Atlanta Falcons running back Devonta Freeman (24) celebrates his touchdown against the Houston Texans during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, October 4, 2015, in Atlanta. He opened the season as the starter when Freeman was still recovering from a preseason hamstring injury.
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One of those games he watched was the Falcons’ 39-28 victory over the Cowboys when Freeman, who was the team’s primary back in replacement of rookie Tevin Coleman, carried the ball 30 times for 131 yards and three touchdowns.
Freeman’s seven rushing touchdowns through four games are the most for any player in Falcons history.
“We’ll see how he handles this week and look at it week to week”, Shanahan said Thursday of Freeman’s productivity when sharing the carries with Coleman. White has only two catches the last three games. “I could get in in the third quarter and make plays”.
“I watched him and just saw how he did a lot of things and he was a hard worker coming in as an 18-year-old guy”, Thompson said this week.
Freeman remained modest this week when asked about his breakout games.
Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan was astounded, just as most others were, with Freeman’s performance as the lone back over the past two weeks.
The Falcons also have Terron Ward to add into the mix of running backs. “I thought he did a really good job”.
“He’s going to do what he needs to do to help the team win”, Jones said. Every defender is accounted for except for Texans linebacker Bernardrick McKinney, who is brutal here, failing to even touch Freeman despite being unblocked, probably because he’s been schooled to stay home waiting for cut-back runs on Atlanta’s bread-and-butter perimeter plays. And by now these defenses have seen Freeman’s repertoire, and know Shanny Jr. primarily wants to get his diminutive running back to the perimeter, and they’ve started to overcompensate.
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LB Justin Durant (elbow) did not practice on Wednesday. Coach Dan Quinn said Freeman’s role would decrease with the return of Coleman but that both backs would get opportunities. Jones (toe, hamstring) is listed as questionable but is expected to play.
