Falcons cornerback Asante Samuel joined 790 The Zone’s Dave Archer and Mike Bell on Monday afternoon and discussed a wide array of topics in his few minutes on air, including his thoughts on what the Falcons need to do this offseason and how much his injured shoulder affected his 2012 season.

On offseason moves, Samuel was hesitant to put his general manager hat on, but did express a lot of faith in Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff and head coach Mike Smith to make the changes necessary to get the Falcons over the top.

But added that the biggest thing that he thinks will help the Falcons in 2013 is simply the extra year everyone has been together.

“We definitely need to get better on offense, defense and special teams, but I think more than anything, the time that we’re gonna have together is going to be more essential than anything,” Samuel said Monday. “It was my first year here. We had a new defensive coordinator (Mike Nolan), it being his first year here. Just all of us being able to click together and have camaraderie is going to (make us) a lot better next year.”

Samuel was a crucial addition to the Falcons in the 2012 offseason, especially after losing cornerback Brent Grimes to a season-ending Achilles injury at the start of the year. From the left cornerback position, Samuel chipped in with five interceptions to help boost a secondary that, overall, saw a lot of success because of the attitude and swagger that Samuel brought to the group.

The veteran cornerback was slowed a bit in 2012 by a nagging shoulder injury that never quite could seem to get back to 100 percent. He told Archer and Bell that it’s currently “perfectly OK,” but said it was a tough injury to play through.

“It affected me… just with the shoulder being hurt, you can’t be as strong as you want and do some of the things you want to,” Samuel said. “You just have to compensate, but you’ve got to go out there and make sure you’re helping your team more than you’re hurting the team, so I went out there and did my thing.”

He certainly did that as he put together some gutsy performances down the stretch, perhaps the most notable at Tampa Bay, helping the Falcons secure a one-point win over the Bucs during a game where he looked to be in a lot of pain.

What’s your take on Samuel’s addition to the team?

Cornerback Dunta Robinson returned to practice Friday after sitting out the previous two practice sessions in the league’s concussion protocol. Robinson suffered the head injury during the first half of last Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay and was cleared to return to practice Friday.

“It was very good to get Dunta back,” head coach Mike Smith said after Friday’s practice. “Dunta’s been cleared to start practicing again. It was good to have him back. It was a great turnaround from Sunday to Friday.”

Smith didn’t provide an update on defensive end John Abraham (ankle) or safety William Moore (hamstring).

He said Chris Owens, who missed the final regular season game with a hamstring injury, has been working out on the side and that he’ll have to wait and see where Owens is next week. Of the injured players, Smith said, Owens is not as far along in the healing process.

Smith also updated cornerback Asante Samuel, who has missed this week of practice. Samuel’s mother passed away early this week and he’s been in Florida with his family.

On paper coming into the season, the Falcons secondary was thought to be one of the best in the league. The addition of Asante Samuel via trade to Dunta Robinson and Brent Grimes was going to set the Falcons up as incredibly difficult to throw on.

Then the first game happened and Grimes came away with a season-ending injury, forcing the secondary to scramble and other players to step up to fill the void. We all know the pleasant surprise of Robert McClain by now, but three players in particular have really made an impact in the secondary — two of them being the “forgotten” part of that on-paper fearsome secondary.

Thomas DeCoud and William Moore have quietly become one of the best safety tandems in the league, and along with Samuel, the three have set some Falcons history. With Samuel’s interception of Matthew Stafford in the Falcons’ 31-18 win over the Lions on Saturday night, Samuel, Moore and DeCoud became only the fifth group of three-or-more defensive backs to each record four-or-more interceptions.

“It was huge because we all, at least in the back end, realized that’s what was missing from our game as an entire secondary was the ability to get the ball back,” DeCoud said Wednesday. “We really took that to heart and made sure that, if we’re in the positions that we’re in that we can finish the plays with the ball, and I think we’ve definitely done that.”

DeCoud leads the team in interceptions with six with Moore and Samuel each at four apiece. The last time the Falcons had three players with at least four interceptions was 1989.

