FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. – Atlanta defensive end Takkarist McKinley doesn’t expect anyone to feel sorry for the Falcons’ injury-ravaged defense, and especially not their opponents.
The second-year pro makes a good point. The team earned a playoff berth the past two seasons with a mostly healthy defense, but it has been a different story in 2018.
The Falcons (1-3) are reeling now that Grady Jarrett, their best interior lineman, will make it four defensive starters out for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh (1-2-1).
“It sucks not having Grady out there, but we can’t be sad, because the Steelers won’t be sad about it,” McKinley said. “They won’t.”
This banged-up bunch can’t seem to catch a break.
Jarrett sprained an ankle in last Sunday’s home loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Deion Jones (foot injury), the team’s best linebacker, will be out at least another six weeks. Starting safeties Ricardo Allen (Achilles’ tendon) and Keanu Neal (ACL) are done for the season.
After allowing a combined 80 points while losing their past two games in the closing seconds, the Falcons rank third-worst in scoring, fifth-worst in total yards and second-worst in third-down percentage in the NFL this season. Beyond the four starters out, there are other health concerns.
Starting end Vic Beasley is nursing a sore ankle and has been limited in practice this week. Reserve end Derrick Shelby has been limited with a groin injury and hasn’t played since a win over the Carolina Panthers on Sept. 16.
The injuries at safety have given starting jobs to Damontae Kazee, who played in 16 games as a reserve last year, and rookie Isaiah Oliver, who played exclusively at cornerback in his last two college seasons at Colorado. Coaches have leaned heavily on Kazee to tone down his aggressiveness after a penalty in a preseason game and an ejection for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Panthers quarterback Cam Newton.
And the staff is working with Oliver, who made a big mistake last week against the Bengals. Defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel called zone coverage, and Oliver was playing too far in front when A.J. Green dashed behind him for the winning touchdown catch.
“Going forward, I told the guys that you can’t line up without talking to one person,” Manuel said. “It’s the growing pains that you have to go through, but that’s a part of it. It’s new guys talking to new guys, and guys that have experience, we need them to talk more. And the guys that don’t have it, we need you to talk to guys that have it. That’s where communication starts.”
Losing Jarrett is substantial enough the Falcons will use a three-man rotation – league veterans Jack Crawford and Terrell McClain plus Michael Bennett, who was signed this week after injuries allowed him to play in just one game last year with Jacksonville – to fill the fourth-year pro’s spot.
Deadrin Senat, a third-round draft pick this past spring, will play most of the snaps at nose tackle, where Crawford and McClain have split starts this year. Falcons coach Dan Quinn said third-string defensive end Steven Means, signed last month, might have to help out inside, too.
Trying to restore some order for his defense, Quinn has spent the past few days emphasizing better fundamentals in tackling, ball-hawking, quarterback pressure and communication.
“None of those are scheme-related,” Quinn said. “None of those are wholesale changes. It’s a matter of us doing specifically those four things really well, and that’s why I think you’ll see this group get better quickly because of those four things.”
There was some progress last Sunday. Missed tackles dropped from 15 the week before to “single digits” against Cincinnati, Quinn said. Kazee got his first interception as a pro, and McKinley, after missing the Sept. 23 loss to the New Orleans Saints with a groin injury, returned to have his first three-sack game as a pro.
Linebacker Duke Riley said McKinley brought some swagger back to the defense.
“We can’t make the excuses that we don’t have the guys,” Riley said. “We have the right guys in the room. We’ve just got to own up to it and be closers.”