Falcons linebacker Brooks Reed, who’s been battling a groin injury, made his debut with the team against the New York Jets on Friday.
Reed played his previous four seasons with the Houston Texans and signed a five-year $22 million deal with the Falcons in free agency.
Falcons coach Dan Quinn said that Reed did a good job setting the edge against outside running plays while playing with the first-team defense.
Reed was not too pleased with his outing.
“I think it went OK,” Reed said. “I just need every rep that I can get during practice. I’m behind in reps because of the injury. I’ve never fully been out of camp.”
The first-team defense keep the Jets in check. The Jets didn’t start moving the ball until the reserves were inserted into the game and they ripped out 30 straight points.
“It’s a new system,” Reed said. “I need every (play) that I can get. Get my conditioning back a little bit.”
Reed joined middle linebacker Paul Worrilow and weakside linebacker Justin Durant along the team’s revamped second-line of the defense.
Worrilow felt that having Reed play was a good step in the right direction for the defense.
“Anytime that we get him out there that’s awesome,” Worrilow said. “He’s a guy that brings a lot of energy. He’s a big, strong guy who gets after it.”
Reed was around the ball and had a nice deflection that was negated by a holding call on cornerback Robert Alford.
“He’s always running to the ball,” Worrlow said. “That’s just the attitude that we talk about. He defines everything that we want to do as a defense.”
Reed wants to get in on some of the big play action that has marked the play of the first-team defense.
Durant and Worrilow had turnovers in the opener against Tennessee. Against the Jets, defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux had a big stop on Jets running back Chris Ivory for a 4-yard loss and defensive tackle Adrian Clayborn had a sack for a 9-yard loss.
“That was very minimum stuff that I did today,” Reed said. “I can improve on everything.”
Reed is looking forward to the third exhibition game.
“That will be more of a game-like situation,” Reed said. “Hopefully, it will go a lot better and a week of practice will really help. “
Reed was excited about the big plays the defense made.
“That was fun to watch,” Reed said. “I have to bring my level of play up. The good thing is that’s kind of what this program has been about. DQ has been trying to get that out of us. I think it was a good precursor to the season. Just kind of a taste of what we can do during the season.”
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