Head coach Mike Smith held his Monday press conference with the media after Sunday’s 30-17 win over Philadelphia. Here are some of the highlights:

• An update on Sean Weatherspoon’s injury status will come Wednesday. Spoon left the game in the second half and did not return.
• The weather on Sunday in Philadelphia was rough at times with Hurricane Sandy coming up the East Coast. Smith, however, knew the Falcons could play in whatever the elements threw at them: “There in the second half, it did get a little tough and I thought our guys handled it extremely well. … We handled the weather conditions. I don’t think we’re a ‘dome’ team. I think we’ve got some mudders on our team that can go out and play in the elements.”
• Rookie Peter Konz stepped in Sunday to play right guard with Garrett Reynolds out with a back injury. Active for the game, Reynolds was kept on the sideline as Smith went with Konz. The rookie performed very well as Smith was pleased with how he did. Smith said Konz took most of the snaps at RG during practice last week. The right guard position will be determined as the Falcons go through the week, but Smith added, “I know this: We’ve got a guy that can go in and play in a big ballgame that’s a rookie, and that’s a positive thing.”
• Smith was surprised at how the Falcons were able to take the usually hostile Lincoln Financial Field crowd out of the game early. The Falcons went up 21-7 in the first half and never looked back. Smith said it was important for the Falcons to get the crowd out of the game and added that it was more apparent in this game than any other that they had done that. “It got very quiet. After the first two series, I don’t think we had any issues with having to go to a silent count. We were able to communicate most of the day.”
• DT Corey Peters returned to action after being sidelined for the first six games of the season with a foot injury. Smith said he envisioned Peters to be on a 15-25 snap limit for Sunday’s game. Peters played 20 as the Falcons bring him along gradually.
• Game balls were given to Kroy Biermann and Drew Davis for their performances Sunday. Biermann had seven tackles and a sack. Davis caught the first touchdown of his NFL career against the Eagles.
• Smith had a great quote about depth here: “That’s the great thing about our locker room: We’ve got a great locker room. We don’t have 11 starters, and I’ve said that from the very beginning. We are going to be very multiple in what we do on all sides of the ball, including special teams, and it’s going to be dictated how we defend people and how we attack people by how they try and attack us.”
• Smith called Sunday’s run defense performance the best of the season and credited last week’s Monday practice on the basics of football as the reason why tackling and angle issues were shored up Sunday. Smith called it “remedial, 8th grade football,” but said it was necessary to go back to fundamentals last week and work on just the Falcons instead of trying to prepare for an opponent.

Head coach Mike Smith said he will have an update on linebacker Sean Weatherspoon’s injury status Wednesday, saying during his Monday news conference that he’d have a better idea of where he is later in the week.

Weatherspoon left Sunday’s game in the second half with an ankle injury.

“Sean is in the training room and we’ll have a more concrete idea of where he’s at after practice (Wednesday),” Smith said Monday. “He did sustain an ankle injury in the ballgame.”

Smith said Kevin Cone also suffered an ankle injury Sunday and will have an update on him, Weatherspoon and WR Harry Douglas — who missed Sunday’s game with a knee and ankle injury — on Wednesday.

UPDATE 5:25 p.m. – Head coach Mike Smith told D. Orlando Ledbetter of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Weatherspoon suffered a low ankle sprain.

The Falcons and Eagles have settled on jersey colors for this weekend’s game.

The Eagles will be wearing their black uniforms. The Falcons will be in their road whites, prepared and ready to go above.

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

Join the Falcons and Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band on Nov. 3, 2012 at the Verizon Amphitheater at Encore Park in Alpharetta to help raise money to build Smart Homes in Georgia for wounded military veterans as part of the Building for America’s Bravest program.

The benefit concert will honor two American heros, CPL. Todd Love and SFC. Michael Schlitz as 100 percent of the funds raised will go toward Smart Homes for Love and Schlitz to be built in Georgia.

Love, from Acworth, Ga., lost both his legs and an arm in Afghanistan.

Schlitz, who lives in Columbus, Ga., was the only person to survive in his vehicle in Iraq. He was burned over 85 percent of his body and lost both his arms.

