Rookies tackling job on Falcons' defense
By Paul Domowitch STAFF WRITER HOUSTON - The Falcons have managed to make it to Super Bowl LI with a defense that features four rookie starters - safety Keanu Neal, linebackers Deion Jones and De'Vondre Campbell and nickel back Brian Poole.
HOUSTON - The Falcons have managed to make it to Super Bowl LI with a defense that features four rookie starters - safety Keanu Neal, linebackers Deion Jones and De'Vondre Campbell and nickel back Brian Poole.
Neal, out of the University of Florida, was a first-round pick, the 17th overall selection. Jones, from LSU, was taken in the second round, and Campbell, from Minnesota, in the fourth. Poole, a teammate of Neal's at Florida, was an undrafted free agent.
"We can't control their lack of experience, but we can control their readiness," Falcons head coach Dan Quinn said. "I've been very pleased with their development.
"We knew there would be some growing pains while they learned the system. It was just a matter of how fast they could get up to speed."
The Falcons finished 27th in points allowed and 25th in yards allowed this season. But they've held their last six opponents, including playoff victims Seattle and Green Bay, to 19.3 points per game.
"We're not really rookies anymore," said Neal.
Second-year defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said there has been no trepidation about playing alongside four rookies.
"Watching them in training camp, you could see the talent they had, the physicality they had," he said. "And the confidence they had in themselves.
"I was a guy who went through it last year. So I knew that the more experience you get the better you play."
Notes
Both teams were off Tuesday. Ten players from each team, including quarterbacks Tom Brady and Matt Ryan, and head coaches Bill Belichick and Dan Quinn, met with the media. Both teams will be back on the field Wednesday . . . Patriots safety Patrick Chung is a big fan of former Eagles safety Brian Dawkins and hopes he gets voted into the Hall of Fame on Saturday. "He was a beast," Chung said. "I always liked the way he played. He has so much passion. Crawling on the ground like Wolverine. When you see that as a kid, you say, wow, that dude is crazy. And he's out there making plays" . . . Falcons safety Keanu Neal is the younger brother of Clinton Hart, who played for the Eagles in 2003. "(Dawkins) was a fierce competitor," Neal said. "But off the field he was a normal Christian man. He's a guy I really looked up to and respected."
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