start of the Saints game after a pre-game collision with Shaheen.
“That was definitely something that was unfortunate, not to take away from the football standpoint, but the personal standpoint,” Jarrett said. “We were definitely concerned about coach (Pees) and worried about him. At the end of the day, we knew that he was good. You don’t want anything like that to happen to anybody.”
Frank Bush, the Falcons linebackers coach, took over play-calling duties when Pees went to the hospital for a CT scan because he takes blood thinners they wanted to check for any internal bleeding.
Bush, a longtime NFL assistant, has two Super Bowl rings and was a defensive coordinator in the league twice (Texans 2009-10 and interim with the Jets in 2020).
“Obviously, that scared us all,” Bush said. “I went numb for awhile. I have such an affinity for the guy, he’s taught me such much football in just a short amount of time.”
With Pees on his way to hospital, about 20 minutes before kickoff, coach Arthur Smith told Bush he’d have to call the game.
“You always (have) a contingency plan for anything that could possibly happen,” Bush said. “I knew in the back of my mind that if something like this happen, there would be a chance for this to happen.”
Bush relied on his experience, but it was Pees’ plan the Falcons would try to execute.
“I’m different than Dean,” Bush said. “I’m going to talk differently than Dean. I’m going to say things differently. Ultimately, my mindset is going to be a little bit different than his as far as the approach.
“But I had to reel all that in and try to do the things that we had practiced all week. Try to get the information to the kids as calmly as I could considering the situation because it was new to them.”
Bush, a native of Athens who played at Clarke Central High and N.C. State, was on the Broncos’ coaching staff when they won Super Bowl XXXII over the Packers and XXXIII over the Falcons.
It was Bush who was communicating with linebacker Rashaan Evans.
“I’m in the room with him every day,” Bush said. “I understand how he thinks and how he operates. We have the whole communication thing going down. That part was easy.”
Bush could quickly rely adjustments and discuss the nuances of the game with Evans.
“I’m not surprised,” Pees said. “Frank called a great game. I thought our guys played great. We gave up an explosive. ... You just can’t do that.”
Pees was medically cleared and returned to the stadium to watch final six minutes of the game in the trainer’s room. He thought the defense rebounded well.
“I thought they played the run well,” Pees said. “They are a good running team. (Taysom) Hill averaged like 6.8 yards per carry going into the game. I don’t know what he got in the game. He didn’t light us up like the 50-yard run we gave up to him in the first game.”
Pees was back in the office on Monday and at practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. Pees and Bush were talking intently during the open portion of the Tuesday practice at the indoor facility.
“You worry about going forward, how do we operate,” Bush said. “He was able to come back into the office and do the things we normally do. Like Art said, it’s a monitoring process, but I’m totally confident that he’ll be able to operate when it’s time to operate.”
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The Bow Tie Chronicles
Atlanta Falcons 2022 schedule
Sept. 11: Saints 27, Falcons 26
Sept. 18: Rams 31, Falcons 27
Sept. 25 Falcons 27, Seahawks 23
Oct. 2 Falcons 23, Browns 20
Oct. 9 Buccaneers 21, Falcons 15
Oct. 16 Falcons 28, 49ers 14
Oct. 23 Bengals 35, Falcons 17
Oct. 30 Falcons 37, Panthers 34 OT
Nov. 6 Chargers 20, Falcons 17
Nov. 10 Panthers 25, Falcons 15
Nov. 20 Falcons 27, Bears 24
Nov. 27 Commanders 19, Falcons 13
Dec. 4 Steelers 19, Falcons 16
BYE WEEK
Dec. 18 Saints 21, Falcons 18
Dec. 24 at Baltimore, 1 p.m.
Jan. 1 vs. Arizona, 1 p.m.
Jan. 8 vs. Tampa Bay, TBD
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