CHARLOTTE -- Sam Baker, who opened the season as the Falcons' starting left tackle, played right guard for the first time in his NFL career on Sunday. Results were mixed.
Joe Hawley started the game at right guard before giving way to Baker. Hawley later returned after Baker's man, Antwan Applewhite, sacked quarterback Matt Ryan for a safety.
Baker, a former first-round pick, was not in a talkative mood on his walk to the team bus. He clearly wasn’t too happy about his situation.
“Sorry, I really don’t know what I can tell you right now,” Baker said.
Falcons coach Mike Smith would not elaborate too much on the continuing shuffle for the offensive line.
“We made some personnel changes early in the game in the offensive line and then we switched back,” Smith said. “We went into it with the mindset that we were going to do it prior to the game. Again, we are doing everything in our decision-making process to give ourselves the best opportunity to win.”
Baker became the third player to play the right-guard position. Garrett Reynolds started out the season as the right guard. He was replaced in the starting lineup by Hawley against Indianapolis on Nov. 6.
Baker apparently has lost his left-tackle position to Will Svitek. Baker went out with back surgery before the Detroit game on Oct. 23. He has recovered enough to play right guard, but not left tackle.
On the safety, Baker jammed Applewhite twice and must have thought the ball was released because he let Applewhite go. Ryan held on and was dropped for an 8-yard loss and two points. Ryan took the blame for the safety.
“That was just a mistake on my part,” Ryan said.
Moore returns, plays well
Safety William Moore came on in relief of James Sanders at strong safety and saw his most extensive action since suffering a quadriceps injury against Indianapolis.
Moore came up with an interception in the third quarter and returned it 29 yards.
“I think you could see that he was moving around like the old William Moore,” Smith said. “It was good to see him back out there and making the play on the overthrown pass and was able to return it back into the red zone.”
Moore finished with three tackles.
Rodgers reaches end zone
Rookie running back Jacquizz Rodgers scored on a 31-yard touchdown catch, his first score in the NFL, in the third quarter to help get the offense in gear.
“It was a play that we worked on all week,” Rodgers said. “Coach said that we were going to call it. I had my chance to make a play, one on one on a linebacker, and I made the catch.”
Cam under pressure
Defensive ends John Abraham and Ray Edwards had strong games in rushing the passer. Edwards had a sack, dropping Newton for an 11-yard loss.
Abraham had a key pressure on Newton in the third quarter that resulted in an interception, beating his man and making Newton move up in the pocket, where the quarterback was met by defensive tackle Corey Peters. While trying to avoid the sack, Newton flipped the ball underhanded and linebacker Mike Peterson intercepted a pass that was intended for running back Jonathan Stewart.
"We just took away some of his comfortable throws," linebacker Sean Weatherspoon said. "We disrupted the receivers a little more in the second half and that made him a little more uncomfortable."
The interceptions by Peterson and Moore were key for the defense.
"Whenever you can get turnovers, that's going to make things a little easier," Weatherspoon said. "That's something that we've been talking about because we hadn't gotten any in a couple of weeks. Guys did a great job of making plays."
The inactives
The inactives for the Falcons were quarterback John Parker Wilson, cornerback Brent Grimes (knee surgery), cornerback Kelvin Hayden (dislocated toe), linebacker Stephen Nicholas (quadriceps), center Brett Romberg, guard/tackle Kirk Chambers and defensive end Cliff Matthews.
Etc.
Ryan's passer rating of 120.5 was his third highest of the season; he had a 128.2 rating against Minnesota and a 120.7 rating against Indianapolis. ... Carolina wide receiver Steve Smith, who finished with six catches for 125 yards, went over the 10,000-yard career receiving mark. ... The Falcons improved to 17-3 after a loss under Smith. The team has not dropped two consecutive games this season. ... Tight end Tony Gonzalez, with his first reception of the game on an 18-yarder, moved into 11th place on the all-time receiver yardage list. He finished with seven catches for 82 yards and has 13,275 yards. He moved past Andre Reed (13,198) and trails Torry Holt (13,382), who's in 10th place.
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