Atlanta Falcons: 5 reasons for 5-game losing streak

1. Lack of Pass Rush

The lack of a pass rush for the 2015 Atlanta Falcons is by far the most obvious flaw with this team’s construction. While we’ve seen the defense improve in most areas under the new coaching staff, it has been its non-existent quarterback pressure that has done the defense in.

Entering Week 14, the Atlanta Falcons are dead last in quarterback sacks with 13. A sack a week is half the NFL average (27.1 total sacks) and there are still two teams that have yet to play their Week 13 matchup.

Those two teams are the Washington Redskins (26th in sacks) and the New York Giants (31st in sacks). Though the Atlanta Falcons and the New York Giants have the same league-worst sack percentage (3.0%), New York will still finish Week 13 with two more quarterback sacks than Atlanta (15 for New York).

Nobody on the Atlanta Falcons’ defense has more than 2.0 quarterback sacks. Houston Texans All-Pro defensive end J.J. Watt has more sacks than the entire 2015 Atlanta Falcons with 13.5. That is a testament to both how dominant of a player Watt is for Houston and how ineffective the pass rush still is for the Atlanta Falcons.

Expect the front office to make a series of moves to better suit Dan Quinn’s 4-3 Under base defense and especially the largely ineffective pass rush out of the nickel package this offseason. This current pass rushing personnel has hit its finite ceiling already and that is a major cause for concern heading into the 2016 NFL Draft and Free Agency Period.

Next: 2. Costly Turnovers on Offense