Mondays at the office this year have been generally pleasant.

Not last Monday. Last Monday was the pits. It was less than 24 hours after a 30-20 loss that provided a wakeup call that Falcons didn’t want to admit they needed, but that Monday was the awakening.

Fast forward to Sunday and the Falcons sat in the locker room after beating the defending Super Bowl champions 34-0 in the Georgia Dome thinking about how one word made a difference: focus.

“Last week, we got embarrassed, humbled — whatever word you want to use,” defensive tackle Corey Peters said. “We really came to work Wednesday focused on what we needed to do and I think it showed today. … This week in particular, we had a really focused Wednesday, a great Thursday, Friday. I think this was our best overall performance of the year.”

It was exactly what the Falcons needed in order to drive the terrible taste of the Carolina loss from their mouths. If you were to draw the exact opposite of that performance, you probably would have pictured what the Falcons accomplished during three-and-a-half hours Sunday against the Giants.

Matt Ryan was crisp. The offensive line was protecting. The defense made crucial stop after crucial stop. They secondary forced turnovers. Everything about what the Falcons did Sunday against the Giants was just so right.

The key to that performance was coming in that Monday and remembering that Sunday success starts days before.

“You really have to have crisp practices at this time in the season because there’s no more bad teams. Everybody’s either playing their best football or they’re packing up to go home,” safety Chris Hope said. “When you happen to run across a team that’s playing their best ball and trying to get in the playoffs, you have to be on your p’s and q’s. You have no chance to have a bad practice, and all our coaches did a great job on making sure we played well this week.”

It was Monday when the preparations began for the world champs. The Falcons, after a win, have Mondays off. After a loss, they go right back to work, watching film and taking mental reps.

Wednesday was the first practice of the week and they could feel it then. They were focused and had one of their best practices of the year. They took that into Thursday, and then Friday, as Peters explained.

The Falcons let it build throughout the week and it came to a head on the field of the Georgia Dome on Sunday.

“It was just our approach to the game and our passion and how we wanted to play with energy. We had that today,” safety Thomas DeCoud said. “It started throughout the week and going through warmups on Sunday afternoon and getting ready for the game, we had that vibe that was with us and we were able to play well.”

The Falcons’ biggest goal in the last four games of the season is to gain momentum heading into the postseason. The division title is locked up and they’re in the drivers’ seat for a first-round bye, homefield advantage and the No. 1 seed in the NFC.

All that stuff is great, but the Falcons knew it wouldn’t help at all if they sleep-walked into the postseason. Sunday’s game went a long way toward proving to the Falcons what type of team they can be if they prepare like they did all week.

“We just want to take this momentum we got and just ride it into the playoffs,” Asante Samuel said. “That’s how you win: You take your momentum and keep going.”

Asante Samuel spoke to the media Thursday for the first time since injuring his shoulder in a Week 11 win over Arizona and, after spending the past two games on the sideline more than on the field, Samuel said he’s feeling good.

Listed on the Piedmont Healthcare Injury Report as limited in practice Wednesday, Samuel doesn’t know if he’ll be available for this weekend’s game against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants, but he’s trying as hard as the shoulder will allow him.

“We’ll see how it goes,” he said Thursday. “I’m working every day to get right.”

Samuel was active for Sunday’s 30-20 loss to Carolina, but head coach Mike Smith explained Monday that the intent was to only use Samuel in an emergency situation, such as another injury to a member of the secondary, in an effort to rest his shoulder as much as possible for the late season push.

For Samuel, who is the emotional leader of the secondary, being on the sidelines and not contributing in a physical way to the team effort was tough has been tough.

“First of all, you’ve got an injury and you can’t be out there to help your teammates and to help put forth the effort to win the game. Second of all, just being injured — hurting, not feeling yourself every day,” he said. “Like I said, I’m working hard to get back to as close to 100 percent as I can and be back to normal.”