Click here to purchase tickets

The concert is being put on in a partnership between the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation — which was started by the family and friends of Siller, who was a firefighter killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center — and the Gary Sinise Foundation. Sinise, best known for his work as Lt. Dan in Forrest Gump, is closely involved in the project to build Smart Homes for wounded vets. He has helped build homes for five quadruple amputees and has offered to build 53 others for triple amputees.

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

FRIDAY
Did Not Participate
G Danny Watkins – Ankle (Doubtful)

Full Participation
S Nate Allen – Hamstring (Probable)
S Colt Anderson – Knee (Probable)
S Kurt Coleman – Shoulder (Probable)
LS Jon Dorenbos – Ankle (Probable)
DE Philip Hunt – Calf (Questionable)

THURSDAY
Did Not Participate
G Danny Watkins – Ankle

Full Participation
S Nate Allen – Hamstring
S Colt Anderson – Knee
S Kurt Coleman – Shoulder
LS Jon Dorenbos – Ankle
DE Philip Hunt – Calf

WEDNESDAY
Full Participation
S Nate Allen – Hamstring
S Colt Anderson – Knee
S Kurt Coleman – Shoulder
LS Jon Dorenbos – Ankle
DE Philip Hunt – Calf
G Danny Watkins – Ankle

View the Atlanta Falcons Piedmont Healthcare Injury Report here

William Moore’s phone lights up. A new text message appears.

On the other end is former Missouri teammate and current Eagles WR Jeremy Maclin.

The message on Moore’s phone is simple: “Y’all be ready.”

“You already know that I sent him the W.A.R text message — Willy Mo always ready,” Moore said Wednesday. “He already knows that, but J-Mac is a heck of an athlete. I know what he can do personally, but we’re prepared.”

This will be the third time the former Missouri Tigers have faced each other, along with linebacker Sean Weatherspoon. Maclin’s history against the Falcons is one the two defensive players would probably like to forget.

Last year, Maclin burned the Falcons to the tune of 13 catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns in a losing effort at the Georgia Dome. The year before at Lincoln Financial Field, Maclin was good for seven catches for 159 yards and two scores.

“I think Jeremy has good size, good speed. He’s a real competitive guy,” Weatherspoon said. “I’ve known him for a while. He hates to lose. He really takes it personally, so I think that’s what makes him such a good player.”

Along with DeSean Jackson, Maclin provides a formidable offensive force the Falcons will have to contend with Sunday. Until then, the two former Missouri Tigers wearing black and red will have to contend with more of Maclin’s texts.

“I got a few texts. I don’t really want to really talk about it too much. It’s a personal game for me,” Weatherspoon said before carefully selecting his next words. “It’s a personal game. I look forward to going out there and competing.”

It was 24 hours ago when I wrote that I wouldn’t be surprised if the Falcons lost their top spot in the Power Rankings this week due to the convincing win by the Houston Texans over the Baltimore Ravens while Atlanta enjoyed a bye.

Much to my chagrin and elation, the Falcons held on to the top spot across the board as experts saw the undefeated Falcons during a bye as more worthy of the top spot than the 6-1 Texans after a big win.

We add a couple more rankings this week in the Power Rankings Roundup, including a power poll from NFL.com, FoxSports.com and a local poll from Macon.com.

NFL.com Power Rankings – Elliot Harrison has a point: “Considering they were on a bye, how could the Atlanta Falcons not stay No. 1? Two big reasons Atlanta is top dog: 1) Mike Smith’s team has committed the fewest penalties in the NFL. 2) The Falcons provide opponents with the worst starting field position in the league.”

NFL.com Week 8 Power Poll – A new poll here to the roundup, this one is voted on by a panel of experts and analysts at NFL.com. The Falcons earned a league-high 410 points with seven first-place votes.

ESPN.com Power Rankings – If you’re a Falcons fan, and I’m certain you are, you’ll enjoy this from ESPN.com: “Ten of the last 37 teams to go 6-0 and stand as the last unbeaten team won the Super Bowl.”

CBSSports.com Power Rankings – Pete Prisco points out that the Falcons have a tough matchup coming up in keeping the Falcons at No. 1: “They are the only undefeated team left, but face a tough road challenge coming off the bye against the Eagles.”

