Falcons face another challenge as Jessie Bates made a fearful comments…
Grant considers the game between quarterbacks and safeties a chess match, he said.
“The first thing is you have to do your job, but if you’ve done your film study and you know and you are reading the quarterback, it’s time to go,” Grant said. “Believe what you see is pretty much what we say.”
It’s another Bates lesson.
“You can’t second guess yourself,” Abernathy said. “I would say in my eyes, we are playing against the quarterbacks, and it’s kind of like the quarterback when he is throwing the ball. He has to trust his training and his instincts and can’t second-guess himself as he’s making the throw. It’s kind of similar as a safety trying to jump a route.”
Some of Bates’ success is due to instinct, but most of it is simply hard work that can be taught to younger teammates, Bates said.
“It’s a little bit of wanting to watch the film, preparation and also having the experience and the feel for it,” he said.
The same is true for becoming a winning program, Bates said. Some of it is about the way players carry themselves, but most of it is about hard work.
Bates “is exactly what we saw on tape and what Steve Jackson said he was,” Smith said. “He’s been that and more.”
And the Falcons need all of it now.
When the Atlanta Falcons gave Jessie Bates the third-most expensive defensive free-agency deal of the offseason, they expected two things.
Bates has already checked the first box. The sixth-year safety has a career-high five interceptions, the third most in the NFL, and has forced a team-high three fumbles.
“You hope for that return on investment, right?” Falcons coach Arthur Smith said. “We were very convicted on not only the player but the person. Some guys get satisfied when they get a deal, but Jessie is one of those guys who continues to work. Makes my job fun coming in every day and talking football with Jessie.”
Now Atlanta needs Bates to handle the second part of his job, and it’s going to be a lot harder. In five seasons in Cincinnati, the Wake Forest alumnus helped the Bengals go from a two-win team in 2019 to the Super Bowl in the 2021 season.
