Atlanta's Defense

[FourierSeries]

You guys are getting way to caught up in the stat numbers. As a fan I have seen every game this year.....like twice. Atlanta has been getting so far out in front of teams this year in the 4th quarter in half their games, that The D starts to trade yards, and points for time off the clock. A perfect example of this is the last game of the season against NO. Atlanta was so far up in that game in the 4th quarter Ryan threw 3 passes only one was across the line of scrimmage. N.O. scored 21 points in the 4th because Atlanta was giving points and yardage for time. I can give you at least 4 more examples of this. 3/4 of the points Atlanta has given up has come in the first half of the year and in garbage time. 7 out of 11 players on D are rookies or 2nd year players. The average age of this D is 24, and that is with Babineaux at age 35! So the first half of the season was like you aint in college any more Frances! It has taken them awhile. As some of you posted the last half of the season has been so much better. Are we as good as NE? No! Are we a good D? No. I would say more right now as average. But I do know this we are much better than 90% of your fan base thinks we are. And I bet we are the fastest D in the NFL. As the say, you cant teach that!

We aren't caught up in the numbers. We judge the defense based on what we've seen. It's a slightly below average defense. You've got one very good edge rusher and you've got some athletic LBs. However, your defense can be run on and your secondary is pretty weak. Take a look at what we've done to much better defenses in the last two games.

You've got some young players in your defense who haven't seen anything close to the challenge that Brady provides in the postseason. Bud Dupree commented after the game yesterday that he was taken by surprise by the rapid pace of the NE offense, including the checks made at the line by Brady. Your young and inexperienced defense is the perfect match up for Brady.

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Jarrett was one of my all time favorites. I was definitely pounding the table for him. Great kid.

If Im Atlanta Im going rush early in the draft. When Williams falls out of 1st targeting him as well. That defense has some nice pieces but still needs more time, another impact player. Very close. Tru, Vic, Grady, Jones, Neal are great young group

 

[Tony2046]

Disagree. I'd call them average to slighty below average as of today. Not bad. A Bad D could not have held GB even if they had a bad day. Give Atlanta some credit for that. Doesn't mean they will do that vs us. If we execute well like GB should have they really can't stop a Good O. But to call them bad is unfair to where they are now.

Yeah I'm not sure about that. A fumble on the one yard line. A receiver with Broken ribs. GB kicker missed a field goal.

What could have been a 10-10 turned into 17-0.

Green Bay lost 3 offensive linemen and was playing with a banged up secondary.

Not sure if I'm going to gauge Atlanta based on that game.

 

[BelichickFan]

Green Bay lost 3 offensive linemen and was playing with a banged up secondary.

And they lost Montgomery early on.

I have no idea about "the improvement", but I know we heard the same thing last week. The Steelers are different. Sean Davis, Artie Burns, Bud Dupree. You haven't seen the Steelers with these guys. Now, I know Brady eats the Steelers for lunch but these guys were supposed to be better. And their second half numbers were better than the Falcons second half numbers. So I'll take it seriously when I see it happen.

 

[RIpats88]

here is atlantas defensive rankings

Pts/game - 25.4 (27th)
yds/game - 371.2 (25th)
Rush/game - 104.5 (17th)
pass yards/game - 266.7 (28th)

nothing there leads me to believe they will stop Tom Brady and our offense.

 

[caddieman]

We aren't caught up in the numbers. We judge the defense based on what we've seen. It's a slightly below average defense. You've got one very good edge rusher and you've got some athletic LBs. However, your defense can be run on and your secondary is pretty weak. Take a look at what we've done to much better defenses in the last two games.

You've got some young players in your defense who haven't seen anything close to the challenge that Brady provides in the postseason. Bud Dupree commented after the game yesterday that he was taken by surprise by the rapid pace of the NE offense, including the checks made at the line by Brady. Your young and inexperienced defense is the perfect match up for Brady.

Glad you brought that up! Yes you are right we haven't seen the challenge Tom Brady provides. He is the best QB.....most likely ever. We have seen the hottest QB the in last 8 games and we beat him by 20+ points. I can come back and say you haven't seen a top 10 QB all year, and that's including the playoffs! You got a QB running the top 8 scoring offence EVER in the history of the NFL. Falcons fans are are tired of being dismissed as a fluke. Yes respect is earned. NE has earned theirs. I hope we can earn yours Feb 5th

 

[FourierSeries]

Glad you brought that up! Yes you are right we haven't seen the challenge Tom Brady provides. He is the best QB.....most likely ever. We have seen the hottest QB the in last 8 games and we beat him by 20+ points. I can come back and say you haven't seen a top 10 QB all year, and that's including the playoffs! You got a QB running the top 8 scoring offence EVER in the history of the NFL. Falcons fans are are tired of being dismissed as a fluke. Yes respect is earned. NE has earned theirs. I hope we can earn yours Feb 5th

That GB offense was one dimensional - they had no run game. Their receivers were all severely injured. It was literally a one man show.