With safety William Moore’s status for Sunday’s game also unclear, Samuel returning to anything that resembles full strength would be a big boost to the secondary. Younger cornerbacks Robert McClain and Chris Owens have played strong in relief as the secondary continues to shift and shake to make up for the loss of two star players.

But getting back to full strength individually means the Falcons defense can take another step closer to being back at full strength as a unit.

“We can be really good. We’ve got a lot of work to do, as you can see. In the last game, we kinda took a step back,” Samuel said. “We’re trying to get everything back together and playing hard and playing aggressive so we can have a little momentum leading into the next season.”

Head coach Mike Smith provided an update on cornerback Asante Samuel and safety William Moore during his Monday news conference with the Atlanta media.

Samuel, who has been bothered by a shoulder injury, was announced as active for Sunday’s game against Carolina, but didn’t end up playing in the game. Smith said the intention was to only use Samuel in an emergency situation — that is, only if an injury occurred in the secondary — so that the Falcons wouldn’t have to go into the game with only seven active defensive backs.

Moore, who didn’t practice last week due to a hamstring injury, wasn’t ready to play, Smith said, and a determination will be made on Moore on Wednesday to see if he’ll be available to practice next week.

Smith said he expects Samuel — who also did not practice last week — to practice Wednesday.

The Falcons had somewhat of a mini-bye week after playing Thursday night, meaning head coach Mike Smith had nine days until the Falcons’ next game to get his players healthy and ready for the final quarter of the season.

He started by giving them four days off before the team returned to practice Tuesday. The extra rest seemed to help at least one player as Smith expects DT Peria Jerry — who has been battling a thigh injury — back very soon.

“Peria worked out with our athletic performance group,” Smith said Tuesday. “We anticipate Peria Jerry will be practicing tomorrow.”

That’s big news for a defensive line that has been doing very well in recent weeks stopping the run.

Asante Samuel, who played three plays against the Saints before leaving the game with a shoulder injury that has been bothering him, spent Tuesday’s practice inside the training room.

Smith is more hopeful than anticipatory as far as Samuel’s status goes.

“Asante on a short week wasn’t able to finish the game,” Smith said. “We’ve got nine days in between games now, so hopefully, he’ll be feeling better as we get in our normal practice week on Wednesday.”

The hopes were high once Asante Samuel was announced as one of the Falcons’ 46 active players for today’s game, but the excitement ended quickly as Samuel returned to the sideline with the same shoulder injury that has been a problem for him since the Cardinals game two weeks ago.

Samuel started the game, but went out after a few plays when he walked off the field, holding his arm and wincing in pain.

He was announced in the press box as questionable to return to the game. We’ll have more when we hear it.

Asante Samuel is one tough son-of-a-gun.

Bothered by a clearly painful shoulder injury the past two games, Samuel has fought through it to make some big plays and set a great example for his younger secondary counterparts with his display of toughness.

He came out of the game for a few plays Sunday but returned to make the biggest pass breakup of the game on the final play as the Bucs tried to win it all with a Hail Mary pass.

Samuel was listed as “did not participate” in Monday’s Piedmont Healthcare Injury Report, and head coach Mike Smith said after the walkthrough Monday night that the plan is to get the cornerback as much rest as they can in the short turnaround to Thursday.

“Asante has been battling through the shoulder injury the last two weeks. He missed a few snaps in this ball game and missed more in the previous game, but he’s a really tough guy as far as his pain tolerance,” Smith said. “We’re going to get him as much rest as we can over the next couple of days and get him as healthy as we can get him to play Thursday night.”

Hosting the Saints on Thursday Night Football on NFL Network, the Falcons have a very limited amount of time to get ready for the team that handed them their only loss so far in 2012.

Securing a win Sunday was big for those preparations, but they can’t enjoy it as they’ll treat the week as somewhat of a mish-mash of their usual routine with Monday being more like a Wednesday.

“It’s big to get any football game, especially in your division. This was a big football game for us,” cornerback Dunta Robinson said. “We wanted to win this game. It’s a short turnaround. Hopefully, everybody’s pretty healthy. We’ll come in focused this week. Let’s have a good week of practice and let’s go get win No. 11.”

