He wants to beat out Sam Rogers and earn a starting job at outside linebacker, but Overstreet is mainly concerned with staying healthy. A torn ligament in his left shoulder forced him to miss all but two games of his rookie season last year.
``Right now I'm just trying to get better,'' Overstreet said Tuesday. ``That other thing - that's their decision. It doesn't matter how bad you play or how well you play. You've still got to do what you've got to do and let everything else take care of itself.''
The Falcons (0-1 preseason) enter Saturday night against Baltimore (0-1) with a strong linebacking corps that position coach Billy Davis must soon pare down. Atlanta likely will keep only eight of the 12 linebackers in camp, and seven of them - Keith Brooking, Chris Draft, Matt Stewart, Keith Newman, Artie Ulmer, Rogers and Overstreet are locks.
When the 53-man roster is announced Aug. 31, one player will be chosen from a group consisting of Twan Russell, Karon Riley, Recardo Wimbush, James Cotton and Tony Ortiz.
Overstreet says the next three preseason games are important. After the first-team defense left the field in last week's 27-21 loss to Green Bay, most of the second- and third-teamers looked sloppy as the Packers scored 24 unanswered points.
``I thought I played the run pretty good, but pass rush-wise, I thought I was pretty slow off the ball,'' Overstreet said. ``That was the biggest concern to me. That takes time, and not wanting to jump offsides, I was contained on a pass play and I got beat on a reverse because I was too far outside.''
Davis has been patient with Overstreet, who played end at Tennessee but was converted to outside linebacker in Phillips' system. Overstreet has played his new position in parts of just three career preseason and two regular-season games.
Davis believes Overstreet's early career compares to Rogers. When Buffalo hired Phillips as defensive coordinator in 1995, Rogers was a second-year linebacker, but he had played nose guard and end as a junior in his first season at Colorado.
``Sam Rogers developed his skills through repetition and learned how to play standing up,'' Davis said. ``It's the same guy Will Overstreet will be when he learns how to drop (into pass coverage).''
As Overstreet was undergoing reconstructive shoulder surgery last October, Rogers had been playing with a torn muscle on the right side of his pelvis for nearly three months. He ended the season with a career-high 6.5 sacks, and his 41 solo tackles were just one short of his total in 2000, Phillips' last year in Buffalo.
Rogers' signature moment last season was registering consecutive overtime sacks of Daunte Culpepper. On the second sack, Rogers had only his right arm free when he brought down both the 260-pound Culpepper and 210-pound running back Moe Willliams.
Two plays later, Falcons quarterback Michael Vick won the game with a 46-yard touchdown run.
``I had a bad deal in San Diego and I just wanted to prove to myself and other people that I could still play football,'' Rogers said of his 2001 tour with the Chargers. ``It set me back a little, but it was just out of determination and sheer will that I stayed out there and played.''
Looking at his outside linebackers on the strong side, Davis likes the mix of Stewart, the starter, and Newman, the backup who started 42 of 48 games in Buffalo from 2000-02.
``When you talk about intelligence with a player, it's, 'How quick are you processing what's going on out there?' With Matt, he's rarely out of position where you can surprise him,'' Davis said. ``You usually can see it in the first quarter or the first part of the first quarter when teams show you things they haven't shown you yet on film.''
Davis was blown away as he watched film of Newman taking on a Packers guard who pulled from the right side to clear room for running back Najeh Davenport.
``Keith hit him so hard it knocked him out,'' Davis said with a slight grin. ``When you run into Keith Newman, you're running into a grown man that's going to hit you.''
NOTES: CB Tod McBride, out since breaking his left thumb on July 28 and undergoing surgery, returned to practice for the first time Tuesday but was limited. McBride doesn't think he'll be able to return until the second week of the season, when pins are taken out of his thumb. He has a cast on his forearm, which was heavily wrapped. .. DE Brady Smith (knee, ankle), WR Brian Finneran (ribs) and NT Demetrin Veal (knee, ankle) missed the two-hour workout. ... C Roberto Garza (triceps), PK Jay Feely (ankle) and FB Justin Griffith, RB Travis Jervey (knee) returned.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2003/8/174482