The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Beasley keeps working on getting to quarterback
FLOWERYBRANCH— Vic Beasley’s return to full-time defensive end hasn’t quite been a full-time return to defensive end. Also, those bushels of sacks that were to result in the move, well, they haven’t come yet, either.
Beasley got a sack against the Saints, his fourth over his past 15 games, including the playoffs.
In the opener against the Eagles, Beasley was still drop- ping into coverage. Against the Panthers, he was used to spy quarterback Cam Newton.
“Oh, I think I’m doing well,” Beasley told The Atlan- ta-Journal Constitution when told fans were looking for the pass rush. “There are a lot more opportunities out there for me, but I’m going to keep working.”
Beasley had his weekly sit- down meeting with Falcons coach Dan Quinn. They look at his film together.
“I was really pleased with his get off,” Quinn said. “That part looked like him. The second week against Carolina we had to have him to spy some. Moving forward we’ll just get him into his normal groove and really get him up the field . ... We’ll see that impact.”
Beasley has to keep work- ing on using his hands and crafting his counter moves to add to his dynamic speed rushes.
Beasley had a sack against the Saints and was disruptive while primarily going against right tackle Ryan Ramczyk. His sack came when he blasted by Ramczyk. He had four other pressures despite getting chipped six times by tight ends and receivers.
Beasley, while playing defensive end, led the league in sacks with 15.5 in 2016 and was named All-Pro. Last season, his sacks dropped to 5.5 while he split time moving back and forth to linebacker.
“I’m thinking in the Car- olina game, just spy Cam (Newton) and keep him in the pocket,” Beasley said. “With (Drew) Brees, he wasn’t running around a lot so they left me off the hook and let me rush straight ahead for the most part.”
Brees was getting the ball off quickly and when the Falcons rushed just three players, Beasley had a natural double-team to contend with.
“They did put the tight end on my side a couple of times to help slow me down,” Beasley said. “We tried to get as much pressure as we could with the three-men that we had rushing on numerous plays. For the most part, I felt like we did get a couple of pressures on Brees. But we could have done a little bit better job.”
Just three games into the season, the Falcons’ rush numbers don’t mean much. However, they are not spar- kling on the stat sheet. The team’s five sacks (28th) are near the bottom of the league rankings.
The Falcons must find their
pass rush while working to replace three key starters: linebacker Deion Jones (broken right foot), strong safety Keanu Neal (knee) and free safety Ricardo Allen (left Achilles).
“The organization is like next man up, next man up,” Beasley said. “It’s an opportunity for you to try to go out there and try to execute the game plan. Obviously, the missed tackles that we had against the Saints is definitely, individually something you have to criticize yourself about, go back out on the practice field and try to correct.”
Beasley had one of the key misses when backup Saints quarterback Taysom Hill eluded him on a zoneread play and got loose for a 35-yard gain.
“I feel like we are all good tacklers,” Beasley said. “We all just made a couple of mistakes. We know we are better than that. We’ll do better.”
The defense will receive a boost with the return of defensive end Takk McKinley, who has two sacks on the season.
“No doubt, Takk brings great energy to the defense,” Beasley said.
Injury update: Falcons running back Devonta Freeman (knee), defensive end Derrick Shelby (knee) and cornerback Justin Bethel (knee) will not play against the Bengals on Sunday, according Quinn. Freeman, who returned to practice Thursday after a helmet hit his knee late in the season opener against the Eagles on Sept. 6, likely will return next week against Pittsburgh.