Robinson, Asante Samuel and Corey Peters all left the game with injuries, but all ended up returning. Samuel seemed to be injured on the game’s final play, but walked off of his own volition.

“I think everybody will get their rest. We’ll have ourselves prepared,” QB Matt Ryan said. “We played them a couple of weeks ago, so they’re still fresh in our minds. We’ll just try to get as much rest as we can so we’re fresh Thursday night.”

Things were looking up for LB Sean Weatherspoon on Wednesday and then took a turn Thursday as he was listed on the Piedmont Healthcare Injury Report as “Did Not Participate” with the same ankle injury that kept him out the past three games plus an illness, which is new to the report.

Samuel also did not practice Thursday, the second day in a row for him. Still no word yet if he’ll be available for Sunday’s game against the Bucs.

In a bit of good news, WR Julio Jones went from not practicing Wednesday to limited participation Thursday.

Head coach Mike Smith said during his weekly day-after press conference that the injury outlook this week looks much better than it has in past weeks, even after Julio Jones, Asante Samuel and Peria Jerry all went out with injuries during Sunday’s win over the Cardinals.

Peria Jerry left the game with a thigh injury in the second half while Julio Jones left the game for a while with what appeared to be a re-aggravation of the ankle injury that kept him out of practice all last week.

Samuel left the game in the first half with a shoulder injury and went to the locker room, not returning to the sideline until after halftime. He spent the first part of the third quarter there, but returned to the game for a few plays only to again be pulled due to the injured shoulder.

“Asante came back in and was able to come back and participate,” Smith said. “He was in getting treatment this morning and we will see how he feels on Wednesday before we’ll be able to give a report. I will say this: We’re feeling much more confident about the guys who were scratches because of health reasons in the ballgame last week.”

Smith said during his postgame press conference Sunday that he was expecting LB Sean Weatherspoon — who has missed the past three games with an ankle injury — to return to practice this week.

Asante Samuel left Sunday’s game with a shoulder injury in the first half and hasn’t yet returned.

Samuel made a big pass breakup in the second quarter, but came up holding his right shoulder. He left the field and was taken to the locker room. He didn’t return to the sideline until after halftime. His return to the game is questionable.

UPDATE: Samuel returned to the game in the fourth quarter.

Falcons fans across the country have asked the same question over and over: Where’s the love, man?

The national media is coming around slowly but surely, but Falcons fans are feeling a bit jilted by the weekly snub.

The Falcons in the locker room, however, aren’t too concerned. Even if there was a slew of attention, they’d tune it out.

“Me, personally, I don’t really care if they notice or not,” cornerback Asante Samuel said. “I’m a guy who’s been fighting for respect my whole life, so it don’t really matter to me if we get the respect or not. As long as we get to where we need to get and do what we need to do, I’m happy.”

Tight end Tony Gonzalez expressed his thoughts over the lack of attention before Sunday’s game, but also added that the Falcons don’t really care about it.

As far as Samuel is concerned, the Falcons — regardless of the attention they get, or will get — are as focused as any locker room he’s ever been in.

“We’ve got veteran leadership over here,” Samuel said. “It’s how we approach the game every day. We go to practice, we practice hard, we play hard and we know what’s expected. We want to win. We want to make the city proud. It means a lot to us.”

Asante Samuel wasn’t even in the locker room yet when the media swarmed around his locker. As soon as he came in, he knew what was coming.

“I can run but I can’t hide, huh?” he said as he approached his surrounded locker.

As he positioned himself in front of the throng of media members, he turned his back and put his helmet on. When he turned around into the bright camera lights, the Pick Six Show was underway.

“It’ll be exciting,” Samuel said about the weekend’s trip to Philadelphia. “They’ll be happy to see me. Everybody’s gonna cheer for me.”

Samuel was at home in front of the media as he talked about his former team, directing the interview as best he could, saying he didn’t want to expand too much on any one topic.

