Does Atlanta have the personnel to implement man-coverage schemes and disrupt the interior O-line?

[Soul_Survivor88]

The Falcons are a zone coverage team and that remains the base of what they do well. They don’t do an awful lot to vary their coverages. Instead, they run the same base Cover-3 concepts (with a Cover-1 variant) and use pattern-matching to vacillate between man and zone coverage.

When electing to play man coverage, the Falcons turn to Jalen Collins (in his second year) to fill the void left by Desmond Trufant (who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 9). Collins has been Atlanta's most consistent coverage cornerback, but there doesn't appear to be any lockdown corners who can win individual matchups with the likes of Edelman, Hogan, and Amendola, Mitchell.

The Falcons are, however, successful at generating pressure on the front, and against Green Bay, the Falcons generated pressure on a whopping 40 percent of their passing plays. DT Grady Jarrett abused Packers left guard Don Barclay at several point during the game, and has been an absolute force in both of his NFL seasons. He has three sacks, eight quarterback hits, 30 quarterback hurries and 25 stops this season, and his ability to command double-teams on a high percentage of plays allows Vic Beasley and Atlanta's other linemen to get free to disrupt.

Vic Beasley (who led the NFL in sacks with 15.5) is athletic enough to attack from various starting points, and he has enough complementary pieces (Ra'Shede Hageman, Jonathan Babineaux, Dwight Freeney and Brooks Reed) around him to generate pressure on a variety of stunts or exotic-pressure fronts.

My main concern here, is obviously with the young interior of the Patriots' offensive line. Thuney, Andrews and Mason struggled mightily against Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus on isolated pressures up the gut, and the Falcons (at least on paper) seem to have the personnel that can be used in a similar capacity.

Fortunately for us, their secondary has more question marks.

 

[venecol]

BB will be prepared to counter their schemes. Brady will tear their D apart. Only question in this game is if the D can hold their O to under 30 pts.

 

[BelichickFan]

I don't think there's a ton to worry about with the pass rush. From Football Outsiders' preview of the NFCCG :

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS: Innovative Statistics, Intelligent Analysis | NFC Championship Preview 2017

Sack totals suggest that the Falcons' pass rush is almost entirely Vic Beasley, who had 15.5 sacks while the rest of the team had just 18.5 combined. However, charting hurries shows the pressure to be a bit more of a team effort. (Subscription required.) Beasley led the Falcons with 30, but the venerable Dwight Freeney had 19.5, Grady Jarrett had 16, Brooks Reed had 15, and Adrian Clayborn (now injured) had 14.5. Add in Jonathan Babineaux at 9.5 and the Falcons had as many defenders with at least eight pass pressures as the Packers had. However, Atlanta's pressure totals are high in part because the team faced a lot of passes; their actual pressure rate of 21.1 percent was just 22nd in the NFL according to SIS charting.

A few other quotes from the article :

The cornerback charting metrics back the idea that the Falcons' secondary got better without Trufant. Cornerback charting metrics are far from a perfect measure of cornerback play, and they often measure how teams use their cornerbacks as much as they measure how well those cornerbacks play. Nonetheless, this is the second straight year where Robert Alford's numbers came out much more impressive than Trufant's. Trufant did a strong job of preventing yardage this year, but allowed a number of shorter completions, and his success rate was lower than the player who replaced him in the lineup, 2015 second-round pick Jalen Collins. Meanwhile, although rookie nickelback Poole is a high-motor player with a great story, he's clearly a weakness. The Falcons ranked in the top ten covering No. 1 and No. 2 wide receivers but were 29th against "other" wide receivers.

As the Falcons defense has gotten better against the pass over the last two months, it has gotten worse against the run. Certainly we didn't see this last week, when the Falcons kept Thomas Rawls to just 34 yards on 11 carries. But in the second half of the regular season, in Weeks 10-17, the Falcons ranked dead last in run defense DVOA.

I still have no idea why Seattle didn't run more. Rawls had 6 carries for a 4.8 YPC on the first drive and ended the game with 11 carries.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Looking at box scores, it appeared that the Falcons jumped out to big leads in most of their latter games. Maybe the dead last run D was due to conceding the run while expecting passes.

Regards,
Chris

 

[slash83]

No

 

[luuked]

Nope.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

I am hoping floyd's active for this game. Mitchell has hit the rookie wall a lil. I just feel like floyd can make a big play or two.

