You've probably seen Kroy Biermann do a little bit of everything for the Falcons. In year's past he's helped out as a kicker, but primarily he's a defensive end and special teams ace. Last week against the Eagles, Biermann had one of his better games of the season, finishing with seven tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss and a QB hit.
It seemed like Biermann was in the backfield frequently in his 52 snaps on defense. As has been the case with Biermann during his five-year career with the Falcons, he's asked to do a lot of different things, including dropping from the end position into a free safety role in certain packages.
"It's exciting," he said on Thursday. "It's something I've taken in stride and loved being in the positions that I'm at. I'm excited to be winning. It's a credit to all of these guys. We're all having to learn a bunch of different things. The safeties are doing good with their looks. The linebackers are doing good with their looks. The D-linemen are doing good with the rotation we've got. It's been a good year so far and again, it's a credit to all of the guys around me."
On the season, he's got two sacks and 11 QB hurries. He also has 14 tackles counted as stops by ProFootballFocus.com (a stop is defined as a tackle that amounts to a negative gain). Biermann said there haven't been wholesale changes on defense, just tweaks that have improved the performance of nearly everyone and are designed to give a variety of looks for opponents.
One of the places Biermann continues to make a name for himself is on special teams, specifically as a key player in coverages. Long considered one of the top players on the team at special teams because of his tenacity in getting down the field, Biermann is once again near the top of the team in tackles. His four special teams tackles is second on the team to Chris Hope. Biermann is the Falcons representative for special teams player in Pro Bowl voting.
"Yeah, I've still got to run down there on kicks and knock some heads off," Biermann said with a laugh. "That's fun, I've always loved that. (Special teams coordinator) Keith (Armstrong) gets us right. Every weekend, he's ready to roll and his energy is crazy. I love covering kicks for him. That'll be a thing all year, I think."
Last week's game for Biermann could be looked at as a turning point. Adapting to a variety of new things in the defense, the defensive end continues to grow inside Mike Nolan's scheme.
"Kroy's done a very nice job for us," head coach Mike Smith said on Thursday. "He really started to have some production this past game in terms of sacks and touches on the quarterback. He's a guy that can do a lot of different things. We've given him some roles that he hasn't played in the past, but he's done a very nice job."