The answer “next question” was commonly used as he held his trademark smile throughout the interview. Posed a question about Andy Reid’s interview with the Atlanta media from Wednesday, Samuel interrupted, saying “No decline in 22, right?”

“It’s kind of hard when 22 ain’t there,” Samuel said when asked about this year’s Philadelphia team. “You know 22 keeps things going for you, you know what I mean? You’ve just got to deal with it. You make your bed, you’ve gotta lay in it, you know?”

With a very productive career during his time in Philadelphia, Samuel expects a warm homecoming of sorts as he ended his interview by looking directly into the cameras to deliver a message:

“Oh, they’re about to cheer for me! They’re gonna cheer for me or we’re gonna have a problem right there in Lincoln Financial Stadium. All y’all fans, all I did for y’all, y’all better cheer for me. Deuce here got nothing but love for you.”

Watch Samuel’s entire interview with the media here

Asante Samuel tweeted this pic earlier today. It doesn’t require any commentary on my part. Just take it all in.

It’s a brand new week and the Falcons are back to work after the bye. Enjoy the following links for your reading pleasure:

• This just in: Asante Samuel has brought swagger to the Falcons. I kid, I kid. It’s been one of the biggest storylines of the year, but the attitude adjustment Samuel has brought to the locker room is palpable every single day in Flowery Branch. The Falcons are having fun on the field, and Samuel is a big reason why. He’s shown many of the younger guys how to have a passion for the game while also making it enjoyable, as the AP’s Paul Newberry sums up nicely.
• BloggingDirty.com has a look at the Falcons’ post-bye schedule, and it’s a doozy. With two potentially tough NFC East opponents back-to-back before the Falcons get back into their NFC South slate with a trip to New Orleans, the road to the end of the season has a tricky start after the Week 7 bye. How long can the Falcons maintain their unbeaten ways? We shall see, we shall see.
• Ever wondered what it takes to be an NFL owner? Falcons owner & chairman tells NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport exactly that in his Nine Random Things blog this morning.
• Which team is the biggest challenge to the Falcons down the line in the NFC? The NFL Network crew debated this point before the Thursday Night Football game last week. Let’s face it: The NFC is a tough conference, and while plenty of teams have shown flashes of greatness and signs of weakness, the usual suspects come to my mind: The Niners, Bears, Packers and Giants.
• Let’s go behind enemy lines once again and address the Eagles’ situation at defensive coordinator. During the bye week (yep, the Eagles had one, too), Philly fired defensive coordinator Juan Castillo and replaced him with Todd Bowles. You can learn more about Bowles from CBSSports.com, but I warn you: Don’t sleep on the defensive coach. He’s never called defensive plays before, but he’s from the Bill Parcells coaching tree and, word is, there’s plenty of potential locked in his young mind. There will be some growing pains, no doubt, but two weeks is enough time to get a handle on things and cause problems for the Falcons this weekend.

Head coach Mike Smith updated the status of several key players during his Monday news conference and the outlook is largely positive:

• Smith said Asante Samuel was not injured on his 79-yard interception return for a touchdown in Sunday’s win over Oakland. Smith said Samuel is fine and stayed out a play or two of the next series to get his wind back.
• Linebacker Stephen Nicholas was questionable coming into Sunday’s game with an ankle injury he had suffered the week before at Washington. He missed two days of practice and was limited on the week’s lightest day of work, so Smith wanted to keep Nicholas rested as much as possible. The linebacker played only special teams against the Raiders, and “the decision was based on the next four or five weeks.” Nicholas was cleared to play, but Smith wanted to keep him on the sidelines as much as possible Sunday to ensure longevity.
• Harry Douglas suffered an ankle injury during the final offensive drive of Sunday’s game. Smith said Douglas “should be OK.”
• After Week 6, defensive tackle Corey Peters is eligible to return to the active roster after spending the first part of the season on the reserve/non-football injury list. Smith said Peters could be activated as early as next week or as late as 21 days from now. The Falcons have until Week 9 to determine what they’d like to do with him for the year. Smith said the biggest challenge is getting Peters into football shape, as he’s missed mini-camp, OTAs and training camp.

