Falcons' secondary/passing game coordinator Joe Whitt believes the defensive backfield is starting to play better.
The unit is coming off its best game, when it held Carolina to 157 yards passing Oct. 29, but still ranks 31st in the NFL while yielding 311.4 yards passing per game. Whitt welcomes the blitzing that helped against the Panthers, but he believes his task is to get the secondary to play whatever defense is called by coordinator Jeff Ulbrich.
“We haven’t been doing it, I haven’t been getting them to do it at a high enough level consistently,” said Whitt, who’s in his first season back with the Falcons. “Hopefully, these last three weeks, you’ve seen us trending in a better direction. We will continue to learn from our pains of the past and learn from those moving forward.”
The secondary has been a target in the fourth-quarter collapses. Even in the win at Minnesota, they had a good game going until that gave up 156 yards passing from the middle of the third quarter as the Vikings finished with 371 yards passing.
Against Carolina, cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson stopped a potential game-tying drive with an interception with 57 seconds remaining.
“The secondary and the defense in general are all starting to come together,” Ulbrich said. “We are finding our identity as a defense and that comes (with) the style with which we play, but also to the calls that we call. We’ve found some things that guys really do well and we’ll continue to feature them in that way. The secondary is definitely improving.”
Whitt has juggled the secondary because of injuries and COVID-19.
Kendall Sheffield started the season with a foot injury and missed the first three games. Rookie A.J. Terrell was placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list the day before the Chicago game in Week 3 and missed two games. Free safety Damontae Kazee was lost for the season with an Achilles injury in Week 4 against Packers.
“Everybody that we have in the room are capable of winning games,” Whitt said. “It would be good to have a unit play multiple games together. But that hasn’t been the situation right now. Once that happens, hopefully we can play better and produce more.”
The Falcons have started Terrell and Sheffield outside and moved Isaiah Oliver inside to nickel back.
“I think Isaiah has found a nice role inside at the nickel,” Whitt said. “You saw the pressure he can bring on the quarterback. He has length, he’s smart and communicates well. I don’t think Sheffield actually coming back had an effect on Isaiah’s play. I just think Isaiah playing inside in a role where he can communicate with those guys and use his tackling ability and pass routes has helped him.”
The Falcons have been pleased with the overall play of Terrell, a former Westlake High standout who was selected 16th overall in the 2020 draft out of Clemson.
“A.J., he’s a kid that I think, I don’t know if I referenced this before publicly, but a lot of people down-graded him because of that LSU game,” Whitt said. “That’s the one game that I liked from him because I knew he would fight. The kid has a skill set. He’s going to be a really good player in this league.”
Terrell, like most rookie cornerbacks, has to get used to double-move routes by crafty NFL route-runners.
“We have to control his eyes,” Whitt said. “He’s been beat on double moves in certain situations that he will improve on. You’ve seen the ability to tackle. He’s not afraid at all, he gets up and challenges, he presses and he gets his hands on people. He has found the ball. He’s going to find the ball even more.”
Safety Keanu Neal believes that Terrell is going to be just fine.
“A.J., he’s very intelligent,” Neal said. “His (football) IQ is very high. He can play instinctively and it shows on the field.”
Whitt is looking forward to the return of cornerback Darqueze Dennard, who has been designated to return from injured reserve after dealing with a hamstring injury. He was the starting nickel back.
“In the Chicago game, he played a good game and was trending in the right direction,” Whitt said. “It’s always difficult when you have multiple bodies going in and out, but our job is to put the guys out there that can help us win games.”
Whitt is making sure that the other cornerbacks are ready to play if necessary.
“Jordan (Miller) is still coming,” Whitt said. “We have a number of young guys in Jordan, Delrick (Abrams) and Tyler Hall that are just producing and (working) in practice. When their opportunity comes, they’ll have to produce once they get on the field.”
Whitt, was with the Falcons in 2007. He went to Green Bay and had a great deal of success coaching the defensive backs, including the great Charles Woodson, from 2008-18. He was with Cleveland in 2019.
“We have to play better,” Whitt said. “This is not an individual game. We are one unit back there. As a unit, we are not playing to a level of consistently winning and that starts with me. Hopefully, we can get that going in the right direction this week against Denver.”
Falcons' next four games
Broncos at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8
Bye Week
Falcons at Saints at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22
Raiders at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29
Saints at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6
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