With Safety William Moore is on the shelf with a shoulder injury, Dwight Lowery is the only veteran in the Falcons’ secondary.
His experience is needed in the defensive backfield. The young players lately have shown their inexperience, just as the Falcons (2-4) prepare to go to Baltimore on Sunday to face the Ravens’ big-play passing offense.
Safety Kemal Ishmael and cornerbacks Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford are all second-year players. Lowery, in his seventh NFL season, knows there’s little sympathy for young players going through growing pains.
“They are not going to cancel (the game),” Lowery said. “Baltimore doesn’t care. We play the Lions the week after, and they don’t care. Nobody cares.”
During the 27-13 loss to the Bears on Sunday, a communication issue between Trufant and Ishmael let Bears wide receiver Alshon Jeffery run free for a key 74-yard catch. The week before Alford couldn’t hold up in coverage in a loss at the Giants.
The Falcons say they are focused on improving the communication in the secondary. Their issues were most obvious on Jeffery’s 74-yard reception, led to Chicago’s go-ahead touchdown three plays after the Falcons had tied the game.
The Falcons won’t say exactly what happened on the play but Jeffery was on the side of the field with Ishmael and Trufant. Trufant stopped running with Jeffery to cover a crossing receiver and Ishmael was late to run over and help.
“There wasn’t good communication and we didn’t execute it very well,” Falcons defensive coordinator Mike Nolan said.
Nolan said communication among players begins when they huddle up to get the defensive call. Players confirm the call again while breaking the huddle. If two play calls were made in the huddle, players communicate which one is live after they see the offensive alignment. Motion by the offense can lead to more communication.
Nolan said the communication seldom carries over after the snap, so players have to be in sync before the play.
“We have understand the defense and be on the same page,” Lowery said. “Communicate throughout the week. We all watch film and we see different things. Communicate what you see on film. Everybody has to understand what their job is and execute their job.”
Trufant and Alford, the top two draft picks for the Falcons in 2013, are in their second season as starters. Ishmael hardly played last season and was a part-time player this year before Moore was lost to a shoulder injury in Week 4. Moore is out at least six more games.
Nolan said when dealing with young players’ mistakes he reviews the video to show “what happened and why it happened” before making corrections. The team then goes to the practice field for more review.
Nolan said he adjusts his coaching depending on whether the player he’s instructing learns better through visuals, by reading it in a playbook or by going over the details on the practice field.
“It’s not just are you going to scream and holler more,” he said. “It’s teaching.”
The Falcons now are allowing a league-high 8.37 yards per pass play. They’ll have to shore up their pass defense against Baltimore’s wide receiver duo of Steve Smith and Torrey Smith.
The Smiths have combined for 800 yards and seven touchdowns, including 13 catches of 20 yards or more. Steve Smith has scored on touchdowns that went 80, 61 and 56 yards.
“They’ve got some good guys over there, veterans who have been in the game a long time,” Trufant said. “Steve Smith is obviously a great player. We’ve just got to rise to the challenge.”
