Falcons Defense Stout vs. Steelers, Wants More: Can be 'as Good as We Want'

The Atlanta Falcons' defense impressed in Sunday's season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers but left plenty of room for improvement.

Atlanta Falcons defensive tackle Grady Jarrett spearheaded a strong defensive effort Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Falcons' offensive struggles in Sunday's 18-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium are well documented. Still, Atlanta had a chance down to the final second due to a strong defensive effort.

Led by first-year defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, the Falcons held the Steelers out of the endzone, forcing six field goals -- three in each half -- in the process.

Pittsburgh, with offensive coordinator and former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith calling the plays, finished with only 270 net yards, and it went just 3-of-9 on third and fourth downs in the second half.

But after the game, Falcons coach Raheem Morris wasn't entirely positive about his defense.

"You can't just necessarily go off what happened with the results," Morris said. "We’ve got to stop those guys in earlier downs in the run game -- they had some success running the football on us. But I was really proud of those guys and what they were able to do with their resiliency in the red zone and after those turnovers."

The Steelers rushed for 137 yards, but it took them 41 carries to reach that number, averaging 3.3 yards per attempt. The legs of quarterback Justin Fields, who had 14 attempts for 57 yards, proved a capable complement to running back Najee Harris, the game's leading rusher with 70 yards on 20 carries.

Of Pittsburgh's 10 drives, six lasted at least seven plays. Atlanta, conversely, had only three such possessions. The Steelers won the time of possession battle by over 10 minutes, thus taking opportunities away from the Falcons' offense. Atlanta failed to record any takeaways.

But the defense's overall performance -- nine points in each half -- gave the Falcons an opportunity to win, and for that, Morris feels the unit deserves credit.

"We have to find ways to get the ball back ourselves," Morris said. "We’ve got to find ways to force turnovers to give our guys a short field to be able to go out and score, and we were not able to do that today.

"But I was very proud of how they stood up and showed mental toughness and real grit down the stretch."

The Falcons' defense had several standout performers.

Cornerback Mike Hughes made seven tackles, including a team-best three tackles for loss. Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, playing in his first game suffering a torn ACL in Week 8 last season, had one and a half sacks, two tackles for loss and three quarterback hits.

Outside linebacker James Smith-Williams added a pair of tackles for loss, while inside linebacker Kaden Elliss led the team with nine tackles. Atlanta's big-name additions -- outside linebacker Matt Judon and safety Justin Simmons -- had a half-sack and pass breakup, respectively.

Morris said after the game it was difficult to immediately judge Judon and Simmons, who joined the team in mid-August, but noted each made positive plays.

The two ex-Pro Bowlers serve as a microcosm of Atlanta's defense, which transitioned from a 4-3 to a 3-4 under Lake this offseason. Much of the personnel from last year is the same -- among the Falcons' 11 starters, only Judon, Simmons and defensive tackle Eddie Goldman weren't on the active roster last year.

Jarrett said he felt the defense experienced both growing pains and periods of synchronization.

"I think we had little communication errors sometimes," Jarrett said. "There’s a lot of room for improvement, but with it being Week 1, I’m proud of the effort and adjustments we made throughout the game -- how guys communicated together and stayed together."

Postgame, Hughes noted it was difficult knowing where such growth needed to come from without having the film to back up his thoughts, but the length of some of Pittsburgh's drives stood out to the seventh-year corner.

"The leaky yardages we're giving up [and] being in the right spot at the right time," Hughes said. "These are just some early issues we can clean up, and I don’t think they’ll hurt us in the long run."

Several Falcons defenders were happy with keeping the Steelers out of the endzone, but naturally, the losing outcome quelled most positive thoughts.

And while Atlanta's offense didn't necessarily hold its end of the bargain, Judon believes the team's defense could have done more to help the final score.

"We could’ve gotten more turnovers, and we could have affected the game more," Judon said. "It’s not frustrating [when the offense struggles]. We just have to go back, look at the film and see what we can do better."

When the Falcons review the film entering their Week 2 matchup with the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, Jarrett said they'll see the need to reduce big plays -- a process that starts with the defensive linemen getting off blocks faster so the quarterback can't throw deep passes.

The Steelers hit throws of 40 and 33 yards to receiver George Pickens, the latter of which set up a field goal before halftime.

But not lost amongst the evident areas of improvement, there's a unit that bent but never broke Sunday -- and to Jarrett, such a performance lets the mind wander as to how high Atlanta's defense can soar.

"I think the potential is as good as we want to be," Jarrett said. "But it’s going to take a lot of hard work and dedication and execution. The good thing about it is we’ve got a good showing but so much more to improve on, and that’s what I’m optimistic about."