With wide receivers Julio Jones and Taylor Gabriel coming back from injuries, the Falcons have leaned heavily on their talented running backs to streak to a 3-0 record.
They’ll need both talented backs when they face the Buffalo Bills (2-1) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman have combined for more than 100 yards in each of the three games and combined for more than 200 yards (227) against the Lions. The Falcons are 7-0 when they combine for more than 200 yards in the game.
When the stat was mentioned to Falcons coach Dan Quinn, he nodded with approval and said, “I like that.”
He then went on to share a story about how Freeman and Coleman support each other.
“Freeman had a long run (against Detroit) and really had a terrific finish on the play,” Quinn said. “This kind of speaks of their brotherhood. One of the guys said, you better be ready to go get Free. He looked back at him and said, ‘not when he’s running like that.’ I thought what a great and classy line for a teammate to say.”
The Falcons normally rotate the running backs, but Coleman noticed Freeman was in a rhythm and reasoned that there was no sense in slowing him via a self-imposed substitution. His thought: Make the Lions stop him first.
“(Coleman) recognized that as a running back, you have those moments where you want it again,” Quinn said. “As much as Tev wanted to play, he recognized that his guy was feeling it.”
In the opener against Chicago, Freeman and Coleman had 26 touches (runs or catches from scrimmage) for 107 yards. Against Green Bay, they had 29 touches for 145 yards and against the Lions they had 33 touches for 227 yards. Freeman has four rushing touchdowns and Coleman has one receiving touchdown.
Freeman was signed to a six-year, $41 extension over the offseason. His deal averaged $8.25 million per year, just higher than Bills running back LeSean McCoy’s $8 million average.
He’s been running with authority and power.
“I just like to finish, they can call it being disrespectful or however they want to take it,” Freeman said. “I have to finish. It’s my world against theirs.”
Freeman makes his runs personal.
“So, if you’re in my way, I feel like you’re trying to take something from me,” Freeman said. “I can’t let that happen.”
He appreciated Coleman’s move that allowed him to stay in the game.
“We understand that once a running back is rolling, I feel like it’s important to let that guy go,” Freeman said. “When Tevin has a big run, he might be tired, but he has to go because he’s hot, so let him stay in.”
Falcons offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian has been riding that rhythm early in the season. Jones has yet to score a touchdown, and Gabriel wasn’t a factor until last week.
Mohamed Sanu has caught 15 passes for 160 yards and one touchdown. He had a key drop against Detroit that was intercepted.
“We understand how important a rhythm is,” Freeman said. “Once you get going, you get going. Once you cool off you have to figure out how to get back going again.”
Freeman is fine with the rotation.
“Coach (Quinn)is just looking out for us making sure that we are always staying fresh,” Freeman said.
Freeman knows some of the offensive action will get shifted around as the season progresses.
“We have a lot of explosive guys on this team,” Freeman said. “When that opportunity comes to get a screen or for you to get a deep ball or whatever it may be, you have to take advantage of it because anybody can score on our offense.”
Coleman didn’t mind staying out while Freeman was powering his way through the Lions.
“When Devonta gets rolling and he’s hot, you don’t want to take him out,” Coleman said. “You have to keep getting him yards because he’s hot right now. He’s got the juice. He’s feeling it. We want him to keep rolling until he gets tired. That’s just how we do it.”
Coleman, who in his third season, believes he has been close to breaking a couple of big runs.
“Oh yeah, definitely,” Coleman said. “It’s there, and it’s exciting to get runs like that. The (offensive line) is doing an amazing job of blocking. We just have to keep on working and keep on striving and we’re going to hit the big ones.”
Coleman worked to turn himself into a receiver out of the backfield.
“They count on me in the running game and passing game,” Coleman said. “I put a lot of work in the offseason on running routes and route concepts. Just going out there and learning more receiver routes and how receivers run their routes and things like that.”
Quarterback Matt Ryan has marveled at Freeman’s work early in the season. He described his most impressive run of the season.
“It was in a four-minute drill against Green Bay, we ran an inside zone play off to the right,” Ryan said. “His patience to be able to wait at the line of scrimmage, let it sort out and then knife through, and then he kind of cut back to the left for a 10-yard run in a four-minute situation. ... Not many people could do that and have the explosiveness he has, the patience that he has, to have the vision that he has, that was an impressive run.”
Freeman’s instincts come into play, too.
“Experience helps that, but you have got to have some natural feel to be able to do those things,” Ryan said. “His feel and his vision is as good as anybody that I’ve been around.”
The Bills have a stout linebacker crew led by middle linebacker Preston Brown, who led them with 10 tackles in a 26-16 win over Denver on Sunday. Lorenzo Alexander is the strongside linebacker, and Ramon Humber is the weakside linebacker.
“They are a good team with some downhill players,” Freeman said. “Their linebackers play downhill and they have some aggressive defensive linemen.”
