On the hot seat: Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon

Exhausted, Weatherspoon sat in the empty locker room after receiving postgame physical therapy and dressed after the Tampa Bay and New Orleans’ games.

He had nine tackles against Tampa Bay in his return from a sprained ligament in his foot. After missing six games, he was understandably a little rusty.

“Getting back into playing shape is probably the biggest thing that you have to do as a player, when you haven’t played for seven or eight weeks and you go out and play every snap of the ballgame,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “We’ve got to get him into football condition. I know that he’s working extra with our athletic-performance group.”

Yeah, that was Weatherspoon that Tampa Bay running back Bobby Rainey was scooting past on that 43-yard touchdown run. Against the Saints, he played much better and with more vigor. He finished with four tackles.

“Spoon is like a lot of guys, very critical of himself, and I know there are plays that he’d like to have back,” Smith said. “But I think he’s come back and has given us a little bit of a jump.”

The Falcons give up 130 yards rushing per game, which ranks 28th in the NFL. The Bills average 134.1 yards per game, which ranks seventh.