You can question the Atlanta Falcons‘ consistency and you can question their experience. One thing you can’t question is their talent, because they have oodles of it on both sides of the ball.
Offensively they have three blue chip players at the skill positions, a rising young quarterback and one of the game’s best offensive lines. On the other side of the ball they have two young guns on the edge (although both are out at the moment), two very-promising young linebackers and one solid veteran, and on the back end they have two excellent safeties, including the most-underrated in the game in Jessie Bates III.
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In Sunday’s surprise win over the 49ers Bates posted an interception and forced the game-ending fumble by tight end George Kittle. In the process he brought himself just one game shy of a record set by Hall of Famer Rod Woodson, per Tyler Sullivan at CBS Sports.
“…Both of his turnovers came in the second half, with the interception preventing a scoring opportunity as he approached the Atlanta 10-yard line. Then, his forced fumble on George Kittle effectively ended the game. This was Bates’ sixth career game with an interception and a forced fumble, tied for the second-most in the NFL over the past 40 seasons and trailing only Rod Woodson (7).”
Bates’ defensive numbers have been impressive all year – and he just got a big glow-up in his Pro Football Focus grade. He’s now grading out at 81.4 overall, which ranks him sixth out of 93 qualifying safeties this season.
That Bates has only made one career Pro Bowl team shows how much of a sham that whole enterprise is.
At this rate, he should get some All-Pro votes if he continues playing like this the rest of the season.
This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: Falcons safety closing in on NFL legend Rod Woodson’s record
