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Atlanta Falcons: Where Does Defense Stand After Week 5?

By John Buhler

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The Atlanta Falcons moved to 5-0 due in large part to the defense on Sunday. However, is this Atlanta Falcons’ defense good, bad, or middle of the pack?

After their Week 5 overtime victory over the Washington Redskins 25-19, the Atlanta Falcons are statistically the 15th overall defense in the NFL. On paper it looks like the Falcons are a middle of the pack defense, but what are the Dirty Birds strong as defensively and where do they need to improve in HC Dan Quinn’s 4-3 Under defensive scheme?

-= Related: Atlanta Falcons Win on Alford’s Pick Six =-

Entering the final day of Week 5, the Atlanta Falcons have allowed the 15th most points (112) of any team in the NFL. They should drop a spot to 16th after the Pittsburgh Steelers take on the San Diego Chargers on Monday Night Football. San Diego likely won’t pitch a shutout, so expect the Chargers to allow more than 110 points in the first five weeks of 2015.

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With most teams that are middle of the pack defensively, there is usually a disparagement between pass and run. The Atlanta Falcons are no different, as they are the 3rd best against the run (392 yards allowed) and 4th worst against the pass (1,440 yards allowed). In all honesty, Atlanta is only 3rd because the two teams ahead of them, the Carolina Panthers and New York Jets, were on byes this week.

When your team is proficient in one area of defense, the opposition is more apt to abandon that part of their game plan should it yield ineffective results. We usually see this with great run defenses as opposed great pass defenses. An opponent will give up on the run so much quicker than they will abandon the passing game, not at all if they are trailing.

While the Atlanta Falcons have arguably their most talented players on the defensive side of the ball in their secondary, the numbers unfairly indicate that they are a bottom four unit in the NFL. Well, that bottom unit won the Falcons the game on Sunday, with a pair of Robert Alford interceptions including the 59-yard game winner in overtime.

Interestingly, the Atlanta Falcons give up most of their touchdowns via the run (31st in the NFL) than through the air (6th in the NFL). This has to do with how the opposition attacks the Falcons in the red zone. There’s not enough space to attack the Atlanta secondary in the red zone and opponents opt to break the plane of the end zone with their rushing attack.

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Overall, the Atlanta Falcons are 20th in yards allowed per game at 366.4 and 15th in points allowed per game at 22.4. However, it seems as if the Atlanta Falcons’ defense would prefer to allow empty yards through the air (288 YPG) than give in on the ground (78.4 YPG).

With 10 forced turnovers already, the Atlanta Falcons’ defense seems slightly better than they are on paper, but not by much. I’d say they are in the Top 3rd in the NFL as opposed to the Top Half that statistics otherwise indicate. Or at least it feels that way.

Next: Atlanta Falcons: 5 Things Learned vs. Washington

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