Falcons second-year cornerback Isaiah Oliver has struggled to replace Robert Alford through five games and he’ll be on the hot seat in a game in his hometown Sunday when the Falcons (1-4) meet the Cardinals (1-3-1) at 4:05 p.m. Sunday at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
The Falcons wanted a bigger corner and had been trying to replace Alford since they took Jalen Collins in the second round of the 2015 draft.
While Alford seemed like a walking pass-interference penalty at times, he rarely was out of position. The Falcons released Alford, who was immediately signed by Arizona. He’s on injured reserve with a leg injury and won’t play against his old team.
Would the Falcons, who preach about competition, have been better served by keeping Alford and letting Oliver compete for the position instead of handing him the starting job.
Oliver is physically gifted, but he can’t keep blowing coverages.
“I feel like we definitely can learn from it,” Oliver said. “Fix the mistakes.”
Oliver, a second-round pick out of Colorado in 2018, knows he can improve his play.
“It’s been pretty similar or parallel to what the whole defense has been doing, it’s been up and down,” Oliver said of his play. “That’s just how we are after five games. We’ve shown flashes of what we can be and what we can play like.
“We’ve shown things where we are just not good enough. So, just getting more consistent and getting more detailed, those are the two big things that we are focused on as a defense.”
Oliver believes they have the personnel, but they have to play the schemes better.
“Really just detailing,” Oliver said. “Individually as well as the entire defense. Things that we know we can do better.
“The landmarks in our drops. Where we are dropping. Where our eyes are. Just little things like that. We have the athletic ability. We have the personnel. We have the guys that can do it.”
Despite the evidence to the contrary, Oliver doesn’t believe he’s being targeted by opposing quarterbacks.
“I don’t really feel like that’s the case,” Oliver said. “Playing in this defense with the guys that we have. With Desmond Trufant on the other side, naturally quarterbacks would rather go away from him. But I don’t feel targeted. Not really.”
The trip to Phoenix, Oliver’s hometown, may have come at the perfect time for the young cornerback.
“Coming out here, kind of together, we are able to be together as a defense,” Oliver said. “Position groups, DBs, linebackers, (defensive) linemen and things like that. I felt it definitely made us closer. Coming out here and being able to go to dinner and just be able to talk about things. I feel like we were able to correct them.
“Feels good to come back home. The Arizona weather and things like that. It’s nice to be home.”
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