Falcons right tackle Gabe Carimi is playing well in his NFL rebirth in Atlanta.
He was a first-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 2011 and will be on the hot seat as he gets a chance to face the team that gave up on him after only two seasons.
The Bears were so disgusted with Carimi, a former Outland Trophy winner, that they traded him. All they could get from Tampa Bay was a sixth-round pick.
When Carimi’s former coach Lovie Smith landed the Tampa Bay job, he released Carimi.
New Falcons offensive line coach Mike Tice, who was a supporter of Carimi and knew him from his time on Smith’s Chicago staff, believed he could be salvaged.
Carimi started his first game at right tackle, after an injury to Lamar Holmes, against the Giants. He tied for the team lead in overall Pro Football Focus film-review grading and didn’t allow a quarterback sack or hurry. However, he did admit to blowing a block in the red zone that he contended cost the Falcons a chance to score inside the 5-yard line.
Carimi was the bright spot along the revamped offensive line as the Falcons gave up one sack, eight hits and nine hurries. Quarterback Matt Ryan was harassed on 18 of 46 (39 percent) of his drop backs.
Carimi was slated to serve as a utility backup before the onslaught of injuries that included season-ending injuries to Holmes, Sam Baker and Mike Johnson.
“We need to be better than we were last week,” Ryan said. “The experience of playing against a really good front four last week and being on the road, having to communicate and trust the guy next to you, I think we’ll be better than we were last week.”
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