Falcons rookie Robert Alford will provide a weekly diary for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this season.
The Hammond, La., native who played at Southeastern Louisiana, intercepted Saints quarterback Drew Brees in his NFL debut. This week, he’s getting ready to make his “Monday Night Football” debut as he faces rookie quarterback Geno Smith and the New York Jets.
Here’s his fifth installment, as told to D. Orlando Ledbetter.
I’ve been watching “Monday Night Football” ever since I started playing the game of football at age of 12. It’s always been a dream for me to play on Sundays and Monday nights. Just to play in the NFL as a whole is truly a blessing.
Everything is going good as we prepare for the Jets. The coaches have a good game plan for us. All we have to do is go out there on Sundays and just execute it.
It felt real good to play against Tom Brady last week. He’s known in the NFL for being a great quarterback. I think, as a whole, the secondary did good against Tom Brady.
It will be different going against rookie Jets quarterback Geno Smith. They are all in the NFL. They got Geno for a certain reason. He’s a star quarterback. We just have to go out there and treat him like he’s a veteran and has been in the league for 10 years. … We can’t let our guard down and feel like just because he’s a rookie that he’s going to make mistakes. We have to execute our plays and make things happen.
Everybody wants a better record. We are going to come back and turn this thing around and have a winning season this year.
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