FLOWERY BRANCH -- One way for the Falcons’ defense to improve is to cut down on missed tackles.
Through seven games, the Falcons have missed 38 tackles (5.4 per game) and have a missed-tackle percentage of 8.8%, according to Pro Football Reference’s advanced stats.
Linebacker Deion Jones and cornerback Fabian Moreau have five missed tackles each, tops on the team. But Isaiah Oliver is the leader in missed tackle percentage at 21.4% followed by Moreau 20.8%, T.J. Green 18.8% and Chris Williamson at 16.7%.
Oliver is on injured reserve, and Green was cut after missing more tackles against Miami on Sunday.
There are five players with three missed tackles each (Green, Oliver, Foye Oluokun, A.J. Terrell and Erik Harris).
There are three played with two missed tackles and nine players with one missed tackle.
Given that teams don’t tackle to the ground in practice any more in the name of player safety, missed tackles have become a part of early-season NFL football.
“You can do a drill all you want,” Falcons defensive coordinator Dean Pees said Thursday. “Drills are always going to look good. He’s going to always make the tackle. He’s going always to have his head on the right side.”
The players have to practice everything but the last step of the tackle.
“The best thing to do is to do it in practice, but not necessarily take the guy down to the ground,” Pees said. “But the best thing is when it’s going live and in practice, full speed, and it’s not a drill set up for you to look good.
“That’s when you really have to practice being a good tackler in space. There is no secret to it. For every team, it’s exactly the same thing. You’ve got to practice it when you are actually doing practice, not a drill.”
Bringing back the Oklahoma tackling drill, for those old-timers, is not a solution.
“There isn’t any drill that’s going to simulate a game in tackling,” Pees said. “There just isn’t. We just have to do it in practice. We have to do a better job of forming up and not obviously taking our guys down hitting and all that stuff. You can still form up, come under control and do all of that stuff you’re coached to do in tackling.”
Pees and Falcons coach Arthur Smith will continue to stress the fundamentals of tackling and blocking.
“I think like every team in the league, we’re always working to improve fundamentally,” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “Those are things that add up to extra snaps offensively ultimately, to extra points.
“Same thing when you miss blocks, usually bad things happen. Your quarterback may get rushed on a decision. But those are fundamentals we’re continuously trying to improve on to help us play better as a team.”
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