The Falcons stumbled into their bye week last season after losing to the Eagles in Week 10.
This season, the bye is earlier and after facing the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, the Falcons will take their early bye week before returning to face Miami at home on Oct. 15, one week before they face New England in a rematch of Super Bowl LI.
“We are trying to get after these Buffalo Bills,” Falcons All-Pro wide receiver Julio Jones said. “We’ll worry about that afterwards.”
Defensive end Jack Crawford knows the dangers of an early bye week.
“You tend to take a full week off, and you don’t keep in shape and take a break and maybe eat too much, go out a little too much and come back and you’ve got 12 games left down the stretch,” Crawford said. “It’s hard being this early. We’ve kind of got to stay somewhat focused and stay in shape and just be ready for the long haul coming up.”
The Falcons have a lot of young players, who’ll need to handle the bye week properly.
“Yeah, man, stay on your P’s and Q’s,” Crawford said. “Don’t let yourself get too out of shape and come back ready to get to work.”
Quarterback Matt Ryan isn’t sure if the early bye is a good thing.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ryan said. “For me, I’ve played so long as I have, they all shake out differently. I think when you have the approach as an organization and as a team, to really be locked in for that one week. Division. Conference. AFC. Who cares.
“Let’s get prepared and do the same thing every week. We get locked in that way. It doesn’t really throw me off that much.”
Falcons coach Dan Quinn has been trying to keep everything the same this week. He’s been trying not to deviate from the way the Falcons prepare for games.
“There are times when you drift off, that happens, but you have to get right back to it,” Quinn said. “For us, we really love the process to get ready and that’s what we are going to stay true to.”
The Falcons opened the season with three NFC North teams and will see an AFC East team in Buffalo. Most of the NFC South games are on the back end of the schedule.
“Last year, we had some, but then I know at the back end there was quite a few (division games),” Quinn said. “As the schedule comes out, you ... have some time to prepare for the opponents and who might be new and have different schemes.”
Jones caught 12 passes for 300 yards and a touchdown against Carolina last season when Bills coach Sean McDermott was their defensive coordinator.
Jones, who hasn’t scored a touchdown in three games, hopes to go into the bye week with another monster game.
“They were really just playing me man-to-man,” Jones said. “They were relying on their front seven to get pressure on Matt. The offensive line did a great job of keeping Matt up right, and he was able to deliver strikes down the field. We just took advantage of them.”
Jones isn’t expected to see single coverage from the Bills.
“I think they’ll probably double with two men, but we’ll see,” Jones said. “A lot of people stick to their scheme. It’s kind of hard to break habits when you’ve been successful with them. He’s been successful like that, so who knows that they are going to play.”
Ryan will try to shake a three-interception performance against Detroit against a Buffalo defense that’s off to a good start under McDermott and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier.
The Bills, who’ve posted victories over the Jets and the Broncos, have not allowed a passing touchdown this season.
“I think their defense has done a good job,” Ryan said. “The secondary has been stout. The defense in general hasn’t given up many points. They have played really well in the first three weeks.”
Ryan has faced McDermott in 12 other games, when he was the defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers from 2011-16. He some similarities in the Bills’ defense.
“They are aggressive,” Ryan said. “Very aggressive front four. The linebackers are very good against the run. That’s something that we’ve seen from Carolina. They have some of the best in the league. I think that carryover in the same.”
The Bills rebuilt their secondary by signing strong safety Micah Hyde (Packers) and free safety Jordan Poyer (Browns) in free agency. They acquired cornerback E.J. Gaines in the Sammy Lee Watkins trade with the Rams and drafted Tre’Davious White out of LSU with the 27th overall pick in the draft.
“In the secondary, there’s a lot of quarters type of coverage which they do a great job with,” Ryan said. “They have a ton of different pressures. They give you a lot of different looks. They put a lot of stress on your pass protections.”
Ryan has been sacked seven times, including twice by Detroit. The Bills have 10 sacks on the season. Jacksonville leads the NFL with 13.
“Their edge pass rush has been pretty good through the first three games,” Ryan said. “They’ve gotten a lot of pressures. Which is one of the reasons I think their pass defense has been so good. When you affect the quarterback and get people off their spot and make them move, it’s difficult. That’s going to be a great challenge for us up front.”
The Bills could get defensive tackle Marcel Dareus back. He missed the 26-16 win over Denver with an ankle injury.
“He’s a great player,” Ryan said. “Anytime you have great players that you’re going against, it makes it more difficult. But we’ll see where everybody is at, at the end of the week.”
