Falcons DC Jimmy Lake not Concerned with Alarming Stats

First-year Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake prefers to focus on the big picture rather than the short term.

Atlanta Falcons stalwart Grady Jarrett is tied for the team lead with 1.5 sacks through seven games. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Falcons pass rush, or lack thereof, has become a constant topic of conversation around the team. Atlanta is dead last in the NFL with six sacks and are on pace for 15 on the season. In 2021, Atlanta finished with 18 sacks, last in the NFL and 11 fewer than the No. 31 Philadelphia Eagles.

15 sacks is almost an impossibly low number.

The Falcons are 4-3 through seven games, and identical record to what they had last year before finishing 7-10, but the foundation looks to be in place to avoid catastrophic losses mid-season that tanked a promising start.

That isn't to say that the lack of pressure on opposing quarterbacks isn't a concern. First-year defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake understands the chatter around the Falcons pass rush, but he is focusing on the big picture after his first seven games in Atlanta.

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"Everything is a process, and we're trying to get better every single day," said Lake. "We are evolving, we're still trying to grow and develop in all areas, and that's what the journey of a football season is. We put all these guys together, coaches, staff, players, and we're continually trying to grow and develop every single day. And everybody has a growth mindset, and they're putting in the work, and we're just going to continue with our process, and we know the results will come."

While his head coach Raheem Morris was more direct in saying "Stats are for losers," earlier this season, Lake echoes the sentiment.

"We don't look down and stare down at what a stat sheet says on how many this, and how many that, and how many that," said Lake. "At the end of the day, what we're trying to do is we're trying to win football games. The first thing we're trying to do is outrun the South and win the South and try to secure a playoff spot. And so, individual statistics and all those things, those are extracurricular stuff that's off to the side.

"The number one thing we're trying to do is get the ball back for our offense, make sure they score less points than our team scores, which would mean we would win at the end of the day.”

The Falcons have been successful in scoring more points than their opposition four out of seven times this season. As for the other metrics, I wouldn't want to look down at the sheet either if I was Lake.

When it comes to getting the ball back to the offense, only the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals are worse than the Atlanta Falcons on third down. Atlanta allows first downs 46.7% of the time when facing third down. The New England Patriots are the other team in the bottom four; the Panthers, Cardinals, and Patriots have a combined record of 5-16.

OK, so the Falcons aren't doing a good job of stopping teams on third down, what about turnovers? Atlanta ranks 17th in the league with seven takeaways.

The bend-but-don't-break philosophy the Falcons have implemented under Lake has been decent in the red zone. Atlanta is allowing touchdowns in the red zone 52.2% of the time, good for 12th in the NFL.

Holding teams to field goals half the time instead of touchdowns has been one of the saving graces for this team. They're only 22nd in the NFL in scoring defense when most advanced metrics point them as a bottom-five unit. The Falcons were 18th in scoring defense in 2023.

The problem is, the passive zone defense is allowing an inordinate amount of first downs which takes a lot of time off the clock. Atlanta is 31st in time of possession, only ahead of the Indianapolis Colts.

If the No. 1 goal is to get the other team off the field, the Falcons are failing miserably.

Stats may be for losers, but the stats through the first-seven weeks of Jimmy Lake's defense are bad, really bad. Lake and Morris know it despite what they may say publicly. They have a chance to get much more aggressive against a wounded Tampa Bay Buccaneers team missing receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.

If Lake and the Falcons sit back in their 3-deep zone with just two defensive linemen on the field while the Buccaneers churn out first down after first down, Atlanta could find themselves losers on the field along with those of us looking at stats.

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