The Defense

[Quarterback]

First, I am as excited and optimistic as any reasonable and prudent fan can be of the Falcons chances. However--and I remain open-minded--I would enjoy an intelligent, sensible and logical exchange about an area that genuinely concerns me: Our ability to make a stop on defense in the 4th quarter!

In several games this season, but more noticeably in the last two, when we need the defense to get a stop and or avoid big 3rd down conversions, we simply are allowing teams to easily drive down the field and score. We saw it against Tampa with a big lead, and we saw it on the last two drives by Baltimore. We won't always be able to count on last minute heroics as we have enjoyed this season, and when you look back on the vast majority of Super Bowl Champions the offense is complimented with a great defense.

So, my question is simple, what can we do or need to do to get this defense to step up when the game is on the line in the 4th quarter of a close game?

I don't know if anyone else noticed but our defense rushed 3 or 4 men against Baltimore on their last two drives when we clearly were affecting Flacco in the first half with pressure. Why did we stop? Why didn't BVG attack more in the 4th quarter?

Thoughts?

[Joremarid]

absolutely. i don't think our defenses problem is skill, it's being out of position. that's coachable. plus our offense is capable of keeping our defense on the bench. we can compete with anyone the AFC has to throw at us.

[Gibson's Finest]

I worry sometimes when we blitz because I notice of the middle of the field is open and we're out of position for a screen pass. My biggest concern though is our defense in the second half. I don't know why the D is so conservative. Just play with the same intensity that you did in the first half. I think if that can be accomplished and with the return of Spoon (hopefully for the Rams game), I think can hold up and will be overlooked to a certain degree which might be good for us since we're not known for our defense. But the pass defense will have to tighten up as well down the stretch

[Joremarid]

i think it will be better when we get spoon back. willie mo is still learning his position as well.

[Quarterback]

absolutely. i don't think our defenses problem is skill, it's being out of position. that's coachable. plus our offense is capable of keeping our defense on the bench. we can compete with anyone the AFC has to throw at us.

Thanks!

Another thing I have noticed about our defense is our susceptibility to long drives after we allow a team a first down or two when they start a drive. It seems--especially in the 4th quarter--that if we don't get a 4th down pretty quickly they just motor on down the field with less and less resistance.

This could be 4th quarter fatigue by a relatively small defensive front and this is why I get perplexed when we don't attack more in the 4th quarter. We seem to be holding on to dear life defensively and I agree, this is coaching.

In particular, we gave up a lot of third and longs in the 4th quarter against both Tampa and Baltimore that sustained TD drives. Further, I'm amazed that we seemingly never blitzed on any of these third and longs? I'm not a proponent of unnecessary, constant blitzing as it can be dangerous. But, I watched Baltimore score a TD on two late game drives and we never wavered from our standard defensive scheme.

Baffling!

Edited November 15, 2010 by Quarterback

[Joremarid]

there are a couple things i look at when i look at our defense. on big plays we have been out of position a lot. look at the following scenarios and see the difference:

against cincinnati on jordan shipley's long TD catch and run willie mo was out of position and took a bad angle.

against tampa when mike williams beat dunta robinson, dunta took a horrible angle and williams burnt him.

against philly on the long bomb down the left side we bit on the reverse and were caught out of position.

against both pittsburgh and arizona on the long td runs the cbs didn't fill the hole.

All of those plays are coachable.

against the bucs when we had them pinned deep on third and long and williams caught a deep pass down the right that's just a perfect play by freeman. can't really do anything about that.

against baltimore in the fourth quarter we started playing soft, hoping not to give up the big play, and lost the match ups. that's coaching. we can see that in the film room and adjust going forward.

[Joremarid]

i don't think it's fatigue, or at least it shouldn't be b/c our offense holds the ball so long. we lead the league in drives lasting 10 plays or 5+mins. defense shouldn't be tired.

[Quarterback]

i think it will be better when we get spoon back. willie mo is still learning his position as well.

We did seem much better with his speed at LB earlier in the season, but even with him against New Orleans we still allowed the same 4th quarter drives that nearly cost us this game. I do think he will help upon his return.

With that said, however, we are allowing this to happen in almost every competitive game. If this happens in one or two games out of nine then you chalk it up to circumstance; however, when it is happening in nearly every game this this is more of a symptom than an aberration.

Why is this important? Simple...can we get past three or four teams in the postseason by continuing to allow this against the better teams, the better QB's, the better defenses and the better coaching you will see from playoff teams.

We need to fix it...we really do!

Edited November 15, 2010 by Quarterback

[BenB321]

We seem to have continual problems with reverses and screens. Certainly Spoon can help with his speed and the players can be coached up as well.

I also feel that if Peria Jerry, Peters, Sidbury, or another player added to the team next year becomes a dominant player on the D line like Babs, Abe and to a lesser extent Biermann we will have an elite defense. This may not happen this year though. We are one D line player off from having one of the top defenses in the league.

[Quarterback]

i don't think it's fatigue, or at least it shouldn't be b/c our offense holds the ball so long. we lead the league in drives lasting 10 plays or 5+mins. defense shouldn't be tired.

Agreed, plus the fact that we rotate 7-8 defensive lineman througout the game.

