Atlanta Falcons’ Defense is their Achilles Heel

The Atlanta Falcons’ offense has looked great in its second year under Steve Sarkisian.  Unfortunately, the Falcons are boasting a 1-3 record all thanks to the sub-par, injury-riddled defense.

The Atlanta Falcons have, honestly, looked great…well on offense that is.  Defensively speaking, it is a completely different story.  The Falcons are scoring a lot, but the defense is allowing opponents to score on them, a lot as well.

Honestly, it’s a little bit of a shame.  If the Falcons’ defense would’ve pulled their own weight the last two weeks, they could definitely be 3-1.  That loss to the Eagles was a true loss, there is no denying that.

To put things in perspective, the Atlanta Falcons’ defense is allowing 284 passing yards and 119 rushing yards, on average per game.  That is ranked 25th and 26th, respectively, per CBS Sports.  The bad thing about this is that it could be worse, especially after losing Grady Jarrett to a sprained ankle (ugh…another injury).

Though, it could get better.  The Falcons are almost rock bottom in terms of defensive ranking, so there is a ton of room to grow and adapt to, what seems to be weekly injuries.

The thing that is frustrating Falcons fans more than anything, was that there was so much potential heading into the season.  Our defense was going to be impenetrable, but who knew that our defense, and maybe our season could be over within one game, all thanks to injuries.

However, the two losses from this past week were not all on the defense.  We blocked a punt versus the Bengals last week and were deep in the red zone, but could not get a touchdown out of it and settled for a field goal.

There were also some clock management issues in the last-minute of the game. Dan Quinn should have called a timeout in order to give the defense a break, and allow more time for the offense, if they did score a touchdown.

Falcons ended up losing 37-36.  Against the Saints, Matt Ryan and the offense were moving down the field, with time becoming the only limiting factor and with the game tied at 37.

Unfortunately, the offense came to a grinding halt and they could not muster any points.  The Falcons later lost in overtime to the New Orleans Saints, who were easily beatable.

There are many little things that are all adding up to be a lot for the Atlanta Falcons.  From defensive struggles, to a lot of silly, unnecessary penalties the Atlanta Falcons’ only real opponent after the Steelers this season, may be themselves.

If they can figure out that inexperienced, semi-talented defense, and minimize the penalties, with the  offense remaining the same, then the Falcons should, and definitely could, rise to the top and go straight into the playoffs. There is very little room for error now, but it is doable.

Let’s hope the Falcons can get back on track against Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and that elite offense, and gain some momentum, as they start the second quarter of the season against the Steelers.