After more than 10,000 fans showed up at Mill Creek High School for the team’s “Friday Night Lights” event (in which the defense defeated the offense in a scrimmage), a revamped Georgia Dome was host to the All-Access Weekend finale on Saturday. The team played a mock game at the renovated Dome to close out Week 1 of training camp. Two members of the defense were held out of the scrimmage. Linebacker Ike Brown (hamstring) and free-agent cornerback Glenn Sharpe were relegated to the bench. Luckily for Sharpe, his injury was from what coach Smith referred to as “getting his bell rung,” as opposed to any damage on his surgically repaired knee, which he injured during his days at the University of Miami. … During the scrimmage, defensive tackle Rashad Moore limped off with an undisclosed injury. Otherwise, the scrimmage was safe and a good chance for the team to get in the Georgia Dome for the first time since renovations.
Rookies and veterans shared the spotlight in the scrimmage, with the possible highlight coming from an Antoine Harris interception in the second quarter. Harris, a second-year cornerback out of Louisville, picked off a Matt Ryan pass and nearly took it the distance of the field for a touchdown until speedster Jerious Norwood laid hands on him inside the 10. … Brian Finneran got back into the scoring habit with a touchdown grab of his own, while rookie Harry Douglas and new No. 1 pass catcher Roddy White were excellent at receiver. Douglas plucked everything out of the air over the middle while White had several long gains after the catch.
BOYS WILL BE BOYS
Earlier in the week, Douglas and veteran safety Lawyer Milloy were involved in a quarrel after a Douglas touchdown catch at Flowery Branch. That scuffle, however, was nothing compared to the offense vs. defense fisticuffs Carolina Panthers players Steve Smith and Ken Lucas got into last Thursday. (Smith’s sideline sucker punch on an unsuspecting Lucas earned him a ticket out of training camp and a two-game regular-season suspension.)
Fights in training camp are as reliable as Swiss clockwork: you can expect to see clips of teammates tussling in the heat of two-a-days every July and August. Douglas and Milloy, however, understand the team dynamic and have squashed whatever animosity there was between them.
“It was never personal,” Douglas said of his run-in with the 13-year veteran. “It was a one-time thing that never carried into the locker room.”
Milloy, who took offense to Douglas handing him the ball after a deep catch and score over the middle, agreed with the rookie’s sentiments. The safety openly admitted that he has lost a step in the secondary, but knows that one argument in training camp shouldn’t carry over with increasing animosity, as the Smith-Lucas situation did.
“Some people may want to snap that day, but in order for the team to be successful, you can’t create enemies in camp,” Milloy said. “You’re always going to have tempers flare, but at the end of the day it’s football.”
“Afterwards, [Milloy] told me it was a great catch,” Douglas stated. “I have 100-percent respect for guys that have been in the league as long as Lawyer has.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Through faith, hard work and willingness to help someone else, all people have a chance to rise from the hardest circumstances and become a Hall of Famer, just like this old, undrafted, free-agent country boy from Angleton, Texas.” – Falcons assistant head coach Emmitt Thomas
OFF THE FIELD
On Saturday, longtime Kansas City Chiefs defensive back and current Falcons assistant head coach Emmitt Thomas was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. “Emmitt is a great person and an even better football coach. Personally, we’re excited for him,” said head coach Mike Smith. “Going into the Hall of Fame is an honor and we are glad to have him here.”
It was last season that Thomas became the first African American head coach in Falcons history. Prior to a coaching career that spanned two decades, the 6-foot-2, 192-pounder amassed 58 interceptions (fourth all-time) in his combined 13 seasons of AFL and NFL play, and he led the NFL in picks in 1966 and 1974. Thomas was also a two-time Super Bowl participant, losing to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I in 1967 and winning the big game in a 23-7 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in 1970. Thomas is one of 13 undrafted free agents to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The Falcons are teaming up with the American Red Cross for the second consecutive year to promote blood donations until Aug. 17. Fans who donate blood at select locations (www.atlantafalcons.com) will be eligible to win a signed Falcons helmet from head coach Mike Smith or two tickets to a Falcons preseason game.
Horne can be reached at ehorne@scoreatl.com.
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