FLOWERY BRANCH -- Falcons rookie defensive tackle Ta’Quon Graham has played in 12 games and made four starts this season.
Graham, who was taken in the fifth round (148th overall) out of Texas, has played 279 defensive snaps (35%) and 50 special-teams snaps (17%). He has 11 tackles, two quarterback hits and a tackle for loss.
Here’s what he had to say to the media Wednesday:
ON HIS ADJUSTMENT TO THE PROS: “It’s been a little bit of adjustment. I feel like I was asked to play a little bit more vertical. I feel like in college, but now I feel like I’ve been playing pretty much everywhere. So just kind of trying to find the best spot and whatever Coach says for me to play at to help the team out. Just trying to absorb all the information they’ve been coaching me up on.”
ON GETTING MORE PLAYING TIME: “Definitely, me getting those snaps in the games definitely has helped. I definitely think it’s helped me get along faster. I feel like just playing against those guys on every team some of those guys being Pro Bowlers, I feel like I’ve gotten better each and every week.”
ON PLAYING WITH GRADY JARRETT: “So, he definitely was a guy that was watching in college. Just the amount of success he had, especially during you know, the 2016 Super Bowl run. That’s when I first noticed them. But just having that type of guy in the (meeting) room that you can bounce ideas off of, talking about things that you’re going through as a rookie, you know, him also being the fifth-round pick and me being a fifth-round pick. I felt like it’s kind of it’s kind of been a good thing, kind of being like his little brother in watching the things that he does.”
ON TRANSITIONING TO PRO: “Yeah, I’m looking forward to his offseason to not being not being in draft prep. Actually get a full offseason to lift weights, condition and really push myself physically before Year 2, I think it will be a huge help for me.”
ON PHYSICAL NATURE: “I think personally for me, physically I’ve been pretty fine. I’ve been pretty healthy. Some weeks you are more sore than others. But I feel like the biggest challenge for a rookie, that I went through is probably the mental grind of playing like that many more games and trying to stay focused during that time. But I feel like I’ve tried to adjust. I’ve tried to lean on guys like Grady. Tyler Davison, guys have been through it. They’ve been through their rookie year already. Just leaning on them I think has helped me like a lot.
ON WHAT HE’S LEARNED FROM THE GAMES: “Honestly, I feel like you know you want to be you known as one of the top players in the game some day. I feel like great players show up. They show up late in games like when it matters. One-score games. Close games and overtime. In crunch time if feel like that’s when you should play your best ball. When you really got to lock-in and focus.”
ON HIS OVERALL DEVELOPMENT: “I feel like he’s been pretty good for me. I’ve been taking it week by week. Not taking anything for granted. You know what I mean. Just really trying to grind it out and trying to help the team win. Trying to play all up and down the line if they asked me to, you know what I mean? So far so good. I feel like I had a pretty decent rookie year. Definitely made some mistakes I wish I didn’t make, but no looking back on everything watching the tape. I feel like I’m progressing pretty well.”
ON THE PASS RUSH: “I know that after we get done with all our meetings, we always have a pass-rush meeting on Thursday. We talked about the plan. Grady actually runs it. We talked about the plan. What we are going to do. How we are going to attack offensive lines. We even watch the tape from the past week and we look at low spots where we can get better and how we can put more pressure on the QB.”
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