Redskins’ Hall heated after scrum

ATLANTA | Already having been booed lustily by Atlanta Falcons fans in his return to the Georgia Dome, DeAngelo Hall burned more bridges Sunday.

If his problem wasn’t with Falcons coach Mike Smith before, it is now.

Hall was involved in a second-quarter altercation in front of the Atlanta bench after LaRon Landry’s hit on Matt Ryan out of bounds and took plenty of verbal swipes at Smith following the Redskins’ 31-17 loss.

The cornerback accused the Atlanta coach of “putting his hand on me in a harmful way” and said he planned to call NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to complain about what happened.

“It’s different when a coach comes over to break guys up,” Hall said. “When a coach puts his hands on you and says that he is going to kick your [butt], that’s different.

“I stay in Atlanta in the offseason. So if Mike Smith wants to see me, he can definitely find me. We’ll save that for another day.”

Smith said he didn’t even know it was Hall who was part of the melee.

“All I was trying to do was restore order,” Smith said. “It was very, very hectic. … I can’t tell you who was on that sideline.”

Hall, often referred to as “MeAngelo” by Atlanta fans because of his perceived selfishness, was traded to Oakland before the 2008 season and generally has been on his best behavior since joining the Redskins. But he’s at the center of controversy again after verbally taking on the Atlanta coach.

“I can’t wait for people to see the replays,” Hall said. “Something needs to be done about [what he did]. … I went over just to try to pull my guy away.”

Eventually, it was an official who pulled Hall out of the scrum.

“I knew DeAngelo was over there, and that was a bad place for him to be,” Redskins coach Jim Zorn said. “I’m glad it didn’t turn into something ugly.”

Instead, it was the Redskins’ defensive effort that was far from pretty.

“We couldn’t stop the run,” Hall said. “It wasn’t Matt Ryan or the passing game. We just couldn’t stop Michael Turner.”

Turner rushed for 166 yards and scored on runs of 30 and 58 yards, with his second touchdown early in the fourth quarter putting the Falcons safely ahead.

“You can’t let him get an alley,” defensive end Phillip Daniels said. “On the long TDs, we hardly got a hand on him.”

Added Albert Haynesworth: “We knew he was a big, strong back with really strong legs, so you really need to gang-tackle him.”

Instead, the Redskins let him run free.

“It was not our style of football,” defensive end Andre Carter said. “We’re very disappointed in ourselves. … We have to do our part and play at a higher level than ever.

“We know the offense is nicked up. They’re trying. It’s on us to help them out. Today, we didn’t. Whether it was missed tackles, mental breakdowns, penalties or being out of position, we just didn’t do our job.”