Tweets of the Game: Boy that Sucked Edition

Falcons coach Mike Smith has to fix his defense and the new practice rules are making that more difficult.
 
The former defensive coordinator knows if the Falcons miss tackles against Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles like they did in the opener against the Chicago Bears that the game will be over quickly.
 
“You work on the things that you didn’t do well and those were the emphasis points in practice,” Smith said. “In terms of changing the practice schedule, we’ve worked this schedule since the first day we got here and we’re not going to change it in terms of what we’re going to do. We’re just going to emphasize the things that we did poorly in the practice.”
 
Under the new practice rules, the Falcons have just one-padded practice a week to work out the kinks.

Also, the defense will be down one starter because defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux tore a medial collateral ligament in his knee and is out three to five weeks. However, defensive tackle Corey Peters, who was out for the last month, did return to practice. The goal is to have Peters ready to take over his nose tackle spot and move Peria Jerry over to Babineaux’s under tackle spot.

The Falcons may also get some help for their secondary, which gave up 312 yards passing and two touchdowns against the Bears. Cornerback Kelvin Hayden and safety James Sanders could be ready for the Eagles.
 
The Falcons are hoping that Hayden can take over the nickel back spot from Christopher Owens, who has an ankle injury.

“They’ve had a crash course over the last two weeks and I think they’ve done very well in terms of picking up our defense,” Smith said. “It’s just going to be a matter of time getting a comfort level of putting them in. They’re definitely a lot further along this week than where they were last week.”
 
The Falcons are adjusting their angles of pursuit in practice to brace for the speedy Eagles.

“They’re one of the fastest units in the league,” Smith said. “We have to make sure that we’re taking the right angles in practice. You can simulate your angles by telling them when you think you’ve got the right angle, you need to take it a little bit further because those guys are going to be running a lot faster on Sunday.”
 
The Falcons are aware of the stats on teams that start the season 0-2 and how only three teams have come back from that hole to win the Super Bowl.

“When you don’t play well, there’s a sense of urgency to want to get back out on the field just to have an opportunity to play better,” Smith said. “This is a very long season. We did not start the season the way that we wanted to start it, plain and simple.”
 
SERIES HISTORY: 27th regular-season meeting. Eagles lead series, 15-10-1. Philadelphia is unbeaten in the last four games. Most historic meeting between the teams was in the NFC Championship game after the 2005 season, when the Eagles prevailed over the Michael Vick-led Falcons, 27-10.

add me on twitter @tallen0919

only to discover his mother died unexpectedly yesterday. Ouch.

that should help the pass coverage a lot.