FLOWERY BRANCH – Falcons free safety Thomas DeCoud returned to the grind of practice on Monday with the hope of earning some more playing time.
After starting for two seasons, the fourth-year player is in a weekly competition with James Sanders for playing time as the Falcons attempt to improve their pass defense.
“It comes with the territory,” DeCoud said. “When you come into this league, it’s competitive. Everybody has to earn their playing time. You get what you earn.”
DeCoud, who came up with a big interception in the endzone in the first quarter, earned the start against the Buccaneers. In the previous game, Sanders started and played most of the snaps on defense against Philadelphia.
DeCoud had a rough start to the season in Chicago. He dropped two catchable interceptions and had a few of those missed 17 tackles.
He’s taken the news of the weekly challenge with Sanders in stride.
“The competition is only going to make us better as a team, make us better as a secondary and make us better individually,” DeCoud said.
With DeCoud in the lineup, the pass defense made some strides against the Buccaneers.
After giving up 312 and 314 yards passing in the first two games of the season, the defense held Tampa Bay quarterback Josh Freeman to 180 yards passing on 22 of 32 attempts with two interceptions. Freeman had an anemic 58.6 passer rating.
“I thought that their tackling was a bit crisper and we had some tighter coverage," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "So I thought there was some improvement from the first two weeks."
In addition to DeCoud’s interception, strong safety William Moore had a pick in the third quarter off a tipped pass.
“These young guys that I play with on the back end are getting better and better every week,” cornerback Dunta Robinson said.
After giving up six plays of 20 yards or more against Chicago and nine against Philadelphia, the Falcons only gave up one so-called explosive play against Tampa Bay. Tampa tight end Luke Stocker had a nice catch that went for a 24-yard gain.
The secondary will get another chance to make some strides against Seattle and quarterback Tarvaris Jackson before facing a stiff test against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers on Oct. 9 at the Georgia Dome.
After Rodgers (120.9 passer rating), the secondary will see Carolina’s Cam Newton (337.3 yards passing a game) and Detroit’s Matthew Stafford (110.7 passer rating) before reaching the bye week.
Seattle has struggled passing the ball with Jackson, who was 18 of 31 for 171 yards in the Seahawks’ 13-10 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
Jackson, a former backup in Minnesota, has completed 59 of 97 passes (60.5 percent) for 527 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for the season.
In the Arizona win, Jackson leaned heavily on wide receiver Sidney Rice, who returned from injury to make eight catches for 109 yards.
“We are doing what we can to get stops,” Robinson said. “But there are still opportunities where we have to get off the field and give the ball back to our offense so they can gain momentum.”
DeCoud’s interception was the fifth of his career and his first since Week 3 of last season.
Robinson is not ready to declare all of the Falcons’ secondary woes cured, but the interceptions were a good sign. The Falcons have forced at least one turnover in each of their last 22 games, which is the longest current active streak in the NFL.
The Falcons also did a good job against Tampa Bay’s screen passes, which where a problem since Chicago and Philadelphia had run them successfully.
“We wanted to come out here and get those things stopped early,” Robinson said.
The secondary had an interesting take on the offsides penalty by Corey Peters that helped Tampa Bay secured the victory.
“We [must] have more discipline than that,” Robinson said. “We can’t give them those opportunities. But hey, we shouldn’t be in a fourth-and-inches anyway.”
The secondary plans to continue working on its coverages. A key will be recognizing how teams are trying to attack their zones and the routes combinations teams like to run against certain coverages.
“There are still some things we can clean up,” said Moore, who had his first interception of the season after he tied for the team-lead with five last season.
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