FLOWERY BRANCH – The Falcons’ secondary could receive a major boost for their last stand as defending NFC South champions.
Starting right cornerback Brent Grimes, who has missed the past three games after having knee surgery, is set to return to practice on Tuesday. Also, cornerback Kelvin Hayden, the team’s top nickel back who was out with a dislocated toe, could return to practice by Thursday.
“We are hoping [Tuesday] to have Brent Grimes back out on the field practicing,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said on Monday. “That will be a plus. I do not know about Kelvin Hayden for [Tuesday], but maybe it will happen on Thursday.”
The Falcons chances of repeating as NFC South champions are alive.
The Falcons will need to beat the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and finish 11-5 overall, 4-2 in the NFC South.
They would also need the Saints to lose at home to the Carolina Panthers in their regular-season finale. The Saints would finish 11-5, 3-3 in the division.
Since the Falcons and Saints would be tied in head-to-head (1-1) games, the tie would be broken on the second tie-breaker rule: best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the division.
Under this scenario, the Falcons would finish with division losses to Tampa Bay and New Orleans. The Saints would finish with division losses to Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Carolina.
“Again, we control what we can control,” Smith said. “It’s obvious that our guys are familiar with the scenarios that we are in. I think this, not just talking about our ball game, it’s going to be a very interesting two weeks for a lot of teams.
“The way that the schedule is put together with all of the division teams playing one another, it makes for a great finish to the regular season. I know that our guys are aware of it.”
If the Falcons beat the Saints, local product Cam Newton could do them a really big favor.
Carolina rebounded from a loss to the Falcons by upsetting the Houston Texans 28-13. The Panthers played the Saints tough on Oct. 9 before losing 30-27. The Saints needed a 6-yard touchdown pass from Drew Brees to running back Pierre Thomas with 50 seconds left to pull out the victory.
On Nov. 13, the Saints defeated the Falcons 26-23 in overtime after Smith’s controversial decision to go for a fourth-and-1 at Atlanta’s 29-yard line with 10:52 left in overtime.
Getting Grimes and Hayden back for the Saints game would help bolster the pass defense. Dominique Franks has started for Grimes and played in the slot in the nickel defense. When Franks went inside in the nickel, Christopher Owens played right cornerback.
“Both of those guys have stepped in and have done a nice job,” Smith said. “We need to have as much depth as we can in preparation for this offense that we are getting ready to face. They are just lighting up the scoreboard.”
Saints quarterback Drew Brees is coming off a fine performance against Minnesota in which he passed for 412 yards and threw five touchdowns passes. He has 4,780 yards passing on the season and is 305 yards shy of breaking Dan Marino’s single-season record of 5,084 yards, which was set in 1984.
The Falcons would like to keep Brees from setting the record against them.
“Not just to keep him from breaking Marino’s record, I think we will enhance our chances if we can keep him under that number,” Smith said. “But we are not really concerned about that number. But we are concerned about the number that will be up on the scoreboard at the end of the game.”
In the previous meeting, Brees completed 30 of 43 passes for 322 yards and two touchdowns. He had a passer rating of 106.9.
“You want to try to disrupt the timing of the passing game, but at the same time not allow them to run the football,” Smith said. “That puts you in a little bit of a quandary in terms of how many guys you’re going to commit to the run. How many guys you’re going to commit to the pass.”
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