We’re now six weeks into the season. It hasn’t been easy. At times, it certainly hasn’t been pretty.

But there’s no denying one fact about the 2012 Falcons at this point: They’re the only remaining undefeated team in the league.

The Falcons were able to edge past the Oakland Raiders 23-20 on Sunday after some late-game heroics by Asante Samuel and Matt Bryant. Later Sunday evening, the Houston Texans — the only other team in the league that was unbeaten coming into Week 6 — faced the Green Bay Packers on Sunday Night Football.

The Packers handed the Texans their first loss of the year, a 42-24 beating that put the Falcons in an elite class by themselves.

The Falcons will remain the lone unbeaten at least for one more week as they start the bye today. They’ll return next week to travel to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles on Oct. 28.

“You’ve got to approach it with a little bit of excitement,” Owens said earlier in the week. “It’s a Monday night game. You’ve got to be excited about that. I’m excited about the opportunity. It’s all about being focused, and we’ve got a great challenge with Peyton (Manning) ahead of us. It’s gonna be a good one. It’s gonna be fun.”

Jay Adams: What does the experience of Asante Samuel add to the defensive backfield?

Tim Lewis: Just what you said: the experience, and all that. He’s bringing 45 interceptions, 140-plus pass breakups, nine years of experience, four Pro Bowls — his resume speaks for itself. He’s a very talented player. I’ve watched him play over the course of his career and admired what he’s done from afar. Of course, I’ve never coached him before, but I’ve seen what he’s done in either games that we’ve played against him or in crossover breakdown tape that I’ve watched. He’s a good football player.

JA: You get a guy like Samuel, who’s known for his physical play, and you add him to a secondary with Dunta Robinson and William Moore, who aren’t shy in that department either. Do you see physicality being the hallmark of this secondary in 2012?

TL: Yes, I would think so. I would think any secondary that I’ve been associated with, or any team that I’ve been associated with, I think physicality is synonymous with the name on the back of the jersey and the name of the organization. This club is no different. The Atlanta Falcons have a physical defense, primarily because that’s our owner (and chairman) Arthur Blank’s mentality, that’s our general manager (Thomas Dimitroff’s) mentality and our head coach (Mike Smith’s) mentality, is tough, physical, smart, athletic football players win.

JA: After free agency and the franchise tag was settled, you ended up with a lot of continuity in the secondary. How much does that help?

TL: Tremendously. Any time you can line up a group of guys week in and week out, they start to get a feel for one another, they start to get a feel for the system. Of course, the system has changed and we’ll start to do some things different with (defensive coordinator Mike) Nolan than we’ve done in the past. It’s really a neat thing because all of the older guys are being challenged to learn new things and to really re-invent themselves inside of the system, and I think the system will allow them to make plays and I think they’re all excited about it. I think they’re starting to see that a bit now. They’re all enthused and I think that enthusiasm is going to carry over to, hopefully, productivity during the season. It is refreshing to see them run around with a smile on their face, energized and challenged. I think the challenge is what they’re looking forward to — learning something new, fitting into it, watching it work for them. Any time that you’ve got a defense or a system that the players are comfortable with and having fun with, they have a tendency to go faster. That’s what we’re excited about.

JA: I know a big part of the offseason for you is evaluating the previous season. What were your big takeaways from 2011?

TL: Well, the big takeaway was that we were good, but not good enough. We played well at times. We were not overly consistent all the time, but by the same token, there was some light at the end of the tunnel. Moving forward, what you try to do is you try to evaluate where you’ve been, like we did, and at the same time, trying to prepare for the new year. I think all the steps that we’ve taken thus far, either in free agency or the draft, have put us on track to get better than we were before. That’s what our overall goal is: to get better and move forward, and never letting the last play, so-to-speak, hold us back from the next play. Just like in golf, the next shot is the most important shot, and that’s what we’ve done. So this coming year is even more important than the last.

