Atlanta Falcons Must Make Season Saving Defensive Changes

The Atlanta Falcons lost a second consecutive game in which the team scored more than 35 points. This is a occurrance that is unheard of. The Injury riddled defense has been historically inept. Changes must be made in multiple areas in order to save this season.

The Atlanta Falcons have outstanding starting personnel on both sides of the ball. Unfortunately they just can’t seem to get the offense and defense clicking at the game time.

During the 2016 Super Bowl season, the offense was historically good. The offense took a major step back in 2017 under new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, while the defense ascended into the top ten for the first time in many years.

Last season’s trend continued in week one of this season, as the defense was phenomenal and the offense struggled to score. This resulted in an 18-12 loss to the Eagles. The Atlanta Falcons offense came alive and the team played their most complete game of the season in week two, beating Carolina 31-24.

Since then the offense has returned to 2016 form scoring 37, and 36 points in consecutive games. Unimaginably the Dirty Birds dropped both contests. Matt Ryan became the first quarterback in NFL history to lose consecutive games with at least 350 yards passing, three touchdowns and zero interceptions.

The defense is leaking yards and points at an unprecedented level, as the injuries have mounted up. The middle of the defense has been particularly weak losing middle linebacker Deion Jones, and safeties Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen.

The defense had given up eight consecutive touchdown drives over a stretch of the last two games. They surrendered touchdowns on four consecutive drives to finish the New Orleans game. The defense then proceeded to give up four consecutive touchdown drives to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Atlanta Falcons failed to score a touchdown on their last offensive drive of the game, instead setting for a Matt Bryant Field Goal to give them a five point lead. Many fans including myself got a sinking feeling, as we realized the defense was required to get a stop in order to win.

The fan’s fears were confounded, as the Bengals carved the wounded birds up on a 15 play 75 yard touchdown drive, to give the Cincinnati the 37-36 win. University of Georgia Football product AJ Green caught the game winning score behind rookie cornerback Isaiah Oliver. Oliver failed to get a deep enough drop on his zone, a costly error.

The Atlanta Falcons are in dire straights as they drop to 1-3. Drastic measures must be taken if the Atlanta Falcons want to remain in the race, to play in the Super Bowl at home in 2019. I mentioned in this article that the Falcons made a mistake by not signing better injury replacements.

The Atlanta Falcons have just short of 6.2 million dollars in cap space according to spotrac.com. That should be enough to secure the services of three veterans for the rest of the season.

Signing a proven veteran safety as soon as possible is a must. Jordan Richards has been horrendous since coming over from New England in a trade. The Atlanta Falcons experimented with Brian Poole at safety and the results were also abysmal.

To make matters worse, the Carolina Panthers signed Eric Reed the best available safety this past week, taking him off the market. Adding insult to injury, free safety Earl Thomas who was widely believed to be the best available safety on the trade market, is out for the season with a broken leg.

It’s unclear what other veterans could be available via trade. That leaves the Atlanta Falcons to comb the free agent market. Former All Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis would be an interesting guy to try at safety.

TJ Ward, Mike Mitchell, Darius Butler, Nate Allen, and Tyvon Branch are all veteran safeties without a home. All five men have a wealth of starting experience.

The Atlanta Falcons has struggled to rush the passer this season, outside of second year man Takkarist McKinley. McKinley has been a one man wrecking crew with five sacks in three games. Three of the sacks came against the Cincinnati Bengals. Vic Beasley has shown signs of life lately getting more quarterback hurries.

Clearly another effective pass rusher is needed for the rotation. Elvis Dummerville, Robert Ayers, Willie Young, Junior Galette, and local UGA product Charles Johnson are all available edge rushers. Each man has a track record of getting to the quarterback successfully at some point in their career.

Linebacker has been another area of trouble for the Atlanta Falcons. The team signed former Cowboys starter Bruce Carter and needs to get him up to speed quickly. The team is likely see what type of impact Carter can have before looking to sign another linebacker.

Cornerback Sean Smith is one of the best players left on the market. Corner was originally thought to be a strength for the Atlanta Falcons. With the declining play of Desmond Trufaut and Brian Poole, and the fact that rookie Isaiah Oliver clearly isn’t ready, Smith becomes a useful player for Atlanta.

Sean Smith at 6’3 has the size that Dan Quinn convents in his scheme. He would certainly provide an upgrade over Blidi Wreh-Wilson. He would take over on the outside cornerback, move Trufant inside and side Brian Poole to dime back. This would allow Isaiah Oliver to watch and learn.

Should the Atlanta Falcons choose to swallow their pride and turn to some experienced veterans, some players would have to he released. Safety Sherrod Neasman, defensive tackle Justin Zimmer, and cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson would be the three players most likely to be cut.

More than just changing personnel, the Atlanta Falcons defensive coaching staff must become more creative with the play calling. Coach Dann Quinn and Defensive Coordinator Marquan Manuel, must go away from their philosophy of getting pressure from the front four and blitz more.

Quarterbacks will destroy even good coverage, if given all day to throw. With the Falcons being short-handed, they must turn up the heat by installing some new blitz packages. They should also try different combinations of rushers up front with stunts.

The Falcons are getting torched so badly in their normal defensive sets, that they must adjust in an attempt to force their opponents into more mistakes. If Dan Quinn is truly a defensive guru as advertised, he will adjust, and find a way to get more out of this unit.

The other thing the Atlanta Falcons must do is be aggressive at all times on offense. The Dirty Birds missed an opportunity to go for more points before the half against New Orleans. Instead Steve Sarkisian called consecutive draw plays and the Dirty Bird’s defense surrendered three points.

Against the Bengals Coach Quinn let 19 seconds tick off the clock before calling timeout on a 1st an goal scenario right before the half. The Falcons got a long Matt Bryant field goal, however with the addition 19 seconds the team could have attempted to score a touchdown.

The Atlanta Falcons have a long way to go, and a short time to get there on defense. Dan Quinn and Thomas Dimittroff can not afford to be too proud of the roster they have built, that they refuse to make changes to save the season.

The most positive sign we could see this week, would be free agent tryouts at Flowery Branch. Additionally new blitz packages, and even a “Nascar” package with four defensive ends being spotted at practice, would be a sight for sore eyes.

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