FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – On a defense where opportunities are more abundant than on the offensive side of the ball, a number of Falcons rookies will have the opportunity to play against the St. Louis Rams’ first- and second-teamers on Friday when the Falcons visit the Edward Jones Dome for their second preseason game.
Among them, Head Coach Mike Smith said, are cornerback Christopher Owens -- especially with starter Chris Houston out with an injury for the game -- and defensive linemen Lawrence Sidbury, a fourth-round draft pick, and Vance Walker, a seventh-rounder.
Smith said the window for players to earn a starting or roster spot remains open.
But it’s closing.
“The window starts to get smaller after the third preseason game,” he said. “I think you’ve got to let them have an opportunity to go through the entire training camp and get an opportunity to play in three games and then we can get a pretty good evaluation because we’ll have to make some decisions after that third game in reducing our roster.”
The third game is traditionally used to prepare the team’s starters for the regular season, as many are held out of the preseason’s fourth and final game -- or their playing time is extremely limited.
Smith said he plans to use a different rotation than he did in last Saturday’s 27-26 loss at Detroit at a number of positions, including quarterback and on the defensive line.
Other than starting quarterback Matt Ryan and allowing the rest of the starters to get about 12 to 18 plays, the coach did not reveal what the order would be for the rest of the quarterbacks.
Last week, Chris Redman succeeded Ryan, then D.J. Shockley played the third quarter and part of the fourth and John Parker Wilson completed the game.
Ryan, who completed 5 of 7 passes for 33 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, said he was looking forward to working at game speed again and mentioned a roll-out pass to Michael Jenkins that he threw at the receiver’s feet against Detroit as an example of why he needs more work.
“We’ve got to clean some things up from what we did last week,” he said. “Cut down on the mental errors, improve execution and, ultimately, score points.”
The first team scored a touchdown in one of its two series last week, culminating in running back Michael Turner’s 40-yard touchdown run.
Smith also named two of the starters on the defensive line: Chauncey Davis at end and Trey Lewis at tackle.
Last week Thomas Johnson was something of a surprise starter at one of the tackle positions and recorded the Falcons’ lone sack. (Davis could be going against a former Florida State teammate in Rams’ tackle Alex Barron).
Again, Smith cautioned “not to read anything into” which players were starting but said in the way the team uses defensive linemen the unit will need six or seven to be part of its usual rotation.
“We try to get in some type of rhythm where we keep a good, fresh rotation in there,” starting defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux said, “so we have guys fresh while they’re in there. So no guys are working too much.”
Asked specifically about Walker, who played at Georgia Tech, Smith said: “He played [against Detroit] mostly in the second half. We need to get him in there and see how he competes against the first and second unit.”
Smith said a number of players will not play because of injury: Houston and defensive tackles Tywain Myles and Jason Jefferson. Running back Thomas Brown, he said, will be a game-time decision.
The team’s unofficial depth chart lists Jefferson on the second team and Myles on the third. Brown is on the fourth.
Smith said those injuries were expected after playing a game.
At defensive back, Chevis Jackson likely will get the start for Houston, but rookies like Owens, the team’s third-round pick, and William Middleton, a fifth-rounder, also will get more work in that spot.
Another young player who is sure to get a lot of work is safety Thomas DeCoud, a second-year player who is on track to earn a starting job.
DeCoud evaluated the Lions’ game.
“The first team, we did real well as a group,” he said of the Falcons’ 10-3 lead at halftime. “We held them to [three] points in the first half, so I think we played well as a first group. It’s going to be those things where the second group is catching up, but you know I think we played well as a first group defense, but there is definitely some steps we need to take to get where we want to be.”
