So Monday night was a little early for Thanksgiving proper, yet after the Falcons defeated the Seahawks with Grady Jarrett and Dontari Poe cooking in the middle, there was yet again cause to celebrate the coming together of those defensive tackles.
With Poe new to the Falcons this season, the tag team took a while to connect, but now the Falcons are the only team in the NFL with two tackles ranking in the top 10 in quarterback pressures. Jarrett had five and Poe four Monday in Seattle to give them 24 each, tied for ninth.
“I think overall the defensive line is rushing better as a group, and some of that goes along with communication,” coach Dan Quinn said Wednesday as the Falcons (6-4) began preparing for Sunday’s game against the Bucs (4-6).
“It takes time for those ingredients to mix where it’s like a good meal takes longer to cook. In their case, I think some of those, it took us some time to get our chemistry correct on the defensive line to make sure those ingredients are all working in concert together.”
The Falcons sacked Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson three times, giving them 11 in two games, and Jarrett bagged one of them and led the Falcons with three of eight quarterback hits. The third-year Falcon also had two tackles for lost yardage.
Poe, who signed a one-year deal with the Falcons last spring after playing five seasons with the Chiefs, added a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit as Wilson rarely had room to operate in the middle.
This is becoming something of a norm, like two cousins who keep showing up to dinner only to raise Cain in the middle of everything and make others miserable.
Yes, it has taken a little time. That probably shouldn’t be a surprise; the Falcons came together later last season, too, on the way to the Super Bowl.
“I think we worked well together (all along), but at the same time things get more molded and as the second half of the season gets going I feel like it’s going to keep getting better and better,” Jarrett suggested. “I feel like we’re communicating, kind of understanding what a guy wants to do against a certain opponent.”
Deion Jones is loving it.
As the 6-foot, 305-pound Jarrett and the 6-3, 346-pound Poe ratchet up the havoc rate, work becomes a bit easier for the Falcons’ middle linebacker.
“Oh yeah,” Jones said. “Having those big guys up there kicking butt every plays really helps on the second level. ... I feel like having two guys that can really get off and do as they want on the line, I feel like watching them kick butt on the line is crazy, man.”
Poe may be modest in explaining what’s happening, yet he agrees the Falcons are more on the same page now than at season’s start, and that spreads outward to defensive ends such as Adrian Clayborn, who had six sacks a week earlier against the Cowboys, and back to the linebackers.
“(It’s) just us never letting up. Working every day like it’s our last. It’s starting to payoff across the D-line,” he said. “The better we communicate ... the more they see and tell us, and the more we see the more we tell them the better it is for us overall.”
In a way, the process of building chemistry up front is similar to a quarterback working on timing with receivers. It doesn’t just happen; it takes work and time. Communication is not always by spoken word. Sometimes, it comes down to knowing where teammates will be located as a play unfolds.
“If one rusher is high and another guy’s low, it creates a seam for a quarterback to step up,” Quinn said. “In the run game if somebody’s trying to make a play and jumps out of their gap because they think they can, (you have) somebody behind you trying to do the right thing, and in essence it’s really doing the wrong thing.
“So, that kind of communication has really ramped up among the front seven especially.”
Perhaps the most important ingredients have been time and talking, as Poe and Jarrett switch sides to change matchups and pass along hints to each other in the process.
“I feel like we’re ... kind of understanding what a guy wants to do against a certain opponent,” Jarrett said. “We both may do something different that’ll work good against this guy, so we don’t designate what side we play. If he wants to play this side, it’s fine.
“We work well together, and with all the other guys as well. It’s whatever you’re doing in sports, business or whatever as long as you keep trying to get better and better, things are going to get better.”
Jones might have the best vantage point to watch on the field. Defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel likes what he’s seen as well.
“Coming from a different team and understanding everything and finding out where you fit in, and what you bring to the table and being yourself ... Dontari has done a great job of that,” Manuel said.
“Coming in and fitting in and understanding his role, knowing that he can be a big part along with Grady and along with our other guys that we have a great rotation with, I think they’re starting to understand that at the right time of year.”
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