[Quarterback]

Here's an idea!

Mike Smith likes to talk about "starting fast" to open the game and then we seem "finish slow" by holding on in the 4th quarter squeaking out wins.

Perhaps he should now modify it to "start fast and finish fast!"

[Quarterback]

there are a couple things i look at when i look at our defense. on big plays we have been out of position a lot. look at the following scenarios and see the difference:

against cincinnati on jordan shipley's long TD catch and run willie mo was out of position and took a bad angle.

against tampa when mike williams beat dunta robinson, dunta took a horrible angle and williams burnt him.

against philly on the long bomb down the left side we bit on the reverse and were caught out of position.

against both pittsburgh and arizona on the long td runs the cbs didn't fill the hole.

All of those plays are coachable.

against the bucs when we had them pinned deep on third and long and williams caught a deep pass down the right that's just a perfect play by freeman. can't really do anything about that.

against baltimore in the fourth quarter we started playing soft, hoping not to give up the big play, and lost the match ups. that's coaching. we can see that in the film room and adjust going forward.

Great post!

[bighurt]

We were so close to making plays. In the Ravens game Flacco scrambled and made some nice throws. He receivers made some tough catches with defenders all over them. In the Tampa Bay game they got down in scoring position by a PI call. The defense has played better the past two games. I think once we get Weatherspoon back we will play even better. That was a good group of receivers we played on Thursday. They made some catches with Grimes all over them. Flacco was able to scramble and bye time. But our defense also left plays on the field. Our offense is more in sync right now than our defense. We have alot of new pieces and as the season goes on they will begin to gel. Hopefully by playoffs we can be playing our best ball in all 3 areas.

[telfo]

we are number 8 in the only defense stat that matters... points allowed

[Joremarid]

we are number 8 in the only defense stat that matters... points allowed

good point. also strangly enough we have yet to give up a red zone rushing td.

[falconidae]

There's five new starters on D- and since Drob and Spoon have missed so much time, they haven't been able to gel as a unit. Get Spoon back and let them learn to work with each other and this D will be better.

[ugadawg]

Here's an idea!

Perhaps he should now modify it to "start fast and finish faster!"

fixed. I agree it does seem our D plays better when they are in attack mode. BVG and the D both seem to do a better job. Neither seem to do well in prevent so scrap it.

[kiwifalcon]

The key to this Defense is the front 4 as long as they keep getting consistent pressure and push up front the sky's the limit.If they don't our secondary as shown in stages against Tampa and the Ravens can get picked apart so the key is that front 4.

[slamee101]

In all of his hating last week Rod Woodson mentioned this and it was the one thing I kind of agreed with. I think the talent is there and we've played GREAT on D at times...but I do think (not to take anything away from Baltimore) that BVG has gone too soft with the lead at times. If it's letting the other team get back into it...it's not working! Stick with what is. I don't think that he should bring the house in those situations either but just rushing three and dropping everyone into coverage against a team with good veteran receivers is never good.

I think this is something that we can fix though.

[bighurt]

Very Good point, this has been a trend since 2008. We tend to go run kill the clock on Offense when we are leading in the 4th and soft coverage on defense in the 4th. It makes the games close but seems to be working as Mike Smith only has 2 loses after leading at the half. I would like us to stay more on the attack.

[madman88]

Thanks!

Another thing I have noticed about our defense is our susceptibility to long drives after we allow a team a first down or two when they start a drive. It seems--especially in the 4th quarter--that if we don't get a 4th down pretty quickly they just motor on down the field with less and less resistance.

This could be 4th quarter fatigue by a relatively small defensive front and this is why I get perplexed when we don't attack more in the 4th quarter. We seem to be holding on to dear life defensively and I agree, this is coaching.

In particular, we gave up a lot of third and longs in the 4th quarter against both Tampa and Baltimore that sustained TD drives. Further, I'm amazed that we seemingly never blitzed on any of these third and longs? I'm not a proponent of unnecessary, constant blitzing as it can be dangerous. But, I watched Baltimore score a TD on two late game drives and we never wavered from our standard defensive scheme.

Baffling!

i believe we give up the fewest 4th QT points in the NFL....

[Door Gunner]

We are still in the top 3 or 4 in Interceptions aren't we?

[AutoMax]

I felt like Flacco was often targetting Grimes and with much success. I know that he makes some great plays on the ball and comes up with some interceptions. He is still not great in coverage. Which one of our corners is? Probably none of them. That could pose a problem in the playoffs. I hope that some of these guys can step up their game in between now and then.

[falcon22]

Far too many times the offense has given the Falcons a comfortable lead and then the defense cannot hold off. It seems they play better in the 1st half and it could be play calling. We cannot stop attacking like we do at the beginning of games.

[SBorBust]

there are a couple things i look at when i look at our defense... against both pittsburgh and arizona on the long td runs the cbs didn't fill the hole.

I just wanted to point out that the cornerback's job on run plays is to have outside containment to force the runner back into the middle of the field where defensive help should be. The concept is that if a corner tries to "fill the hole", the runner can bounce outside to the sideline. On both the plays you mention, the corner tried to squeeze the hole from the outside but there was no help waitng in the middle