FLOWERY BRANCH — As the injuries started to mount, the Falcons’ defense continued to slide in key defensive ranking categories this season.
The Super Bowl standard requires that a team’s defense is ranked in the top 10 in the NFL. There have been some outliers, such as the 2016 Falcons. But the Falcons (6-5) are not in the top half of the league in any of the categories as they are set to face the Chargers (7-4) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“We struggled the past two games,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “But we are not a bad team. We know that. We have a lot of good football ahead of us.”
Here are the bleak statistics:
-24.9 points per game, 26th.
-357.1 total yards per game, 25th.
-127.2 rushing per game, 19th.
-229.9 passing yards per game, 26th.
-10 sacks, 32nd.
“It’s crazy to think about it, but we’ve got six games guaranteed (to finish the regular season),” Falcons safety Jessie Bates III said. “Hopefully, we want to play in more than that. Just ready to take advantage of the opportunity that we have. Stay on top of the NFC South.”
The Falcons are hopeful that outside linebacker Matthew Judon can get rolling down the stretch. He’s tied for the team lead with 2.5 sacks.
“You’ve got to keep trying new tactics,” Morris said. “We’ve done different things when it comes to limiting spots that he plays. Making it (more) specialized about when you’re going out there. Trying to make the player as most effective as he can be, and we’ll continue to do those things.”
Judon entered the season with 66.5 career sacks from his days with the Ravens and Patriots.
“We’ll push him as far as we can take him,” Morris said. “We’ll take him all the way to that point to get the production that he wants and that we want.”
The Falcons would take a flashback at this point.
“I believe he’s still got it in there,” Morris said. “It’s a process when you go to new team. It’s a process at times. You’ve got to fight through some stuff. You have to find our way. We have six games that are guaranteed on our schedule. I look forward to him really helping us out down the stretch here and really being a contributing factor.”
The Falcons thought Judon would be more productive.
“I can’t sit here and tell you that we got what we wanted out of him,” Morris said. “That would be an absolute lie, I won’t do that. But I can’t tell you that he’s got what he wants out of himself. I think the guy is self-motivated, self-driven guy who wants to go out there and be productive and do the right things for his team.
“I know he’ll put in the effort. I know he’ll give me the things that I want. Very thankful for those things that he has contributed to us, but we are ... being quite honest, we are looking for more, and he is also.”
As the Falcons improved against the run, the secondary started to give up more yardage in the passing game.
“Watch the film and go back and see what we are doing good,” Bates said. “Evaluate yourself as well and what you can do better and add value to our team. I feel like throughout the weeks you (saw us) get better at stopping the run. Getting some more pressure on the quarterback.”
Cornerback Mike Hughes (neck), nickel back Dee Alford (hamstring) and backup nickel back Antonio Hamilton Sr. (pectoral) all suffered injuries.
For the first time this season, there were several wide-open receivers just streaming through the secondary against the Broncos on Nov. 17.
Morris isn’t sure if the communication needs to be better.
“Hard to say when you were giving up the least amount of explosives,” Morris said. “Now, we had a couple games there (where) we kind of got lax in some of those things. But when you (have) Jessie (Bates III) and Justin (Simmons), some of the things that they’ve really done, it’s hard to say where it’s been that way consistently.”
The Falcons started out with Kevin King at nickel back against the Broncos. He suffered a concussion in the first quarter and was replaced by Richie Grant.
“When you have some of the injuries of King and Grant going to a position he doesn’t play, obviously you’re going to have communication issues with some of the people that go in,” Morris said. “But I don’t want to get into excuse making. So, the last game, yes.”
The Falcons will get all of the defensive backs ready moving forward. They’ll need to ready for Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert.
“I think that’s very correctable and very easy when you talk about guys getting full week of practice just going out there and doing what they do,” Morris said. “It’s not an issue of same page. It’s an issue of just repetition. Sometimes, you get caught in a situation where you got to put people in a little out of place than they weren’t expecting.”
Linebacker Kaden Elliss is leading the Falcons in tackles with 97. Bates is second with 70 followed by A.J. Terrell’s 54. Linebacker Nate Landman is fourth with 52.
Elliss said the execution has to improve. Morris believes the coaches will tailor things to the unit’s strengths.
“The coaches can help them,” Morris said. “There are things that you’ve done well and repeating those things. There are things that you didn’t do well that you can take out.”
Landman noted that the unit must eliminate the missed assignments that crept up against the Broncos.
“Yeah, missed assignments are usually personal,” Morris said. “You usually don’t have a bunch of those. But whenever you have one, that person, whoever had it, is always going to lean heavy into it.”
Morris believes the Denver game was an outlier.
“If I had a bunch of them, I would tell you because that would be coaching, that would be me, right?” Morris said. “That would be on myself. But usually when you have one or two, the players usually harp on those things because they don’t make them.
“They become rarities in your program. So, when they do pop up, they become such things where you’re just like, that can’t happen.”
About the Author
