The climate lastly turned (comparatively) cool and cloudy on Wednesday forward of the seventh day of Atlanta Falcons coaching camp. It made issues all of the extra bearable for Adnan and Kevin, who continued watching and dissecting each play in the course of the third consecutive padded follow. For extra protection and clips, we direct you to our Twitter (X?) feeds (Kevin, Adnan).

Let’s get to it with a few of our observations from Day 7 of camp.

One other day of stout run protection

Atlanta’s run protection has been completely unrelenting for the reason that pads got here on. The defensive position is getting penetration, the linebackers are enjoying their gaps properly, and everybody appears to be rallying to the ball with depth.

After an incredible session on Monday and a completely shut down follow yesterday, the run protection as soon as once more gained the day. There have been a few longer runs from current signee Godwin Igwebuike and Carlos Washington Jr., however each of these had been in opposition to the third crew protection.

Given what we’ve seen thus far, we might not be in any respect shocked to see the Falcons boast a high 10 and even higher run protection this 12 months. That may be a serious enhance to the protection as a complete, and it’s a core part of defensive coordinator Ryan Nielson’s scheme. He’s been quoted as saying that the protection must “earn” the appropriate to hurry the passer by enjoying stout soccer on first and second down, and that a part of the crew appears to be coming alongside very properly.

Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke each make some spectacular throws

Atlanta’s high two sign callers, together with Toledo legend Logan Woodside, continued wanting sharp within the brief passing recreation. That appears to be the bulk of what’s being dialed up in scrimmages, however Taylor Heinicke has stood out for his willingness to push the ball downfield. That has resulted in some good and dangerous performs all through camp—together with a ball into double protection that ought to’ve been picked off throughout Wednesday’s follow.

We usually put much less weight on the one on one drills for the reason that offensive gamers are at all times at a major benefit. Arthur Smith even agreed with that sentiment within the post-practice press convention. However we did take discover of Desmond Ridder’s accuracy in these drills in the present day.

Ridder additionally had one among his greatest passes of camp in 7-on-7s. He threw an ideal ball to WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside on what seemed to be an intermediate dig route, hitting Arcega-Whiteside in stride with a chance for some severe yards after catch. There was additionally a pleasant throw and catch by Ridder to JJAW within the 1-on-1 session.

Heinicke had the cross of the day, nonetheless, hitting a house run to WR Frank Darby on a deep cross for a landing in 11-on-11s. CB Tre Flowers had nice protection however the cross couldn’t have been extra good on Darby’s entrance shoulder. Heinicke has impressed us in camp thus far, with the caveat that almost all of his work has come in opposition to the second-team protection.

Frank Darby and JJ Arcega-Whiteside step up within the WR5 competitors

Talking of Frank Darby and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside, probably the most heated roster battle throughout this 12 months’s camp is sort of definitely for the WR5 (perhaps WR6) function. There are a variety of contenders, however Darby and JJAW have come on robust over the previous few days in pads.

Final week, we noticed Xavier Malone, Slade Bolden, Penny Hart and Keilahn Harris every have their very own particular person moments of positivity within the competitors. All these guys have continued to make performs, which makes predicting this group much more troublesome.

Darby specifically has come on very robust recently. He caught the house run cross from Heinicke talked about within the earlier part and had a extremely good contested catch in opposition to CB Cornell Armstrong within the one on one portion.

This battle appears prefer it’ll drag on properly into the preseason, and it’s really huge open at this stage. Primarily based on the present depth chart and the place guys are lined up, it might appear that Frank Darby, Penny Hart, and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside are main the pack. There’s nonetheless a chance for somebody to make the roster by profitable the punt return battle, as properly.

DeAngelo Malone has his greatest day

We haven’t actually talked about second 12 months edge rusher DeAngelo Malone an excessive amount of in the course of the first week of camp, however in the present day he demanded our consideration.

It began with a moderately spectacular bull rush rep he had in opposition to offensive sort out Jalen Mayfield within the early one on one portion the place he knocked the lineman off stability with a vicious transfer.

The nice day continued as Malone acquired a sack in opposition to Ridder within the 11-on-11 portion. It appeared like he acquired to the QB together with fellow edge rusher Ade Ogundeji on the play—so we’ll award them every 0.5 sacks on the play.

It’s good to see a great day for Malone alongside a number of good practices from different younger edge rushers like Arnold Ebiketie and Zach Harrison to this point. The coaches should be happy with Atlanta’s younger assortment of cross rushers by means of the primary day of camp. Hopefully the group can translate their robust begin into preseason, and ultimately, common season success.

Different notes

• Bijan Robinson continued his streak of days with a spotlight reel play. At present he added two: a ravishing seize on a deep crosser from Desmond Ridder in 7-on-7s, and a dominant 1-on-1 catch working in opposition to cornerback Mike Hughes.

• Shock shock, star CB A.J. Terrell had one other robust day at camp. He didn’t concede a single completion in the course of the scrimmage portion (although the QBs weren’t actually difficult him a lot), and he had a pleasant cross breakup in a one on one in opposition to Arcega-Whiteside with suffocating protection.

• We favored what we noticed from LB Nate Landman, who was as soon as once more a significant component in run protection. He continues rolling with the second crew and appears like he’s actually solidifying himself as a backup to Kaden Ellis and Troy Andersen.
• The offense had a significantly better day in the present day than we noticed yesterday, and a part of which will have been because of the management qualities of Desmond Ridder that we’ve heard a lot about. Ridder tell us within the post-practice presser that he gathered the offensive gamers and advised them that they wanted extra power the following day following yesterday’s session, and his teammates appeared to have responded properly.
• A few accidents for the crew late in follow in the present day. Each G Ethan Greenidge and DE Ikenna Enechukwu had been carted off the sphere within the span of three performs. There have been no updates obtainable instantly after follow, although Arthur Smith mentioned the preliminary ligament checks appeared clear.
• Matt Hennessy remained sidelined as rookie left guard Matthew Bergeron continued working with the starters. Arthur Smith continued to reiterate that he’s everyday. TE Jonnu Smith additionally missed his second straight follow. Arthur mentioned he had a “aptitude up” however isn’t too nervous. Mentioned he expects Smith again for his or her journey to Miami subsequent week “on the newest”. It additionally gave the impression to be a veteran relaxation day for Cordarrelle Patterson and Keith Smith.
• Coaching camp interception counter (solely counting scrimmages and crimson zone drills): Jaylinn Hawkins (2), Micah Abernathy, Clark Phillips III, Richie Grant

That it’s from us for in the present day! It’s an off day tomorrow so a break day for everybody concerned. This marks the conclusion of Kevin’s coaching camp protection for 2023 as he flies again dwelling to New York. We may have our personal Will McFadden masking follow for The Falcoholic on Friday, after which Adnan will likely be again on the market as soon as extra on Saturday.

What are your ideas on Day 7’s follow? Are you excited to see extra battles within the trenches now that the pads have come on?