FoxSports.com Power Rankings – Brian Billick echos Priscos comments: “The Falcons are the only remaining unbeaten team but will have a test coming off the bye week with a three-game run versus the Eagles, Cowboys and Saints.”

Bleacher Report Power Rankings – Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller gives us our first Charlie Sheen reference here in the Rankings Roundup: “A bye week keeps the Atlanta Falcons as the only undefeated team in the NFL. With a road trip to Philadelphia on the schedule for Week 8, Atlanta will get one of its first big tests of the season. The job done by Mike Smith, Dirk Koetter and Mike Nolan has been remarkable this season. The Falcons have won close, they’ve won coming from behind, and they’ve won ugly. No matter how you look at it, winning is all the Falcons have done this year. Charlie Sheen should be jealous. The team’s first loss may come in Week 8, but the Falcons have a comfortable lead in the miserable NFC South and a home-field advantage that will be tough to beat in the playoffs.”

Macon.com Power Rankings – We go from a long-winded explanation to a man of few words as Macon.com’s Daniel Shirley has the Falcons at No. 1 in his poll: “Last week: Off”

Thoughts?

News came last week, when the Eagles were also into their bye, that head coach Andy Reid would be replacing defensive coordinator Juan Castillo with position coach Todd Bowles. As soon as that happened, a wrench had been thrown into the Falcons’s preparations for Philadelphia.

With six weeks of tape to comb over, the Falcons coaching staff had been preparing for Castillo and his tendencies. Bowles taking over means the Falcons will suddenly have some extra unknowns to get ready for.

“It’s harder to look at tape. You’ve just got to look at the guys for who they are and not necessarily the scheme, because some things might change,” running back Michael Turner said Monday. “You don’t expect them to change a whole lot, but we are going to expect some unscouted looks.”

That’s the sentiment that resounded throughout the locker room about the subject Monday. The Falcons will expect a few looks that they haven’t seen before on the tape they’ve got on the Eagles, but it isn’t much different from any other game.

The main unknown will be Bowles tendencies. Save for three weeks last year when he served as Miami’s interim head coach, Bowles hasn’t spent much time in positions of shot-calling during his career. Widely expected to be one of the NFL’s brightest up-and-comers in the coaching ranks, Bowles hasn’t ever called defensive plays, which means the Falcons can’t study his calls in different situations.

Still, there isn’t a ton of concern.

“Somebody asked me that the other day, and it’s a bit of a challenge, but there’s not a whole lot that somebody can come up with that’s new,” center Todd McClure said. “It’s football. You can only line up so many guys, but they’re going have some little things and it’s just like every game. They’ll come out with a couple things that we haven’t seen and we’ll make our adjustments on the sideline and be ready to go, but it definitely can present a little bit of a problem.”

Bowles coached last year with Falcons defensive coordinator Mike Nolan and defensive backs coach Joe Danna with the Dolphins, so there is some familiarity there. For the Falcons, however, containing Bowles and his defense is much more about them than the new coordinator.

“Most of it is about us. We’ve got to go out, and we have to execute,” head coach Mike Smith said. “… We’ve got to be prepared for some unscouted looks, and I don’t think there will be a mass change in what they do philosophically because they’ve invested so much time into the scheme that they’re running.”

A sight that hadn’t been seen since last year occurred Monday afternoon when defensive tackle Corey Peters was on the field wearing a helmet and shoulder pads.

The third-year defensive tackle practiced for the first time in 2012 Monday as he makes his way back from an offseason foot injury.

“He practiced on a limited basis and we will up his participation as the week goes on,” head coach Mike Smith said after Monday’s session. “Again, by rule, we have 21 days to activate him, but it was very nice to see Corey Peters with a football helmet and shoulder pads, out on the field today.”

Smith wouldn’t say whether Peters would be available to play in Sunday’s game against Philadelphia. Because of his designation on the reserve/non-football injury list, Peters is eligible to participate in practice until Week 9 before he’d have to be activated to the 53-man roster or given another designation to save a roster spot.

Smith also said LB Stephen Nicholas and TE Michael Palmer returned to full practice Monday.