Big Ben may have had an off year for his standards, but he's still very much a top 10 QB. So is Flacco. The Falcons offense will provide a big challenge though, no doubt.

 

[RIpats88]

Glad you brought that up! Yes you are right we haven't seen the challenge Tom Brady provides. He is the best QB.....most likely ever. We have seen the hottest QB the in last 8 games and we beat him by 20+ points. I can come back and say you haven't seen a top 10 QB all year, and that's including the playoffs! You got a QB running the top 8 scoring offence EVER in the history of the NFL. Falcons fans are are tired of being dismissed as a fluke. Yes respect is earned. NE has earned theirs. I hope we can earn yours Feb 5th

I don't see where anyone is disrespecting the falcons as a team. just stating that their defense does not scare the patriots at all. you would have to agree that of the defenses the patriots have faced so far in the playoffs the falcons are the worst. texans rank top 5-10 in all categories I had posted and steelers are middle of the pack. Falcons rank in the bottom of the pack.

a much more complete packers team also put up 32 on them earlier in the season. saints put 32 on them, panthers 33, bucs 28, chiefs 29

 

[bormio]

here is atlantas defensive rankings

Pts/game - 25.4 (27th)
yds/game - 371.2 (25th)
Rush/game - 104.5 (17th)
pass yards/game - 266.7 (28th)

nothing there leads me to believe they will stop Tom Brady and our offense.

As I recall our year long #s would not have led anyone to think we would beat the GSoT (although we had played a competitive regular season game).

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Atlanta has overall been the most generous defense to QBs in the regular season in terms of allowing 4,145 passing yards to opposing QBs - allowing 30 total TDs allowed,allowing a 64.96 completion percentage and a 93.16 QB Rating - while all this seems moot since this is the playoffs and not the regular season the bottom line is this defense has allowed a significant amount of yardage and points all season long to QBs and when faced to hide these numbers again vs the best QB in the world,I really dont know if they can do it -

Atlanta has also allowed an incredible NFL worst 823 receiving yards to RBs this year,no one even comes close to giving up that many receiving yards to running backs - I think White and Lewis should be salivating over what they can do to these guys in the short passing game out of the backfield.

 

[bormio]

I live down South and have casually watched some Falcon games this year. They seem to be very good at getting a good stretch of defense in a game, allowing them to get separation in the score. They apparently have also gone to more M2M, and have done well with it. Ball security will be important as usual - don't help their D out if is struggling.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Finally went through atl's schedule as the commentators in nfcc highlighted a major turnaround in performance since week 10 or so. Not impressed. They either allowed 20+ or were playing some joke team. Gave up 30+ to the saints during this 'turnaround'. Wasnt overly impressed by their performances against sea or gb either, it was like the colts defenses that feasted on teams after getting an early lead. They havent shown they can come out stout like we did ahainst pitt their first 2 possessions.

Imo, they were fortunate in not having to go to dallas, gb and that beat up secondary had no chance in atl, rodgers would have had to play flawless like in dallas and thats really too much to ask of any one guy on a week to week basis. Gb shanks a fg early on then fumbles the next red zone trip, rodgers had no chance as he cant control either. once atl got up 2 scores it was easy for the D. Like i said, atl did not come out very stout in either game but took advantage of the leads thanks to gb and sea mistakes.

Pats just have to take care of the ball and they should be fine. Blount better be on his game because i feel we can run on these guys. Im a little concerned at really only 2 giys being consistent recieving threats in last 2 games but if we can run that helps alot lot.

 

[fightingirish595]

Their defense isn't good, plain and simple

 

[BelichickFan]

If you're just going to go by the numbers, then you could easily make the case their pass defense isn't that much worse than ours

Right but . . . Run defense and points. They count too. We've been beastly against the run, especially since the Collins trade.

 

[alvinnf]

Glad you brought that up! Yes you are right we haven't seen the challenge Tom Brady provides. He is the best QB.....most likely ever. We have seen the hottest QB the in last 8 games and we beat him by 20+ points. I can come back and say you haven't seen a top 10 QB all year, and that's including the playoffs! You got a QB running the top 8 scoring offence EVER in the history of the NFL. Falcons fans are are tired of being dismissed as a fluke. Yes respect is earned. NE has earned theirs. I hope we can earn yours Feb 5th

You are largely right, personally I have allot of respect for Ben. He has always found a way to win. He has been to 3 SB and won 2 of them. A win for him this past Sunday and we have a qb on his way to his 4th, not too shabby. Honestly the only QB I fear is named Eli. That little goober is clutch when it is nut cutting time. Just for the record, I really enjoyMatt Ryan's game too. It's nice to see him get his due, more so than the whiny choke artist in Carolina.

