DeCoud, Johnson stand up for Falcons' defense

Thomas DeCoud and Thomas Johnson share more than a first name.

DeCoud, the Falcons' free safety, and Johnson, their nose tackle, played integral roles in the Falcons' thwarting of the Chicago Bears on Sunday night.

DeCoud contributed two game-tilting interceptions and Johnson was at the heart of the Falcons' run-stopping efforts. They helped send the Bears out of Atlanta unsatisfied for a second consecutive October.

"Our offense wasn't really clicking on all cylinders," DeCoud said. "It was kind of on us as a defense and [on] special teams to pick up that slack and make the plays … and get the ball back in the [offense's] hands so they could get in a rhythm."

While credited with only two tackles, Johnson's performance stood out. He consistently stymied the interior of the Bears' offensive line, plugged running lanes and freed linebackers Curtis Lofton and Mike Peterson to make tackles.

Johnson said he and fellow tackle Trey Lewis have been working together before practice, training themselves to stay low coming off the snap.

Johnson said, "I think it paid off today."

Lofton and Peterson combined for 15 total tackles, three tackles for loss and a forced fumble.

Johnson said, "If those guys are making plays, then I did my job."

Going into the game ranking 26th in the league in rushing yards, the Bears had wanted to establish the running game against the Falcons. It didn't happen. Forte, who ran for 1,238 yards last season as a rookie, ran 15 times for 23 yards with a long of 5 yards. It was the lowest output of his career.

Johnson himself got in on the action with a tackle for a loss of Forte, a play that helped force a third-quarter three-and-out and return the ball to the Falcons after a Matt Ryan interception.

Johnson was on the field for the Falcons' goal-line stand later in the third quarter, helping stuff Forte on second down that led to Forte's lost fumble on third down. The stand preserved the Falcons' 14-7 lead.

It was pretty good work for a player who was out of the league for the past two seasons. The Falcons signed the 6-foot-2, 304-pound Johnson as a free agent in the offseason as a potential replacement for big-bodied Grady Jackson, who left as a free agent to Detroit.

"I've been on him the last two weeks to use that big body, use that strength," Peterson said. "I think he's getting comfortable out there. He's doing it."

DeCoud, a first-year starter in his second season out of California, delivered two critical first-half plays. On their opening possession, the Bears had driven 50 yards in 12 plays, converting three third downs, to reach the Falcons' 12-yard line. On 3rd and 9, quarterback Jay Cutler tried to hit wide receiver Devin Hester on a crossing route. Pressured by defensive end Kroy Biermann, Cutler didn't take into account DeCoud, who came up from zone coverage and jumped the route, picking off the pass at the 9-yard line.

In the Falcons' zone alignment, "the concept that [Chicago] ran freed me up," DeCoud said. "I was just looking to go steal something and I found Hester's drag [route] coming from the other side and I broke on it."

With a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter, DeCoud hauled in a Cutler overthrow at the Falcons' 30 and took it back 15 yards. It gave the Falcons their best field position of the game to that point, which they used quickly. Within three plays, they were in the end zone and had tied the game at 7.