Falcons LBs Benched or Rested vs. Panthe

[lovelystyle]

During , the defense struggled mightily to stop the run.Entering as a top-10 rushing defense, the Falcons allowed a season-high 232 yards on the ground, with bruising running back D'Onta Foreman leading Carolina's charge, recording 130 yards and a score on 31 carries.As Atlanta's defense trudged through the first half, it began to John Smoltz Jersey change personnel - most notably at linebacker, where rookie first replaced Mykal Walker early in the second quarter, followed by Walker entering for Rashaan Evans a few series later.After the game, Falcons coach Arthur Smith expre sed displeasure with his team's gap discipline, mentioning that the Panthers' wide zone rushing scheme opened up cutback lanes that his unit wasn't ready to defend.However, even though he wasn't thrilled with Mark Melancon Jersey the overall effort, the rotation of linebackers was performance related, Smith revealed postgame. Instead, it had more to do with keeping the big picture in mind, as Atlanta was playing its second game in five days."There was a lot of guys we were cycling up front," Tyler Flowers Jersey Smith said. "You're on a short week. Guys played a lot of snaps on Sunday. We're trying to keep guys fresh on the short week, so we didn't have injuries pile up either - that's a big part of it as well. We'll look at everything, whether it was a good strategy or not, but that was the reason behind it."Scroll to ContinueSmith added that the Orlando Cepeda Jersey constant flux is "pretty common" - and it's only further supported by the snap count. Both Evans and Walker playedevery snap last Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers,but Thursday marked Evans' lowest snap share since Week 2, and Walker's lowest of the season when at full health.The quality of play may have been lower than what Atlanta wanted, but it certainly does appear that the primary Ozzie Albies Jersey motive behind the rotation was to keep its defenders fresh and healthy, as Smith said.Regardle s, it'll be noteworthy to keep an eye on moving forward, because . But for now, it's Evans and Walker's time - and Atlanta doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry to shorten it.