Demontae Kazee invented a word the other day, and eventually it sort of made some sense as he offered explanation when asked about the Falcons’ improved tackling, or at least his, in the midst of a season where the Falcons’ defense has been riddled by injury and result.
The Falcons missed only six tackles in their most-recent game, against the Saints on Thanksgiving, and coach Dan Quinn and defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel have both said that was a season low. Which is a good thing.
And Kazee didn’t let anything get by him. Given that he’s playing free safety, that’s a big deal, especially because he failed a few times previously to be the last resort on defense.
He leads the NFL with six interceptions, and Manuel’s happier about his tackling. Kazee ranks fourth on the team with 56 combined tackles to trail linebackers De’Vondre Campbell (63), Foye Oluokun (62) and Duke Riley (57).
Kazee’s had great ball instincts from the jump, but his ballcarrier instincts have been suspect.
He made some serious tackles in the open field last time out, though. Turns out, it came down to trackling, which apparently players can work on during the week even as current NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement rules prohibit real tackling in practice, which seems like a dumb deal.
Kazee opened his explanation with a riddle of sorts.
“Yes, you can definitely practice on that. You know, the past ... two weeks I let the ball get past me. I had to work on that all last week with the two good running backs we faced last week,” Kazee said when asked how he could improve tackling in practice when it is forbidden.
“It’s trackling. It’s trackling,” Kazee said. “You’ve got to trackle.”
That confused everybody.
Kazee was excited, kind of jacked up when reporters spoke with him, and so he was asked: “Trackling?”
He paused to recalibrate, and upon realizing he didn’t say what he meant to say, he then said what he meant to say.
“I mean you’ve got to track ... just track the ball,” he explained. “That’s not film study. That is out on the football field you’ve got to work on that.”
So, to help you sort this out, Kazee said that getting better at tackling, at least for him, has been about more effectively tracking ballcarriers.
The super-short summation: take better angles to the ball.
He took an impossibly short run at Nick Chubb against the Browns a few weeks ago, when the former Georgia running back ripped off a franchise-record 92-yard touchdown run. Kazee wound up diving sort of near the feet of Chubb as he took off.
That was Kazee being aggressive, too aggressive, and not taking into account that at free safety, job No. 1 is to let no ballcarrier by. Nevermind blasting dudes.
Don’t let anybody by. That’s rule No. 1, and he’s improving at it.
“It was great to see because it was the week prior against Dallas that he missed one,” Quinn said. “Almost in the same part of the field so that one I thought was just an excellent example of as a middle field player coming up, you don’t have to blow the guy up here.”
Yes, the Falcons (4-7) lost 31-17 in New Orleans, but it’s worth noting before they play the Ravens (6-5) on Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium that they didn’t drop their third consecutive game because of the defense.
You could make the argument that they chilled the NFL’s most ridiculous offense. The Saints were averaging nearly 40 points per game, had scored 48 or more in three consecutive games before that, and yet didn’t win the home game with their offense.
The Falcons losing three fumbles in the red zone lost the game.
Forget that.
Manuel said that Kazee is growing into his role at free safety, where he stepped in the third week of the season once Ricardo Allen went down with a ruptured Achilles tendon.
It’s not much like the cornerback spot he worked at San Diego State before the Falcons drafted him in the fifth round in 2017.
“He’s learning how to play disciplined football. He’s learning to be accountable,” Manuel said. “... He’s not getting it from a playbook. He’s living it.”
Manuel acknowledges that improving tackling is difficult in practice. Sort of.
“It’s the hardest thing, but I’ve always said if you’re able to thud a guy ... let’s take it to that simplest form. It is harder to thud a guy in practice than actually to tackle a person. Why? Thud I can’t take you down. Normally, I can use my momentum, grab you, pull you, something like that. Thud, I have to get to you, hit you and then run my feet.”
Whatever that means, Quinn sees Kazee in the Falcons’ future plans even when Allen and strong safety Keanu Neal return next year from season-ending injuries.
“I would say safety and nickel are the two spots that I think he’s got feature, what he does best. At nickel, he has ball skills. At free safety, he has ball skills,” Quinn said. “He’s improving as a tackler, the toughness that he has he can play down inside at nickel.”
When the Falcons try to keep their faint playoff hopes alive against the Ravens, they may face seriously different looks from Baltimore.
Rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson, who’s crazy agile, will start and word has it that pocket passer Joe Flacco may be available to play as well.
Kazee isn’t fretting about any of that. He’ll move forward from the deep middle of the field if Jackson is under center, and sag a tad if it’s Flacco.
“It depends. If Lamar is back there, I can play the run better. Flacco back there, play the pass,” he said. “Yeah, definitely, when Lamar is in (he’ll move forward). Honestly, I don’t care who’s out there.”
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