In their public debut for the 2024 season, the Falcons spoke openly about making the playoffs to the crowd of about 6,000 at Seckinger High in Buford on Saturday.
Under the direction of new coach Raheem Morris and quarterback Kirk Cousins, the Falcons apparently believe they have enough muscle to push the three-time NFC South champion Buccaneers out of the way.
If not, they think they can maybe secure of the three NFC wildcard berths.
It’s early and they haven’t even put on the pads yet, but that didn’t stop general manager Terry Fontenot from bringing up the playoffs after three straight 7-10 seasons and six consecutive losing campaigns.
“I couldn’t be more appreciative our fans for being here,” Fontenot said to the crowd before practice started. “I know that we are going to have the best home-field advantage in the NFL for our nine home regular-season games, including however many home playoff games that we have.”
The playoff-starved crowd cheered loudly.
“I know that we’re going to take over some stadiums on the road,” Fontenot said. “Thank y’all so much. Enjoy practice.”
Credit: D. Orlando Ledbetter/AJC
Morris gave the fans the practice script and then went to work.
Cousins and tight end/wide receiver Kyle Pitts are establishing a connection early in these non-padded practices. Cousins hit Pitts over the middle for a long gainer on his first throw to the roar of the crowd.
He later came back to Pitts up the left sideline on a deep throw.
Rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and wide receiver Rondale Moore connected when the second-team was on the field early. Later, Penix found Moore up the left side in the end zone for a touchdown.
Moore, who was acquired from the Cardinals in the Desmond Ridder trade, has been working with the second-team. Ray-Ray McCloud has been getting the practice snaps out of the slot with the first-team offense.
Wide receiver Drake London, who left practice early on Friday morning after being overcome with heat, returned that evening to participate in the team’s walk-through. He took part in the practice that went about 90 minutes.
Linebacker Troy Andersen intercepted a Cousins pass after he received some pressure. It was a breakthrough for Andersen, who’s trying make his way back from a torn pectoral muscle last season.
Morris has been pleased with the early practices.
“It’s hard to say impressed,” Morris said. “I started off with a low day. The jog-through. I kind of liked the format. Got a chance to get people fine tuned. Got a chance to get people back into the mental stage of where (they) are. It really kind of paid off.”
On Friday, the Falcons had just two offsides penalties.
“Right away, kicked that person out of the drill,” Morris said. “Kicked those guys out of the drill. Made them sit out. The thing that hurts the most is missing reps. So, when they did those things, boom, right way, the rest of the practice (we had) a limited amount of flags.”
The Falcons will have a pleasant problem if Andersen can return to form. Nate Landman took over for Andersen and finished third on the team with 110 tackles. Inside linebacker Kaden Elliss finished second with 122.
Morris said the staff will look to find a role for the linebackers.
“Three veterans who played a lot of football for you guys,” Morris said. “Getting J.D. (Bertand) into the mix and watching him move around, too.”
The practice was up-tempo.
“It got kind of lively,” Cornerback Clark Phillips III said. “It was fun.”
Phillips III, who is in a battle with Michael Hughes for a starting cornerback spot, had an interception.
“It felt amazing,” Phillips said. “It felt good. You work all week and try to get tips and clues. You learn from the coaches and the players around you. You hope to make those plays and today it was me.”
Safety DeMarcco Hellams finished last season as a starter, but early in camp Richie Grant has been paired with Jessie Bates III.
“It was definitely good to have the fans out there and get a little bit of a fan experience,” Hellams said. “A lot of us were talking about it in the locker room before we came out here. It felt like game-day in high school all over again.”
Morris was pleased with Penix’ work on Friday. (He didn’t speak to the media until Saturday.)
“That’s impressive to go out there and execute and not have a disastrous type of things on the field where you see a coach out there lose their mind,” Morris said. “Even for the rookie to be able to do some that stuff and even mimic some of that stuff, that was high-level ball. I was excited about that.”
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