Atlanta's Defense

[1960Pats]

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!

Welcome aboard to you and the other Falcon Fans. I think you'll enjoy this board.

I'd like to see the Pats run the ball more. That might work against all that speed.

 

[Ethanga62890]

I think a lot of you underrated our D. They aren't as good as the pats d. No sane person will suggest otherwise but they have been excellent since the by at getting off the field on 3rd down and generating turnovers. I believe 15 of our 22 takeaways have occured in the last portion of the season. Our lbs are extremely fast and cover very well and they all bring wood. The big thing for us vs the pats IMO is to stop the run game. They've done well at stopping it on first downs the past 7 8 games which forces offenses into predictable downs but they can still be had. While the starting d line is undersized we have personnel packages where we put more beef on the line. Hageman has been a disappointment since he's been here but he's turned it on the past 2 games feasting on the opponent's center and guard positions. We will need that again to stop Brady. We have got to get a good interior push. Edge rushing will at best work inconsistently on Brady. Ultimately I do think it's our year though. I can bet belicheck isn't underrating anyone same for Quinn.

 

[FourierSeries]

I think a lot of you underrated our D. They aren't as good as the pats d. No sane person will suggest otherwise but they have been excellent since the by at getting off the field on 3rd down and generating turnovers. I believe 15 of our 22 takeaways have occured in the last portion of the season. Our lbs are extremely fast and cover very well and they all bring wood. The big thing for us vs the pats IMO is to stop the run game. They've done well at stopping it on first downs the past 7 8 games which forces offenses into predictable downs but they can still be had. While the starting d line is undersized we have personnel packages where we put more beef on the line. Hageman has been a disappointment since he's been here but he's turned it on the past 2 games feasting on the opponent's center and guard positions. We will need that again to stop Brady. We have got to get a good interior push. Edge rushing will at best work inconsistently on Brady. Ultimately I do think it's our year though. I can bet belicheck isn't underrating anyone same for Quinn.

Every defense gets better as the season goes on, barring injuries. That's not surprising, nor is it unique to Atlanta. Houston and Pittsburgh's defenses got better towards the end of the season as well, and they were playing significantly better than Atlanta's was.

 

[Ethanga62890]

Fair point. I jus believe in em cause they haven't let us down yet

 

[Former Fan]

Fair point. I jus believe in em cause they haven't let us down yet

Except for the 5 games you lost, right?

 

[Ethanga62890]

Except for the 5 games you lost, right?

except those yes. Since KC they've been on a pretty good tear. With most of the points given up being in garbage time

 

[SHOWTIME15]

Fair point. I jus believe in em cause they haven't let us down yet

Atlanta's scoring D is 27th overall.

 

[Ethanga62890]

Atlanta's scoring D is 27th overall.

last 6 games they are giving up 19 a game. 10 to 8 TD int ratio. 55 percent completion percentage.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

last 6 games they are giving up 19 a game. 10 to 8 TD int ratio. 55 percent completion percentage.

Atlanta has not faced a well balanced offense like NE and will not be playing in the georgia dome. Unlike seattle and GB, new england has a running game.

 

[Ethanga62890]

Atlanta has not faced a well balanced offense like NE and will not be playing in the georgia dome. Unlike seattle and GB, new england has a running game.

you won't hear me argue against that. On the flip side your d hasn't seen an offense like this yet.

 

[Nikolai]

last 6 games they are giving up 19 a game. 10 to 8 TD int ratio. 55 percent completion percentage.

I definitely sympathize with what you're doing here. As I've mentioned elsewhere on the board, there were a lot of similar arguments to yours regarding our 2011 defense, which was abysmal really. I don't know if I posted it here, but I remember going through a lot of analytic gymnastics trying to prove that we actually had at least an average unit. I hope I didn't post it, because even I knew it was embarrassing to try.

Your defense is definitely better than our 2011 unit, but not being able to play a full 60 minutes comes back to bite you in the ass. Ask our 2011 defense. Brady left the field with the lead and 3:46 remaining...

 

[EddardSnow67]

Nope, but the Falcons defense features a lot of single high safety looks, too, though which the Pats could be successful at throwing at. I highly doubt they stay in their "base" defense for very long, though, since it's essentially a zone based concept (they do press the WR's, though, which is something Pittsburgh didn't seem willing to do) and, well, we all know what Brady does to that kind of scheme. I think we'll see the Falcons play more man under than they have throughout the year in this game. Quinn is no idiot as a DC. He saw what Brady did to the same scheme with better ponies in Super Bowl 49. That said, I would welcome that look too since there would be opportunities for big plays for Hogan, Mitchell, and Edelman downfield.

Do you think Atlanta's propensity for pressing WRs will influence Floyd's roster status?

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

We heard the prevent defense theory around here a lot also the past few years and I remain unimpressed. Prevent defense is meant to trade time for points. If any team is allowing lots of late points it's likely not prevent defense, it's just bad defense. Let them burn 5 minutes off the clock to get a score in a blowout is prevent.

Let them score 3 quick TDs in the fourth is exactly what "prevent" is meant to prevent. When the only way the other team can get back into the game is quick TDs then that's the only thing the defense must defend. If they're unable to do that it's a sign the defense isn't all that good.

