"The bat phone rang early Wednesday morning. It was a call about the Falcons' private workout with Troy wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan. He is moving up on a lot of draft boards and there is some concern that he might not be available with the Falcons pick in the second round. It's reasonable to conclude that the Falcons are going defensive end with the 27th pick in the first round. But Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff, head coach Mike Smith and offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey don't show up for everybody's private workout unless the player is getting serious consideration. They were all at Jernigan's workout on Wednesday. During the combine, in an exclusive interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Smith said he wanted more explosive plays from the offense. "Creating the explosive play is an area where we have to improve," Smith said. "[Explosive plays are defined as ones that gain 20 yards or more.] Really, creating those explosive plays are very similar to the turnover ratio. If you are giving up a lot of explosive plays, it doesn't really matter how many that you get. You want to win the explosive [play] ratio just like you do the turnover ratio."" Read more: http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-falcons-blog/2011/03/17/meet-the-troy-flash-wr-jerrel-jernigan/
