FLOWERY BRANCH — Just wait, says Jonathan Babineaux, until he doesn’t have to play with a knee brace.
The Falcons’ defensive tackle is getting used to the knee protection he has worn the past four weeks. Yet, he’s eager to lose it and really cut loose.
Then you’ll see the old Babineaux, he promises.
Babineaux missed three weeks with a partially torn MCL in his knee. The original diagnosis called for him to miss as many as five weeks and the possibility of offseason surgery. His return has been one factor in the improved play of the Falcons’ defensive line that struggled while he was out.
“It’s been an adjustment playing with a knee brace,” Babineaux said. “It feels funny playing with a knee brace where I feel like I should be able to go fast and do a lot of things that I’ve done in the past. ... I’m starting to get used to it. You are going to start seeing me the way I used to be, getting in the backfield and making plays, flying around and having fun.
“Hopefully in the next few weeks I will be able to take that knee brace off and really roll.”
The Falcons, winners of three consecutive games, host the Saints on Sunday with first place in the NFC South on the line. The defensive line will be counted on to stop one of the NFL’s higher-rated offenses.
The Falcons had five sacks in the season opener against the Bears. With Babineaux out the next three games, against the Eagles, Buccaneers and Seahawks, the Falcons did not tackle the quarterback for a loss. Since Babineaux’s return, the Falcons have 11 sacks in four games. They’ve added 25 hits on the quarterback in the same span.
“Guys were working hard when I was out,” Babineaux said. “I was helping guys on the sideline telling them what I saw when they were on the field. Sometimes you just go through something like that. You just hope you don’t go through too many games like that.
“We are on a roll right now. We are going to keep it going. You know that the guy next to you is giving it all that he’s got, and having a trust in each other is what it boils down to.”
Babineaux got his first sack of the season Sunday against the Colts. It was the 19th of his career. He has 180 tackles with the Falcons, who drafted him in the second round in 2005.
According to coach Mike Smith, Babineaux has been playing on a bad ankle, an injury he suffered against the Bears.
“I thought that this game he looked a lot fresher,” Smith said. “He was able to get back to his ways of penetrating, creating tackles behind the line of scrimmage, and he was very disruptive. Jonathan’s been a guy that’s been very productive for us.
“He hasn’t probably been as productive through the first seven games because he’s been banged up. He probably felt better than he has all year after a [bye] week off.”
Babineaux, in his seventh season out of Iowa, also credits the team’s line rotation. Along with Babineaux, ends Ray Edwards and John Abraham and tackle Corey Peters get an occasional break. Kroy Biermann, Vance Walker and Lawrence Sidbury have been rotated in. The aim is to be fresh in the fourth quarter, Babineaux said.
“Whatever position I’m in, I’m going to play to the best of my ability,” he said. “But it truly has helped with the rotation as far as being fresh. That way, we can give it all we got two or three series, and then the next guys roll in, give us a break and we continue to go like that throughout the game and make sure that everybody is fresh whenever they are in there.”
The defensive line’s slow start can also be contributed to the lack of offseason work. With the NFL’s work stoppage eliminating summer workouts, a free-agent signee such as Edwards did not have an opportunity to work with the defense and learn schemes.
As the line has pressured opposing quarterbacks, the secondary has limited passing attacks. And as the secondary has slowed opposing receivers, the line and linebackers have more time to harass the quarterback. It all works hand in hand, Babineaux said.
“Right now I feel like we are in that midseason form where we should be,” Babineaux said.
