The soft-spoken Deion Jones must lead the defense against Tampa Bay and will be the X-Factor for this important game.
Jones has eased into his role as leader of the defense with some urging from head coach Dan Quinn and linebackers coach Jeff Ulbrich.
“It’s his communication that has taken a big jump, in my opinion, over the last month,” Quinn said. “The alerts for the other players at the line-of-scrimmage, the calls, those are the things that don’t show up on the stat sheet, but from a coaching side of things we know the importance of that.”
In the last meeting with the Bucs, the defense didn’t put its collective foot down after the offense raced out to a 27-6 lead. The defense, which lost cornerbacks Desmond Trufant and Brian Poole to injury and finished the game with free safety Ricardo Allen at nickel back, let the Bucs back in the game at 27-20.
The Falcons won 34-20, but should have stomped out the Bucs.
Jones, the second-year shining star from LSU, leads the team in tackles with 109. He had the spectacular game-saving interception against the Saints.
His play is speaking volumes and apparently he’s doing the same with his mouth more.
“Deion is a phenomenal athlete,” defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel said. “He’s gives you the ability to pressure, play man-to-man, he can cover wide receivers down the middle of the field. He can do multiple things. The thing that a lot of people don’t give him credit for is the intensity that he plays with.”
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