Over the bye week, the Falcons made it a point to heavily scrutinize their personnel and coaching arrangements.
“There were a lot of changes out there on the football field, on the sideline and in the press box,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said following Sunday’s 31-23 win over Tampa Bay. “We looked at everything.”
On the coaching front, they brought down defensive coordinator Mike Nolan to the sidelines to call plays with hopes for better communication with his troops.
Personnel-wise, rookie cornerback Desmond Trufant took over for Robert McClain at nickel back and rookie Robert Alford played at right cornerback.
McClain struggled through the first five games. When he was defending the slot, his receiver was targeted 22 times and made 17 catches for 296 yards, including 169 yards after the catch, according to profootballfocus.com.
McClain also gave up three touchdowns. Opponents had a quarterback rating of 158.1 when passing to his receiver. That mark was the highest in the league.
“I felt I did good,” Trufant said. “It’s a little bit different. The receiver (can go in either direction) in the slot. You have to be more patient and more physical. But it was good. I gave up a few outs, nothing major.”
With McClain in the lineup, the Falcons also struggled on third down; teams had converted 33-of-66 plays. With Trufant holding up in coverage and some better tackling, the Falcons limited the Buccaneers to 5-of-17 (29 percent) on third down conversions.
The Falcons played more man-to-man coverage and blitzed more frequently against Tampa Bay rookie quarterback Mike Glennon.
“Offense is all about timing. So if you can get your hands on the receiver, that throws everything off,” Trufant said. “That was big for us.”
Trufant finished with seven tackles, a pass breakup and forced a fumble.
“It comes back to one-on-one matchups,” Trufant said. “They put us up in that press coverage with no help. You just have to win and we did that today.”
Alford had seen most of his action on the left side in relief of the injured Asante Samuel.
“It felt real good,” Alford said about playing on the right side. “During training camp, Coach had us flip-flopping to the left and right side just so that we would be prepared for this day. I was very prepared for it.”
McClain did get some action at right cornerback, when Samuel went down for a series with a thigh injury.
Muffed punt: Alford, who was in his first game as the team's primary punt returner, had a costly fumble in the third quarter. The Bucs converted the turnover into a touchdown to close to 24-17.
“I tried to do a little too much,” Alford said. “I had the ball a little loose. I didn’t tuck it. On my way down, a guy came in and punched it out. It was a fumble. I was scrambling at the ball and trying to get it back.”
He spoke with special teams coordinator Keith Armstrong when he came to the sideline.
“The only thing he said was let it go and move on to the next play,” Alford said. “Then he told me to make sure that I tuck the ball in.”
Sack masters: The Falcons, who entered the game with just 11 sacks, had three against the Bucs and rattled Glennon with five additional hits.
“We had a rotation that was a little bit different in terms of who was actually participating,” Smith said.
In addition to William Moore’s sack early in the game, linebacker Joplo Bartu and defensive end Jonathan Massaquoi spilt a sack and defensive tackle Peria Jerry had a sack and two of the quarterback hits.
Injury report: Linebacker Stephen Nicholas sustained a thigh injury did not return to the game.
Bucs safety Dashon Goldson left the game with a knee injury in the first half but later returned. Bucs running back Doug Martin left the game in the third quarter with a shoulder injury and did not return.
Dent returns: Linebacker Akeem Dent, who missed the Jets game on Oct. 7 with an ankle sprain, returned to the starting lineup. He finished with four tackles.
Etc.: Smith now has a 8-3 record against Tampa Bay. … Quarterback Matt Ryan has led the Falcons to an 18-1 record when he throws three or more touchdown passes and a 34-2 record when his quarterback rating is 100 or higher. His rating Sunday was 148.4. The Falcons have now scored two defensive touchdowns in 2013: Thomas DeCoud's 30-yard fumble recovery on Sunday and defensive end Osi Umenyiora's 68-yard interception return against St. Louis on Sept. 15.
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