If you were to ask several Falcons on the current roster where they were the last time Atlanta earned a win in the City of Brotherly Love, what kind of answer would you expect?

“I was 3 years old,” safety Thomas DeCoud said Monday. “I probably still had my binky, because I didn’t give up my binky until I was about 5. I actually told my mom, ‘You can take my bottle, but you can’t have my binky,’ so we were probably having that conversation.”

Yeah, it’s been that long. Gas was $1.08 a gallon, stamps were $.22, Todd McClure was in third grade, Sean Weatherspoon wasn’t even a year old and Trapper Keepers were, like, totally rad.

It was 1988 when the Falcons last won in Philadelphia — a 27-24 victory on Oct. 30 decided by a Chris-Miller-to-Michael-Haynes 49-yard touchdown pass at Veterans Stadium.

The Falcons’ longest tenured member at the moment, McClure says he was 11 years old then.

“For the record, I wasn’t playing in 1988,” McClure said with a laugh. “It’s a tough placed to play and they’ve always got good teams. I think we’ve got the team that can go up there and get the win, but it’s going to be a challenge.”

The Falcons won’t be thinking about history during those 60 minutes come Sunday, but the victory drought in Philadelphia comes at an interesting time. The Falcons have done something they’ve never done before — started a season 6-0 — this year and they’ll be looking to keep that going Sunday. In turn, they could rewrite their unfortunate Philadelphia history.

“I love breaking barriers. We’ve been breaking barriers this year,” Weatherspoon said, 23 years older and wiser since the last win in Philly. “This is just another one. We want to go out there and take care of business.”

Several Falcons spoke during the media’s open locker room period Monday, and the hot topic was the Falcons’ tackling struggles against the Raiders before the bye. Here’s a sampling of what they had to say:

• DT Vance Walker on his success this year: “I guess, I’d say just my experience. This is my fourth year and I see things a lot easier now. Everything’s kind of slowed down. Also, my training regimen, just training hard all offseason, which I had been doing the past couple of years, but everything is just falling into place for me. I think it’s just a testament to how hard I worked in the past.”
• RB Michael Turner on what the coaching staff communicated to the team after their self-scout: “It wasn’t just about the running game. It was about all sorts of things, all areas that we want to improve on. We’re 6-0 and we’ve still got room for improvement, so we’ll be fine.”
• DE Ray Edwards on the tackling issues: “All of us have been playing football since we were probably 10 years old. We know how to tackle. We’ve just got to do it.”
• C Todd McClure on the importance of time of possession in a hostile environment this weekend: “I think it’s really important. I think the bottom line is to score one more point than they do. But it is going to be a loud environment. They’ve got a great defense that can rush the passer, guys that love to do that. They love to put their hand down when it’s third-down-and-long and try to disrupt the passing game, so it’s definitely going to be a challenge for us and one that we’re ready for.”
• S Thomas DeCoud on having fewer missed tackles: “I think, now, we have the technique of tackling. Once we make contact, we know how to do that. But I think now it’s more so just our path to the ball. The speed of the game is a lot faster and it’s faster than it’s ever been before, so guys can eat up angles or make you wrong once you get on your way to the ball, so it’s more about the path to the ball and making sure we have the correct angles once we’re entering contact.”
• LB Sean Weatherspoon on the biggest point of emphasis against Philadelphia: “We’ve got to tackle. We’ll have the opportunities. We’ll be faced with some of the things that we’ve been faced with in the games previously, so they’ll watch tape and see things they think they can do against us and it’ll just be up to us to go out there and make sure we hit them whenever we have those opportunities.”

The Falcons enjoyed a relaxing bye week and came out unscathed, but could their top spot be in jeopardy as the Internet, no doubt, will be littered with power rankings come Tuesday?

Could be. Could be.

The Falcons, it’s true, are still 6-0 after the bye, but part of me thinks the experts will hop back on the Texans’ train after a convincing and crushing defeat of the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday to the tune of 43-13.

Power rankings mean about as much as style points in the grand scheme of things, but it’s nice to be at the top. It may take a sizey win over the Eagles to push the Falcons back into that top spot should they lose it Tuesday.

What do you think?

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.