Just looking at fourth quarter points and discounting them is ridiculous. Lots of games are decided in the fourth. The falcons lost or were still competing in the fourth of many games.

Some of those were garbage time, but most weren't. Yeah the defense was better in the second half of the season.

 

[Kontradiction]

Do you think Atlanta's propensity for pressing WRs will influence Floyd's roster status?

No. Because I think the Patriots have more trust in Mitchell's mastery of the offense at this point than Floyd's.

 

[caddieman]

We heard the prevent defense theory around here a lot also the past few years and I remain unimpressed. Prevent defense is meant to trade time for points. If any team is allowing lots of late points it's likely not prevent defense, it's just bad defense. Let them burn 5 minutes off the clock to get a score in a blowout is prevent.

Let them score 3 quick TDs in the fourth is exactly what "prevent" is meant to prevent. When the only way the other team can get back into the game is quick TDs then that's the only thing the defense must defend. If they're unable to do that it's a sign the defense isn't all that good.

Just looking at fourth quarter points and discounting them is ridiculous. Lots of games are decided in the fourth. The falcons lost or we're still competing in the fourth of many games.

Some of those were garbage time, but most weren't. Yeah the defense was better in the second half of the season.

Total disagree. A prevent D is designed to stop the quick score. The over the top 50 yard bomb. When you are up 20+ points on a team going into the 4th quarter the number one thing is don't get beat deep. The under stuff is open all day. Atlanta D ranking by Quarters
1st Q 10th
2nd Q 17th
3rd Q 11th
4th Q 31st
So the 27th ranked D is very misleading is all we are saying.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Total disagree. A prevent D is designed to stop the quick score. The over the top 50 yard bomb. When you are up 20+ points on a team going into the 4th quarter the number one thing is don't get beat deep. The under stuff is open all day. Atlanta D ranking by Quarters
1st Q 10th
2nd Q 17th
3rd Q 11th
4th Q 31st
So the 27th ranked D is very misleading is all we are saying.

That's exactly what I said. The difference is I looked at their games and only a few were blowouts, and in some of those they allowed quick scores. You can probably only attribute 25 points to prevent D working this year, so discounting all the fourth quarter points when they aren't in prevent D is absurd.

Bad defenses also have a habit of giving up points in the fourth quarter to lose games- something Atlanta did several times. I guess those points don't matter since they happened in the fourth quarter.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

I prefer this level of discourse vs. the norm from the opponents' fans. Falcons fans who came here: You're all right.

I've watched the KC and Denver games on gamepass and actually attended the Oakland game. I've got to say that Atlanta fans have every right to feel confident. The D is good, despite what the stats say. The under might be a good bet. That being said, I think the Pats will slow down their offense. I'll post details after watching a few more games, mostly after their bye.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Nikolai]

I prefer this level of discourse vs. the norm from the opponents' fans. Falcons fans who came here: You're all right.

Agreed. They seem to be good sports as well.

 

[The Brandon Five]

Don't get me wrong, NE played a good game two years ago in the super bowl, but Seattle's defense didn't lose them that game. Their decision to throw it on 1st and goal from the 1 yard line instead of running beast mode up the middle 4 times cost them that game. DQ's defense put them in position for back to back. I am in no way trying to say our defense in on the same level as Seattle's from 2013 and 2014, but it isn't exactly that far off either.

They did run it on first and goal (from the five). Beastmode got stopped by Hightower (playing with a torn labrum) at the 1-yard line. They had three more downs to score and only one timeout left. It was second and goal from the one yard line with 26 seconds on the clock. The Pats D had already stopped Beastmode on a 3rd and 1 earlier in the game and were in goal-line defense. Seattle had to throw the ball on one of the three downs. There was not enough time to run it three times. They chose to throw it on second down because the Pats were in goal line. In the 2014 season there were almost 200 passes thrown from the 1 yard line in the NFL (I think the actual number was 199). The first one to be intercepted was the one picked by Butler.

 

[IllegalContact]

I think a lot of you underrated our D. They aren't as good as the pats d. No sane person will suggest otherwise but they have been excellent since the by at getting off the field on 3rd down and generating turnovers. I believe 15 of our 22 takeaways have occured in the last portion of the season. Our lbs are extremely fast and cover very well and they all bring wood. The big thing for us vs the pats IMO is to stop the run game. They've done well at stopping it on first downs the past 7 8 games which forces offenses into predictable downs but they can still be had. While the starting d line is undersized we have personnel packages where we put more beef on the line. Hageman has been a disappointment since he's been here but he's turned it on the past 2 games feasting on the opponent's center and guard positions. We will need that again to stop Brady. We have got to get a good interior push. Edge rushing will at best work inconsistently on Brady. Ultimately I do think it's our year though. I can bet belicheck isn't underrating anyone same for Quinn.

********.....your defense sucks......shazier is faster than any falcons LB and they made him look stupid last week

deion jones? he's another buchanon from the cards......pats beat him to a pulp

the steelers and texans defense is much better than the falcons and they didn't provide much ... the problem with the falcons defense is that they lack the size needed to be a problem....the pats easily abuse speed

falcons defense made alex smith look all-pro......nuff said

they did not do so well against the AFC this year