Falcons’ Kaden Elliss on Taylor’s long run: ‘Guys stopped playing, myself included’

Rookie outside linebacker Jalon Walker felt the defense “relaxed” on Taylor’s long touchdown run.

Starting inside linebacker Kaden Elliss said the defense stopped playing.

“He obviously a really good running back,” Elliss said. “He’s on a historic pace. It’s too bad his longest run really came on something where guys stopped playing, myself included. That’s just unacceptable for us as a defense. Go until you hear the whistle. That’s something that’s been preached since we were little. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

It was a major blunder by the defense, which had seven sacks and seven quarterback hits on Jones.

“I think a lot of people thought he was down,” Elliss said. “The run kind of got stuffed. You’ve got to go. Props to him. He kept his feet alive, he kept going.”

The defenders were not proud of that play.

“We should be used to that,” Elliss said. “We see Bijan (Robinson) every day in training camp and practice … we’ve got to keep hunting for that ball.”

Cornerback A.J. Terrell lost contain on the play and Taylor was off to the races.

“He got bottled up in the backfield and just broke contain,” Terrell said. “Bad eyes. Everybody was looking at the pack, last minute bounce out. Just tried to regain leverage and try to get him down. That’s all it was to it.”

The Falcons are hoping they can continue on to develop some winning traits.

“They have Jonathan Taylor and they kept running the ball and he hit one, right,” Elliss said. “Great teams have things they can rely on, that they can fall back when all else fails. For us to continue to sharpen those traits, and we’ll do that.”

The Falcons played without cornerback Mike Hughes, who has a neck injury. Dee Alford started the game and left with a concussion. He was in coverage with safety Xavier Watts on Jones’ 37-yard touchdown pass to Alec Pierce.

Cornerback Keith Taylor, who was called up from the practice squad, took over for Alford.

“They did good,” Terrell said of the backup cornerbacks. “Next man up mentality, knowing that we have a revolving door for guys to come in at the same level. The standard doesn’t drop. Mike is down. Dee is down. K.T. had a great week of practice. He was ready for it.”

Despite the defense giving up a record performance, they did cause some havoc. There were four forced fumbles.

“I’m proud of the fight we showed,” Elliss said. “I was really sad at the outcome and how frustrated every man (was), will look at the different plays we could have made. The ones that were close. The plays that they made … props to them.”

The Falcons, who have dropped four in a row, may not be able to bounce back from the stinging defeat. The Bucs are 6-3. The Panthers are 5-5 and the Saints 2-8.

The Falcons need to go on a major roll to save the season.

“It stings,” Elliss said. “It hurts. We’re close, but you know with the six losses we can’t be close anymore. We have to get over the hump and start stacking some wins.”

It’s never good when the safeties lead the defense in tackles.

Xavier Watts finished with 12 tackles and Jessie Bates III had nine. Linebacker Ronnie Harrison and defensive tackle David Onyemata finished with seven tackles.

The Falcons’ sacks were by seven different players: Ronnie Harrison, Zach Harrison, Elliss, Walker, Arnold Ebiketie, Brandon Dorlus and James Pierce.

Bates also had an interception. Of the four forced fumbles, the Falcons only recovered one of them.

“The (offensive) line slide away,” Ellis said of his sack. “I used a bull rush on him earlier, this time I slipped him with a spin and was able to get home. Shout out to Brick (defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich) for calling the play. I’ve got to get the ball, too, man.”

In addition to Taylor running wild, the Falcons had a tough time with rookie tight end Tyler Warren. He caught 8-of-10 targets for 99 yards and help to move the chains for the Colts.