Falcons’ pass rush wasn’t really the problem against Saints

Atlanta Falcons linebacker Vic Beasley Jr. sacks New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees during the third quarter in an NFL football game on Sunday, Sept 23, 2018, in Atlanta.   Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Atlanta Falcons linebacker Vic Beasley Jr. sacks New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees during the third quarter in an NFL football game on Sunday, Sept 23, 2018, in Atlanta. Curtis Compton/ccompton@ajc.com

During the game telecast on Sunday, Fox analyst Cris Carter kept calling for Falcons defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel to send more blitzes at Saints quarterback Drew Brees. I was thinking the same thing while watching the game live but, upon further review, the Falcons did generate good pressure against Brees under the circumstances.

Brees passed almost exclusively out of the shotgun and, as always, got the ball out quick and masterfully shuffled in the pocket to buy time. The Saints started calling more screen passes and altering their protections because Falcons defenders, especially Vic Beasley, were disrupting Brees in the pocket.

Despite the conditions that made it difficult for the pass rush to get to Brees, by my subjective count the Falcons pressured him on 14 of 42 drop backs (excluding screen passes and bootlegs). The problem for the Falcons was that they couldn’t cover Brees’ targets despite almost always enjoying a numerical advantage of at least two defenders in coverage.

Falcons linebackers and defensive backs didn’t always play coverage like they expected the ball to come out quickly. Time after time Brees delivered hasty, short passes to teammates who caught the ball with no Falcons defenders nearby. When the Falcons did quickly rally to pass catchers, their pursuit angles were bad and their tackling was shoddy.

This was a game in which the injury absences of safety Keanu Neal and especially linebacker Deion Jones really showed up. Neal is good at closing at tackling in zone schemes and Jones is good in coverage. (t also hurt the Falcons when safety Ricardo Allen went out on the second play of overtime. (Update: Allen is out for the season.)

Future Falcons opponents will look at video of the Saints game and conclude they can beat the Falcons the same way: nullify their pass rush with quick passes, pile up yards after the catch and break off a few explosive runs to keep them honest. No Falcons opponent except Green Bay and maybe Pittsburgh has a quarterback equal to Brees , but it’s not as if Brees had to make a bunch of superlative throws against the Falcons to get 399 yards passing on 48 attempts with three TDs.

After reviewing the video, I can understand why Manuel or coach Dan Quinn didn’t call more blitzes. The Falcons regularly moved Brees off his spot without deploying extra rushers. Brees didn’t have to pass deep often because the Saints were hurting the Falcons with simple, short passes. He mixed in enough screen passes to make the Falcons think about them, and the Saints regularly left in tight ends and running backs to help protect Brees.

Those factors mean that if the Falcons had blitzed more it probably would have exacerbated the issues in coverage without adding much to their pressure total. The Falcons couldn’t cover despite the numbers advantage and the knowledge that Brees was getting rid of the ball quickly. Also, other than a couple great receptions by Ben Watson, none of Brees’ receivers were making spectacular catches.

Meanwhile, the Falcons managed to generate a pretty good pass rush even with Takk McKinley out because of injury.

Beasley was especially disruptive. He had the sack -- on an amazingly quick blow-by against right tackle Ryan Ramcyzk -- and by my count four other pressures despite getting chipped six times by tight ends and receivers. Grady Jarrett, Deadrin Senat and Brooks Reed had two pressures each, Brian Poole and De’Vondre Campbell had one pressure each and Isaiah Oliver and Steven Means each had one half.

The Falcons didn’t blitz much and pressured Brees on one-third of his drop backs. That pass rush should have been enough if their linebackers and defensive backs could cover and tackle.