Surprising Weakness of the Atlanta Falcons

What should be one of the strengths of the Atlanta Falcons has turned into a liability.

Atlanta Falcons safety Justin Simmons is missing one in every four tackle attempts in 2024. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

In the big picture, you'd expect the Atlanta Falcons secondary to thrive with three Pro Bowl level players. However, the pass defense ranks near the bottom in several crucial categories that help define a defense.

Ranking 26th or worse in completion percentage, passer rating and passing touchdowns hurts. Elite talent or not, something feels off in the secondary, and if Atlanta enters any thoughts of making the playoffs, they must find a way to repair the issues.

Timidity

First and foremost, why do the Falcons insist on playing too far off the receivers?  You'd think that, with two Pro Bowl safeties and a shutdown corner, Atlanta would want to move closer. Instead of allowing a free release, hovering in press range will disrupt opponents' passing rhythm. 

Adding more bodies closer to the line of scrimmage would help in the run game and increase blitzing options for a pass rush that desperately lacks pressure.

In all honesty, no one looks comfortable lining up that far away, swimming in deep water. 

Where does the fear reside for the coaches? Again, Pro Bowlers and athletes litter the secondary. Why not take advantage of this. Yet defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, and by extension Raheem Morris, appear comfortable with this passive stance.

Communication Woes

At times, the Falcons on the back end, look rather discombobulated. Either a step slow, too deep or shaded, the unit struggles. Raheem Morris spoke during media availability this week. Now, after you read the quote, look at the clips while asking these questions. 

"Hard to say when you were giving up the least number of explosives,” said Morris when asked if there were communication issues in the secondary. “Now, we had a couple games there we kind of got lax in some of those things. But when you got 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. " 

When you have defenders looking rather confused. Doesn't bode well for pass defense. Cannot have one player split three. pic.twitter.com/4p5VjBcSok

— TequilaBiggs (@TequilaBiggs) November 26, 2024

Essentially, the Falcons concede the short pass. Their base package is the prevent defense. And recently, the big plays have followed as the defense’s passivity has allowed quarterbacks enough time to wait for more complex plays to develop.

Confusion abounds. pic.twitter.com/HlFJtXxG9F

— TequilaBiggs (@TequilaBiggs) November 26, 2024

With a historically-bad pass rush, the Falcons offer opposing offenses time to throw and acres of space to throw into. That combination has led to a 71.6% completion rate, last in the NFL, yet the Falcons rank first in depth of target. Essentially, the Falcons scheme is the prevent defense.

The defense’s only hope is to limit the yards after catch. Well…

Missed Tackles

As the proverbial last line of defense, the secondary must tackle well. In order to prevent short plays from becoming long ones, defensive backs need to secure the stop. Now, no one is anticipating or even looking for savage hits. 

However, getting the opponent to the ground needs to improve. According to Pro Football Focus Justin Simmons is the worst on the team missing 22.2% of his tackles. By far the highest rate of his career and nearly double the 11.8% he posted last season. Starting cornerback Mike Hughes is next at 20%.

To be fair, defensive backs are the most often tackling in space. Falcons' safeties are in much more space than most, but there’s been nothing safe about Justin Simmons’s play this season. As Atlanta endures this most recent slide, fixing this technical issue will prevent collapses in the open field.

Overview

In the next two weeks, the Atlanta Falcons secondary will face tests. With Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers, they will see  a quarterback that loves to spread the ball around and heart-check a secondary. 

The following week Justin Jefferson provides a monumental migraine. Granted, Atlanta does employ talent in the defensive backfield. Yet, whether it's a scheme adjustment, buying in, or simply eliminating passivity, time remains for Atlanta to get this right. 

If they don't, that shrinking lead in NFC South vanishes along with playoff hopes.