The following, a weekly feature of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, allows our reporters to open their notebooks and provide even more information from our local teams that we cover daily. We think you’ll find it informative, insightful and fun.
Terrell vs. D.J. Moore
Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell is looking forward to his matchup with Chicago wide receiver D.J. Moore on Sunday.
The two battled twice a season when Moore was with the division-foe Panthers.
“I know it’s going to be a good matchup going against him,” Terrell said. “He was a good receiver at Carolina and somebody that I just look forward to competing with this week.”
Moore, who has been slowed recently with an ankle injury, has 83 catches for 1,141 yards and seven touchdowns.
Falcons safety Jessie Bates credited Terrell for covering the deep route that allowed him to come underneath and make an interception against the Colts on Sunday.
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” Terrell said and laughed. “Just playing good team ball. We recognized how they were trying to attack us. They ran the route that we thought they were going to run, and we just made the play on it. It was good.”
Weis thinks Bears should keep Justin Fields
Former NFL and college coach Charlie Weis believes the Bears should keep quarterback Justin Fields. Several NFL pundits believe the Falcons should trade for Fields.
“This from an ex-quarterbacks (coach) slash offensive coordinator, I would want to have Justin Fields as my quarterback,” Weis said on SiriusXM NFL radio Wednesday. “Unless somebody made an offer we couldn’t refuse, I’d want to go take (Ohio State wide receiver) Marvin Harrison Jr. That’s what I want. I think Justin Fields has a world of ability. All of sudden you add a front-line receiver like that to what they have already, all of sudden, that whole perspective ends up changing.”
The Bears are projected to hold the No. 1 and No. 8 picks in the first round of the NFL draft after their trade with Carolina last season. The Bears will control the top of the draft.
Weis likes LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels better than USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye.
“I watched his whole season,” Weis said. “The guy is simply phenomenal. He can make every throw. He’s as dangerous as I’ve seen with his legs. Caleb Williams has good legs. Drake Maye has good legs. But I just, out of the three guys, when I sat there and watched, and watched and watched, this guy did it on a weekly basis against no matter who he was playing – there (are) a lot of good players in the SEC – and he just dominated.”
Heinicke needs some acting classes
Falcons quarterback Taylor Heinicke, who sustained an ankle injury in the 29-10 win over the Colts, recovered from his block on a cornerback and getting run over by Bijan Robinson.
“The blocking experiment was different; I wasn’t anticipating doing that on Sunday, but it was fun,” Heinicke said. “I didn’t get to see the clip until after the game. I didn’t know I put him on his butt, so that was pleasing. Bijan ran me over, so that was good.”
Falcons coach Arthur Smith felt that Heinicke was being a bit “dramatic” when he was chased and ran into the field-goal net on the Colts sidelines.
“Then, running into the net, I saw the big Gatorade cooler there and I saw the net, so I just dived into the net instead of taking on the cooler,” Heinicke said.
He admitted there was some acting involved in trying to get a flag for being hit out of bounds.
“I was definitely trying to bait them into something,” Heinicke said. “I’m glad he didn’t put his helmet down and blast me. There’s a little game to be played there at quarterback when it comes to that stuff, but I’m just glad I wasn’t injured.”
-Staff writer D. Orlando Ledbetter contributed to this article.
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