 

[Tony2046]

If you're just going to go by the numbers, then you could easily make the case their pass defense isn't that much worse than ours

I think those are offensive numbers.

 

[patfanken]

Some comments on the comments:

1. My first reaction to the regular season numbers of the Falcon defense that were generally in the mid 20's was to think back to the Pats historically bad defense in 2011. That was a defense that was SOOOOO bad that they could only dream of having numbers in the mid 20's. Yet like Atlanta's D it got better as season progress, and by the playoffs they had come together enough they ranked 4th out of the 12 teams, and more importantly, it wasn't the defenses' fault they lost that Superbowl. In they end they played pretty well, allowing just 14 points thru the first 58 minutes of the game.

The point being I'm leery of "the numbers".

2. I think what we should be consentrating on is HOW the Falcons will play OUR offense and what problems they pose. You can be pretty sure they WON'T be sitting back in a zone like the Steelers. Dan Quinn's pedigree means we should definitely looking for a much more agressive defense.

3. Are there any figures on how Hogan fairs against man coverage. Can he beat it? Because if Hogan can be taken out of the game by man coverage, Atlanta can afford to double Edelman and who else do the Pats have that can beat man coverage, especially when speed is their biggest talent.

So in my opinion SCHEME is going to play a big part in our offense's success. I worry we don't have the receiver talent to beat man coverage outside of Edelman, especially with Gronk gone and Bennett beat up. We will definitely need to scheme receivers open. BTW - this is something Josh has done very well for a long time, so I state it less as a concern than fact.

4. Success against the run game is clearly their defense's achilles heel. My question is do the Pats have the conviction and patience to commit to it over the course of 60 minutes. History would say no, because that would mean taking the ball out of the GOAT's hands. That's a conundrum for any OC.

5. Atlanta hasn't seen a better more ballanced offense this season than what they'll get from the Pats. We WILL move the ball. But in the end the game will rest on TO's and red zone production like most games do when 2 good teams play eachother. The team that gives up FG's rather than TD's will likely win the game. The team that DOESN'T turn the ball over will likely win the game.

In the end it's the old stand bys that make analysis easy.

 

[moejr]

That is the formula the Eagles used in November to defeat Atlanta, rushing for 208 yards and even 50/50 run /pass balance,,,,,,,

I believe the eagles held them to 15 points in that game

 

[fightingirish595]

Some comments on the comments:

1. My first reaction to the regular season numbers of the Falcon defense that were generally in the mid 20's was to think back to the Pats historically bad defense in 2011. That was a defense that was SOOOOO bad that they could only dream of having numbers in the mid 20's. Yet like Atlanta's D it got better as season progress, and by the playoffs they had come together enough they ranked 4th out of the 12 teams, and more importantly, it wasn't the defenses' fault they lost that Superbowl. In they end they played pretty well, allowing just 14 points thru the first 58 minutes of the game.

The point being I'm leery of "the numbers".

2. I think what we should be consentrating on is HOW the Falcons will play OUR offense and what problems they pose. You can be pretty sure they WON'T be sitting back in a zone like the Steelers. Dan Quinn's pedigree means we should definitely looking for a much more agressive defense.

3. Are there any figures on how Hogan fairs against man coverage. Can he beat it? Because if Hogan can be taken out of the game by man coverage, Atlanta can afford to double Edelman and who else do the Pats have that can beat man coverage, especially when speed is their biggest talent.

So in my opinion SCHEME is going to play a big part in our offense's success. I worry we don't have the receiver talent to beat man coverage outside of Edelman, especially with Gronk gone and Bennett beat up. We will definitely need to scheme receivers open

4. Success against the run game is clearly their defense's achilles heel. My question is do the Pats have the conviction and patience to commit to it over the course of 60 minutes. History would say no, because that would mean taking the ball out of the GOAT's hands. That's a conundrum for any OC.

5. Atlanta hasn't seen a better more ballanced offense this season than what they'll get from the Pats. We WILL move the ball. But in the end the game will rest on TO's and red zone production like most games do when 2 good teams play eachother. The team that gives up FG's rather than TD's will likely win the game. The team that DOESN'T turn the ball over will likely win the game.

In the end it's the old stand bys that make analysis easy.

Like that 2011 Pats defense you made the comparison too, I seriously doubt the falcons ability to get a stop in the last 2 minutes if they need it. Advantage to us on that one. When the Giants got the ball back late in that game, were you concerned or confident? What do you think of the falcons defense if they need a late stop, I think they will fold

 

[fightingirish595]

That is the formula the Eagles used in November to defeat Atlanta, rushing for 208 yards and even 50/50 run /pass balance,,,,,,,

That might be a game I'll have to rewatch. I'll have to see if Cox, graham, and co were harassing Ryan. First I'll look at the stats