By D. ORLANDO LEDBETTERThe Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 10/08/07Nashville — Linebacker Demorrio Williams, benched earlier in Sunday's game against Tennessee in favor of rookie Stephen Nicholas, had two spectacular fourth-quarter plays to keep the Falcons' hopes alive."Honestly, it's kind of hard to stand around and watch your teammates play," Williams said after the 20-13 loss to Tennessee. "But it's always motivation when I get out there on the field, because I want to prove people wrong."Williams, a four-year veteran who signed a one-year restricted free-agent contract in the offseason to stay with the Falcons, finds himself in a time-share at weakside linebacker.He got back into the game against the Titans because Nicholas suffered a high right ankle sprain. Nicholas was wearing a protective boot in the locker room after the game."Early in the game we made a substitution and got him out of there," Falcons coach Bobby Petrino said. "He got back and got the interception, which was huge. He made a nice play on that."We are going to need both of those linebackers, we've been saying that all year. We've been trying to rotate them in, keep both of them fresh."Williams would rather be starting and holding down the position full-time."He's a playmaker," cornerback DeAngelo Hall said. "This new change of trying to rotate him in and all of this stuff, it was a surprise to everybody because we know how well Demo plays. It was evident out there today."Stephen went down, which was unfortunate for him, but we got a chance to put Demo back in, who we feel like deserves to be out there anyway. We put him out there and he made the plays that probably only Demo could make."Williams intercepted a Vince Young pass with 4:15 left in the game to give the Falcons the ball at Tennessee's 21-yard line.Three plays later, Tennessee's David Thornton intercepted a Byron Leftwich pass.After the Titans were forced to punt, Williams combined with Michael Boley on a stunt that broke him free to tackle punter Craig Hentrich, giving the Falcons the ball at the 19-yard line with 2:24 to play."He's carried himself in a professional manner, being in the position that he's in," middle linebacker Keith Brooking said. "When he's out there, he's not moping around with his head down with a mentality of woe is me. He's out there going hard and trying to make the best of his opportunities."Williams' interception came on a play when the Falcons defense was in scramble mode."We really didn't have a defensive call," Williams said. "Lawyer [Milloy] was hollering for a 'pony' call, and that's just a cover two call for me so I dropped onto the curl. Brooking was calling something else. I just dropped back. I thought [Young] was looking me off, but he threw it right to me."With the offense sputtering all day, Williams thought the defense, which helped to create five turnovers, did its part."It's been a while since I've seen a game like this," Williams said. "They say that the team with the most turnovers usually wins the game. Today we struggled a little bit."
