Falcon Report

Falcons' Jessie Bates III Shines to Help Move Atlanta into First Place

The Atlanta Falcons safety made terrific plays in Week 8 in the absence of fellow starting safety Justin Simmons.

Dave Holcomb

Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III
Atlanta Falcons safety Jessie Bates III / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
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The Atlanta Falcons were without 4-time second-team All-Pro safety Justin Simmons on Sunday. But that was just fine, as they still had 2023 second-team All-Pro safety Jessie Bates.

Bates was, once again, the best player on the Atlanta defense in Week 8. Behind his performance, the Falcons defense forced 3 takeaways and did enough to hold onto a 31-26 win.

With the victory, the Falcons moved into sole possession of first place in the NFC South. They will now also hold the tiebreaker with the Buccaneers because the Falcons swept Tampa Bay.

In the pivotal victory, as is often the case, Bates was noticeable from the very first drive.

He recorded a forced fumble and fumble recovery on the second play of the game. The terrific play set the tone for the entire afternoon, as it allowed the Falcons offense to start its first drive of the day at the Buccaneers 43-yard line.

To record the fumble, Bates punched the ball loose from Buccaneers running back Rachaad White. Four plays later, the Falcons took a 7-0 lead with a Kirk Cousins touchdown pass to tight end Kyle Pitts.

Bates forced another turnover when he intercepted quarterback Baker Mayfield early in the third quarter. On the play, the Buccaneers tried to run a flea flicker at the Falcons 37-yard line.

But Bates didn't bite on the fake and then made an absolutely tremendous play on the ball in front of Buccaneers wide receiver Ryan Miller.

That interception didn't directly lead to another Falcons touchdown. But it helped keep the Bucaneers off the scoreboard in the third quarter. The Falcons then did reach the end zone again in the final minute of the third to move ahead by 14 points.

Tampa Bay continued to create scoring chances. But fellow defensive back, cornerback AJ Terrell, had the next potential game-changing play for the Falcons with an interception of Mayfield on a throw into the red zone early in the fourth quarter.

The takeaways, two of which came from Bates, gave the Falcons three extra possessions and a huge edge in the game. Atlanta won the turnover battle 3-0.

Bates finished with 5 total tackles and 1 pass defense to go with his forced fumble and interception. Only Terrell and Mike Hughes had more tackles in the Falcons secondary Sunday.

As great as Bates played, though, Richie Grant, who made his first start at the other safety position of this season in place of Simmons, was equally bad. He was often out of position and largely invisible in the Falcons secondary.

He finished with 4 total tackles.

That's too bad for the Falcons, as ESPN floated Grant as a potential trade chip last week. It's difficult to imagine Grant would be worth anything on the trade market after Sunday.

The Falcons also continued to generate very little pass rush. The Atlanta defense had zero sacks and zero quarterback hits against Mayfield on Sunday.

That's not going to be close to good enough most weeks. But it was Sunday in large part because of Bates' effort.

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Dave Holcomb
DAVE HOLCOMB

Dave is a staff writer at Falcon Report. He also writes at Yardbarker, Southern Pigskin, Cox Media, and Rotowire. Follow him on Twitter @dmholcomb.