On the verge of making his fourth NFL start, Tevin Coleman would have you believe that nothing will change in the Falcons’ running attack Monday night when they play the Seahawks.
At least one thing seems nearly certain to be different, though, as he prepares to shoulder the burden in Seattle with tag teammate Devonta Freeman likely to miss the game in Seattle while he’s in the concussion protocol.
His carries may well increase, and he might match or surpass the career-high-tying 20 totes he stacked up for a season-high 83 yards in Sunday’s 27-7 win over the Cowboys. Freeman was injured on the second play of the game.
“That’s the times when you lean on Tevin more, and we did that in the game,” coach Dan Quinn said. “We’re fortunate that we have Terron (Ward) as well, who can also play in some roles.”
That was only the ninth time in 34 NFL games that Coleman carried the ball 10 or more times in a game, but while he figures to be the Falcons’ workhorse Monday he said his relationship with Freeman remains the same, and he’s not changing a thing in practice.
“Nothing more, and nothing less,” the third-year pro said. “I go through the same process as I do each and every other week. ... You know, (Freeman)’s in a tough place right now, but he’s just saying, ‘Go out there and do your thing,’ as he would do if he was here.”
In a scout’s eye, there are differences in the running styles of Freeman and Coleman.
Where the 5-foot-8, 206-pound Freeman is a tad more likely to make multiple cuts, the 6-1, 210-pound Coleman usually is a one-cut-and-get-up-the-field guy.
Quarterback Matt Ryan said the differences are so subtle he doesn’t notice.
“I don’t think it changes so much in terms of the scheme or anything like that. We trust both our guys both, and I don’t think anything changes in the run game, for sure,” the quarterback said. “I usually don’t even think about who’s in there when we’re calling run plays.”
There are a few calls in the Falcons’ playbook that offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian will call for one back rather than the other, and vice versa, but the lists apparently are short.
“There’s always ones that we like to feature by certain guys, but we’ll definitely lean on him more if Free’s not able to go, and plays that we use often times are the same ones,” Quinn said. “There’s a few that we have that are specific to both of them, but we’ll lean on him more for sure.”
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll probably won’t miss Freeman, or at least the “dynamic” tandem he referred to that in the Falcons’ 36-20 win over Seattle in January combined to rush 25 times for 102 yards and a score with seven receptions for 102 yards and a score.
“We watched (Coleman) play with great speed,” Carroll said Thursday. “Big play ability. A good catcher and route runner as well ... If he’s going to get most of the load, he’s an explosive football player.”
It’s not like Coleman hasn’t play the role of workhorse before.
As a junior at the University of Indiana in 2014, he rushed a whopping 270 times in 12 games for 2,036 yards, 15 touchdowns and a 7.5-yard average.
In back-to-back late-season games, he carried 32 times for 307 yards against Rutgers and 27 times for 228 yards and three TDs against eventual national champion Ohio State.
All those big plays jumped out at Falcons team officials before they drafted the Tinley Park, Ill., native in the third round in 2015.
“It’s the explosive plays that Tev is able to create, and it’s the 3-yard run that all of a sudden turns into a 25-yard run,” Quinn said when asked what stands out. “It’s the explosiveness, it’s the speed that he has when he can get on the edge or get to the second level.”
Coleman apparently likes the idea that he may be busier than usual against the Seahawks if Freeman misses only the second game of his four-year career (concussion in 2015), although it’s kind of hard to tell. He’s not a big talker, although he did confirm that he gets more comfortable the more he gets the rock.
“I mean, yeah, but ... I’m just going out there doing my job, taking it each day at a time,” he said. “You get a better feel and things like that as you get more carries.”
Coleman figures to be backed up by Ward, a 5-7, 201-pound battering ram of sorts, and the Falcons on Wednesday signed former LSU running back Terrence Magee (5-8, 214) off the Browns’ practice squad.
Quinn also said that fullback, “Derrick Coleman will also take some single-back carries.”
The men up front tasked with blocking aren’t concerned with who runs when.
“I think there’s a difference for defenses. They run differently, but in terms of what we do we keep the same kind of rules,” center Alex Mack said. “We practice it pretty much the same way no matter who’s back there all week long so in a game we don’t make anything up.”
Coleman and Freeman may be more similar than not, but don’t look for Tevin to be as emotional as his backfield mate even though he can bring heat.
“Tevin is a cool cat, and so on the sideline he’s that way, too,” Quinn said. “Where Freeman is up in your face and yelling, Tev is more true to his self, and he’s always ready. ... He just doesn’t get too fazed by things, doesn’t get too out of whack.
“I love the violence that he runs with, when he lowers his shoulder, because of that speed that he has. This is not a 180-pound back. This is a guy who knows how to drop his shoulder and go finish a run.”
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