JA: Obviously, the attention is going to be on Brent Grimes, Asante Samuel and Dunta Robinson, but you’ve got good, young talent in Dominique Franks and Chris Owens. What’s your assessment of where they are in their respective careers?

TL: They’ve moved forward. Everybody has. I think they’ve all gotten better, and I think the addition of Asante will continue to help the level of all of boats, so-to-speak, rise. The bottom line is, we’ve added another talented player and all of them will look to see what he’s done or what he’s doing and hopefully, they can assimilate some of the techniques that he brings to the table and some of the moves and so forth that he brings into their games. He’ll help everyone. He’ll help me as a coach, and I’ll learn just as much from him as he’ll learn from me, and I think that’s a good thing. I’m excited about watching the young guys watch his work ethic, watch his technique, and they can all pick something up from him, but I do like the progress of where those two young guys (Franks and Owens) are and I’m excited about watching them continue to grow.

The man who kick started all last week was cornerback Asante Samuel, whom the Falcons traded for with the Philadelphia Eagles for a pick in last week’s draft. With Samuel comes a big, productive past, big expectations and a big persona, as he explained in five exclusive questions with AtlantaFalcons.com after the trade was announced.

Jay Adams: When you look at the roster that you’ve got here in Atlanta — and not just on the defensive side of the ball — you’ve got Tony Gonzalez, Matt Ryan, Julio Jones, Roddy White; the list goes on. What do you think of when you look at the guys who are now your teammates?

Asante Samuel: Man, it’s nothing but talent. Nothing but a bunch of talent that’s in an organization that fits well and knows what it’s doing. Like I say, I think we’re just one or two plays away from the big one. You’ve got all the guys that’s playing at a very high talent level. They’re real young, real explosive. Matt Ryan’s coming into his fifth year. It’s coming together.

JA: You’ve been on a couple of teams around the league now. What can you bring to the Falcons that you took from those locker rooms?

AS: Experience. I think I’ve probably had about five, six, seven different defensive coordinators, so I don’t think there’s a defense out there I haven’t played, whether it’s defensive scheme or position. I have my way of how I like to do things to make plays, so that’s what I bring to the table. Whatever they ask me to play, I’ve got to make plays. That’s what I’m going to bring to the table.

JA: You spoke during your conference call with the Atlanta media about working with Brent Grimes and Dunta Robinson, and you mentioned trying to become the best secondary that’s out there. When you look at the three names — Asante Samuel, Brent Grimes and Dunta Robinson — on paper, how excited do you get at the level of talent that’s around you just in the secondary?

AS: It’s very exciting. I just came from the same type of situation. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out, but I feel like it’s a little different. It’s me coming into a different situation. Like I said, I’ve been with about seven different defensive coordinators, different defenses. I’m a quick learner and I can’t do anything but come in there with confidence, figure out the way to make plays in the defense and spread that word around.

JA: You come in with an impressive resume of winning with Philadelphia and New England. What does coming in with a winning past add to your game?

AS: I think the most I bring is knowing how to win, expressing winning and how important it is to win. I think it’s all the things I went through when we were winning that I learned and saw, I just can apply. I bring the confidence of a winner.

JA: How do you plan on going about building a rapport with your new teammates?

AS: First of all, you don’t come off like a bad apple. You come in humble. You come in ready to learn, not like you know everything. That’s the way you come in. Everybody respects that. You definitely have your confidence, but I think that takes care of itself. Real recognize real, and I’m a real dude. You can’t do nothing but respect that.

Fans were burning about what number Samuel would wear with the Birds. Samuel has always worn the No. 22, but that belongs to second-year running back Jacquizz Rodgers.

“You know I’m a deuce-deuce fan for life, man,” Samuel said Wednesday when asked about the number during a conference call with the Atlanta media. “I’m sure the little homie (Rodgers), we won’t have any problem working it out.”

Turns out, Samuel was right.

Hours after the trade was announced Rodgers took to Twitter to announce that he’d be happy to give up the jersey number to Samuel. Here’s what he tweeted:

What number will Quizz be rocking next season? You’ll know as soon as we do.