 

[slash83]

I am hoping floyd's active for this game. Mitchell has hit the rookie wall a lil. I just feel like floyd can make a big play or two.

Hit the rookie wall, how? He didn't look great ill give you that but that was his first game back in how long after dealing with the knee injury.

 

[PatriotsPimp136]

Hit the rookie wall, how? He didn't look great ill give you that but that was his first game back in how long after dealing with the knee injury.

I still feel a guy like floyd can make a big play in this game. Idk if bill would make both guys active.

 

[slash83]

I still feel a guy like floyd can make a big play in this game. Idk if bill would make both guys active.

I agree with Floyd but not Mitchell hitting the rookie wall. If you're BB do you risk in inexperience of Floyd in the biggest game of the season or go with the rookie who has more of Brady's trust...

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Atlanta runs a similar defense to Seattle, without the talent in the secondary. Considering Brady threw for 300+ and scored 24 (should have been 31) points against the good version of that defense with Sherman and a healthy Thomas and Chancellor, I don't think scoring will be the issue against Atlanta.

Solder has quietly had an amazing season. If you had to pick the 3 most valuable offensive players after Brady, I think Nate would be one of them. Cannon did great on the other side, so outside pressure from Beasley should be minimized.

The real question is the interior, and if Atlanta will deploy Beasley there over Andrews like Houston did with Mercilus. But I think Andrews will get help then, as the rest of the DL is nowhere near as tough as the Texans so they can afford to help more.

I would expect a heavy dose of Blount early to see if we can't impose our will. It would also let the interior guys loose a bit to push forward and get out some early energy and jitters.

 

[patsbrasilpatriotas]

The Falcons are a zone coverage team and that remains the base of what they do well. They don’t do an awful lot to vary their coverages. Instead, they run the same base Cover-3 concepts (with a Cover-1 variant) and use pattern-matching to vacillate between man and zone coverage.

When electing to play man coverage, the Falcons turn to Jalen Collins (in his second year) to fill the void left by Desmond Trufant (who suffered a season-ending injury in Week 9). Collins has been Atlanta's most consistent coverage cornerback, but there doesn't appear to be any lockdown corners who can win individual matchups with the likes of Edelman, Hogan, and Amendola, Mitchell.

The Falcons are, however, successful at generating pressure on the front, and against Green Bay, the Falcons generated pressure on a 1 - whopping 40 percent of their passing plays. DT Grady Jarrett abused Packers left guard 2 -Don Barclay at several point during the game, and has been an absolute force in both of his NFL seasons. 3- He has three sacks, eight quarterback hits, 30 quarterback hurries and 25 stops this season, and his ability to command double-teams on a high percentage of plays allows Vic Beasley and Atlanta's other linemen to get free to disrupt.

4- Vic Beasley (who led the NFL in sacks with 15.5) is athletic enough to attack from various starting points, and he has enough complementary pieces (Ra'Shede Hageman, Jonathan Babineaux, Dwight Freeney and Brooks Reed) around him to generate pressure on a variety of stunts, games or exotic-pressure fronts.

My main concern here, is obviiously with the young interior of New England's offensive line. 5- Thuney, Andrews and Mason struggled mightily against Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus on isolated pressures up the gut, and the Falcons (at least on paper) seem to have the personnel that can be used in a similar capacity.

Fortunately for us, their secondary has more question marks.

I like your posts a lot, saying that:

1- Beign honest, that's seem low. Rodgers hold the ball 5s every play, they didn't have a running back and 3 OL got hurt.

2- Lane Taylor was hurt... It´s like Waddle subbing for Cannon.

3 - Malcom Brown is not considered an ''aboslute force'' but he put similar numbers: 4 sacks, 1 safety, 4 QB hits, 6 pressures, 1 FF ... He did that in less snaps too.

4 - Beasley has almost half of their sacks 15.5/34 ( Trufant has 2, so more than half will be concentrade in one player). Neutralize him will be '''easier'' IMO. Last time and only time that i remember a single player destroying us was Miller. But you can't spare 2 players all the snaps for him because they had Wolf, Ware, Jackson.. Texans had ''only'' 31 sacks, but they have 3 players that can generate pressure, McKinney, Clowney and Mercillus. And that's why we struggled IMO.

5 - I disagree. Mason was great that game.

