The Falcons Defense Dishing Out the Pain

Everyone is predicting Matt Ryan to have a huge breakout year. With the addition of Tony Gonzalez and the return of Roddy White, Michael Turner and a stout offensive line, Atlanta did not disappoint with a 19-7 win over a very good Miami football team. Though I tell ya, the thing that impressed me the most was not Atlanta’s stacked offense, it was their defense, the supposed Achilles heel to the team.

They caused more problems for the Miami offense than what drugs did for Amy Winehouse, forcing 4 turnovers (3 fumbles and an interception), sacking Pennington 4 times, and shutting down their gadget offense to just 7 points. If they can keep this up, what can this mean for the Falcons super bowl hopes?

One of the best compliments a high-powered offense can have is a defense that can produce turnovers. Simply because it allows more chances for the offense to score. Atlanta did that on Sunday. Also, combine that with the fact that Atlanta runs a Tampa 2 defense, which is a style of defense that drops everyone back in coverage and that invites offenses to throw the short passes, covering everything deep and not allowing the big play. It’s perfectly designed for when a team gets a good lead. When teams are losing and are forced to play catch up to the Falcons, they’re going to be forced to score in a hurry and attempt deeper passes, and when they do that they’re either going to get sacked by a great pass rushing front four which features long time pro-bowler John Abraham, or picked off by great coverage deep. The three forced fumbles indicate that they are also playing real fast and physical. If they keep this up, look for the Falcons to absolutely slaughter a lot of good teams because of their high-powered offense and a surprisingly fast, play making defense.


Written By: Ben