The turnaround from Thursday to Saturday was a quick one as Eric Weems barely had the ink dry on his new contract with the Falcons before he was right at work preparing for the third preseason game.
The team announced his return Thursday afternoon and by Saturday, Weems was in uniform and on the field for the Falcons. He was relegated to special teams duty — something he excelled at during his previous stint in Atlanta — and he put together a solid performance, all things considered.
"I kinda knew some of the system from a while ago, what was going on," Weems said Monday. "I was familiar with (special teams coordinator) Keith (Armstrong). ... I have to get acquainted with the offense some more, but I played a lot of special teams. That was it."
Weems checks in at the third receiver spot behind Roddy White and Harry Douglas on the Falcons' fourth unofficial depth chart of the preseason. Weems is thrust in the middle of what is now a crowded wide receiver battle near the back end of the depth chart with veterans like Courtney Roby and newcomers like Bernard Reedy, Geraldo Boldewijn and Jeremy Ebert.
For his first performance back with the team on such a quick turnaround, head coach Mike Smith sounded impressed.
"I thought Eric did a nice job. He had an assist on a coverage play and he brought a lot of energy," Smith said. "I was really impressed with the way our special teams bounced back. Sometimes, it gets overlooked with some of the guys that are playing in those two preseason games and the positions that they're playing. When we get to that third preseason game and we put guys in the spots that we think they'll be playing during the regular season, they played much better.
"For Eric to come and recall the things that we were doing two years ago, it says a lot about his football intelligence."
