Falcon Defense Heralds the Return of Everett

The Atlanta Falcon defense was ranked 28th in the NFL and had allowed more points than any other team, when it got news as welcome as Rush Limbaugh stopping to inhale.

The Rams announced quarterback Jim Everett was returning to the starting lineup.

The Falcons’ ears perked up. They immediately installed two new blitzes.

Suddenly, it was worth getting out of bed in the morning.

“We know Everett can’t perform under pressure,” Atlanta linebacker Darion Conner said. “When we knew they had changed back to Everett at quarterback, we changed our game plan and went to a lot of blitzes.”

They couldn’t have been happier if the Rams had phoned and offered to play the game without helmets.

“The whole week in practice, once we found out Everett would be at quarterback, we practiced the new blitzes,” middle linebacker Jessie Tuggle chimed in. “That’s all we did, practice the blitz. He’s a quarterback who really can’t adapt well to pressure.”

As the Falcons celebrated their 13-0 victory, they blitzed some more.

“Today, (Everett) didn’t look good at all,” Conner said. “He didn’t read very well. He was running out of the pocket, running for his life. We had six sacks and we could have had more.”

Wait. These are the Falcons talking? The guys who ranked 27th in the NFL in sacks with only 10? The guys who had allowed 222 points in eight games before Sunday?

The Rams bring out the best in everybody, it seems. It was the first shutout for the Falcons in a year and the first on the road since Nov. 27, 1977, when they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 17-0.

“Their offense didn’t look good at all,” Conner emphasized.

That was the word from Atlanta’s line of defense. As for the front line, it was more of the same. Everett and the Ram offense also stunk up the joint from left tackle Pierce Holt’s vantage point.

“Um . . . ah,” Holt stammered, desperately trying to be polite. “(Everett) wasn’t on. I’ve seen Jim when he’s on and he’s unstoppable. He’s such a rhythm passer.”

When the Falcons weren’t sacking Everett, they were wreaking all sorts of other havoc.

They held Everett to 20 completions in 41 attempts for 203 yards. Much of that came late in the game when it didn’t matter.

Deion Sanders intercepted two Everett passes.

“They were two gifts, not interceptions,” Sanders said. “They were saying ‘Merry Christmas’ all evening.”

The Falcons recovered one fumble. And they rattled the Rams into several key penalties. Leo Goeas collected three of the Rams’ seven. Goeas’ final tally: False start, illegal use of hands, holding.

“That’s what happens when you blitz a lot,” Tuggle said. “Sometimes when you get beat, you’re going to grab somebody.

“I don’t mean to point (Goeas) out but, unfortunately, he just got caught a lot.”

Things were so bad for the Rams that it took Sanders, of all people, to defend Everett.

“I wish the fans would get off Everett’s back,” Sanders said. “He’s doing the best he can. To me, he’s doing a heck of a job considering what he has to work with.”