 

[signbabybrady]

I am hoping floyd's active for this game. Mitchell has hit the rookie wall a lil. I just feel like floyd can make a big play or two.

If Mitchell's toe was not a half an inch out of bounds your probably not trying to sit him.

 

[Uptown]

BB will be prepared to counter their schemes. Brady will tear their D apart. Only question in this game is if the D can hold their O to under 30 pts.

I concur. That's the game! Plain & simple.
On O: Just protect Brady & DO NOT turn it over.
On D: Try to hold them ~17-23 pts.
(Scoreless if possible )

Ballgame!

 

[IllegalContact]

the falcons are about as good at getting after the passer as the pats....neutralize one guy and they're the worst in the NFL

an article posted on ESPN .... (don't ask for the link, if you want go look it up yourself) stated that the Pats went 4-wide more against the steelers than they did the entire rest of the season combined

this is something that will work even better against the falcons as their secondary is even weaker than the steelers........they like to model their style after the seahawks, but they simply lack the personnel to copy it

the stage is set for Brady to have the biggest postseason game of his career.......against the weakest defense he has ever faced in the superbowl

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

the falcons are about as good at getting after the passer as the pats....neutralize one guy and they're the worst in the NFL

an article posted on ESPN .... (don't ask for the link, if you want go look it up yourself) stated that the Pats went 4-wide more against the steelers than they did the entire rest of the season combined

Mike Reiss' column?

 

[IllegalContact]

Mike Reiss' column?

yup.....I saw on Wed one-liners on PFT and clicked on it........then threw up in my mouth

 

[neuronet]

I am hoping floyd's active for this game. Mitchell has hit the rookie wall a lil. I just feel like floyd can make a big play or two.

I'm starting to think no on him.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

The real question is the interior, and if Atlanta will deploy Beasley there over Andrews like Houston did with Mercilus. But I think Andrews will get help then, as the rest of the DL is nowhere near as tough as the Texans so they can afford to help more

4 - Beasley has almost half of their sacks 15.5/34 ( Trufant has 2, so more than half will be concentrade in one player). Neutralize him will be '''easier'' IMO. Last time and only time that i remember a single player destroying us was Miller. But you can't spare 2 players all the snaps for him because they had Wolf, Ware, Jackson.. Texans had ''only'' 31 sacks, but they have 3 players that can generate pressure, McKinney, Clowney and Mercillus. And that's why we struggled IMO.

I agree for the most, Atlanta's defensive line isn't as talented as Houston's or Denver's. It was not exactly the strongest during the regular season either. Even though they finished 34 sacks, but their Adjusted Sack Rate, per Football Outsiders, was just 5.4 percent, well below average at 24th in the NFL. Basically, the Falcons had 34 sacks, but they also faced more passing situations than your typical defense because they were so often leading. That led to more sacks than you would expect.

However, the Falcons defense has been getting a lot more pressure on opposing quarterbacks without sacrificing extra defenders on blitzes. During the Seattle playoff game, the team as a whole pressured Wilson on 41 percent of his 39 dropbacks despite blitzing only eight times. (The Falcons did blitz Aaron Rodgers more often than usual last week. They sent extra men at Rodgers 33 percent of the time, which might have had more to do with the fact Green Bay has one of the best offensive lines in terms of pass-blocking efficiency)


Replicating that by producing pressure up the middle with three- and four-man fronts, will likely be the goal for Atlanta. They'll try to harass Brady by beating Andrew and Thuney at the point of attack and disguising their rushers, the same way Houston sent Clowney and Whitney Mercilus up the middle instead of off the edge.

Beasley uses a similar skill set as Clowney off the edge — explosive speed, a devastating dip move, and a knack for separating the ball from the quarterback — and this season, he’s not only leading the NFL in sacks (14.5), but he's forced a league-high six fumbles. The only problem with this, is that when Beasley is unable to generate pass pressure, there has too often been no one else to pick up the slack. If anyone is going to get to Brady from the inside, it will probably have to be a defensive tackle like Grady Jarrett.

One of their most effective tactics is a tackle-end stunt that has Beasley and Jarrett exchange gaps, particularly from a split front (two three-technique defensive tackles that widen the front). By stunting Beasley inside, the Falcons are able to get him a “head up” rush on an interior lineman, and often his speed will allow him to arrive at the gap before a center or guard can even process it.

 

[yopats]

Mike Lombardi's take.