Last season the Saints were breezing along at 7-1 and the Falcons were 1-7 coming off their bye week.
The Falcons went to New Orleans and shocked the NFL with a 26-9 victory Nov. 10, 2019, that propelled them to a 6-2 finish.
After finishing their bye week in 2020, the Falcons again will face the Saints, who are 6-2 going into their game Sunday against San Francisco, at 1 p.m. Nov. 22 at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
The Falcons are 3-6, 3-1 under interim coach Raheem Morris, and must improve in five key areas if they going to finish the season strong against a tough schedule.
Here are five areas where the Falcons must improve after their bye week:
1. Rushing attack. Overall, the Falcons are averaging 106.8 yards per game, which ranks 20th in the league. They are averaging 3.7 per rush play, which ranks 30th.
Todd Gurley has rushed 159 times for 584 yards (3.7 per carry) and nine touchdowns. He’s picked up 308 yards after contact. Brian Hill has rushed 56 times for 243 yards (4.3 per carry) and one touchdown. He’s picked up 109 yards after contact. The Falcons running backs have rushed 228 times for 871 yards (3.8 per carry) and 10 touchdowns.
“Todd, I think he’s leading the league in touchdowns, if not, certainly our team,” Morris said. “Right now, what he’s given us is a really good red-zone runner. He knows how to get his pads down and find the end zone. That’s been awesome.”
Gurley is on pace to rush for 1,038 yards, which would be his first 1,000-yard season since 2018, when he rushed for 1,251 yards and led the league with 17 rushing touchdowns.
“He’s done a really good job,” Morris said. “The best thing he’s done for us right now really is in protection. When he has a chance to go out there and protect (quarterback) Matt (Ryan) and keep the hits off him so Matt can make some of the throws down the field, that’s really been nice to see and a really nice addition that you don’t know you’re necessarily getting when you get a really good runner like that.”
Morris would like to see more breakout runs.
Also, the Falcons have not run the ball well at the end of games. They were stuffed four times for 1-yard gains in the red zone against Carolina on Oct. 29 and couldn’t run out the final 1:51 against the Broncos on Sunday.
“I think that will really help us finish games, really help us end the fourth quarters the way you want to end it,” Morris said.
2. Blitz watch: The Falcons blitzed the Broncos 23 times on 73 offensive snaps. They had one sack and nine quarterback hits.
Linebacker Foye Oluokun, who had a sack and four quarterback hits, blitzed six times.
Linebacker Deion Jones blitzed five times. Cornerback Isaiah Oliver (four) and strong safety Keanu Neal (four) also rushed the passer.
The Falcons had success blitzing Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater in their 25-17 win Oct. 29. They had three sacks and six quarterback hits in that game.
“I thought (defensive assistant coaches) Aden Durde, Tosh Lupoi and Bob Sutton and all of the guys that help generate our rush play, whether that’s pressuring and blitzing or that’s our four-man rush, did a great job of identifying a specific way to attack them,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said. “I think that going forward, that there is going to be an element of that to us.”
The Falcons have 14 sacks, which ranks 24th in the league. The team’s blitz percentage per dropback is 29.8 percent, which is 16th in the league. By contrast, Tampa Bay’s blitz percentage is 43.5%, which is tops in the league.
While the blitzing hasn’t generated a bushel of sacks, the Falcons quarterback pressure per dropback, which includes sacks, hurries and knockdowns, is 24.9%, which is eighth in the league. The Falcons have 41 hurries and 40 knockdowns.
“It’s just that our guys are comfortable doing it,” Ulbrich said. “They enjoy doing it, and we’ve had some success doing it. So, I think going forward, it’s going to be a part of who we are for sure.”
Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett is the Falcons’ best pass rusher. He has seven hurries, nine quarterback knockdowns and 2.5 sacks.
“He’s a guy that you can tell that offenses are always aware of,” Ulbrich said. “Whether that’s sliding protection to him or getting help to the guys that he’s on. He’s definitely a game-wrecker in the offense’s mind. He’s an exceptional talent. There is no doubt. His ability to rush. His ability to defend the run and do all of those things.”
3. Red-zone defense/offense: The Falcons have allowed 22 touchdowns on 29 red-zone trips (75.86%) by the opposition, which ranks 29th in the league.
The Falcons will play five games against teams in the upper half of the league in red-zone offense in Tampa Bay (sixth, twice), Kansas City (10th) and New Orleans (14th, twice). The Falcons also play Las Vegas (21st) and the Los Angeles Chargers (23rd).
The Falcons' red-zone offense ranks 29th in the league after scoring touchdowns on two of four possessions in the 34-27 win over the Broncos. The Falcons have scored touchdowns on 18 of their 34 drives (52.94%) inside the opposition’s 20-yard line this season.
The Falcons will play six games against teams in the lower half of the league in red-zone defense. The Chargers, who ranked seventh, will be the top red-zone defense they face.
They’ll also face the Bucs (17th, twice), Raiders (19th), Chiefs (28th) and Saints (32nd, twice).
4. Pass protection. Second-year guard Chris Lindstrom and veteran James Carpenter have helped stabilize the offensive line this season.
Lindstrom is the eighth-rated guard according to Pro Football Focus.com with a grade of 76.4 (C) after grading out at 66.6 (F) last season.
Carpenter, who battled through injuries last season, has been solid and held back a challenge from rookie Matt Hennessy.
Ryan was sacked 48 times last season. He’s been sacked 19 times through nine games and is on pace to be sacked 34 times.
Teams have blitzed Ryan 97 times and have 38 hurries and 31 hits. He was blitzed 199 times, hurried 54 times and hit 62 times last season.
5. Pass coverage: The Falcons are set for five games against some of the NFL’s more prolific passers in Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes.
The Falcons' defense is giving up 290 yards passing per game, which ranks 30th in the league.
Cornerbacks Darqueze Dennard and Blidi Wreh-Wilson cut into the playing time for Kendall Sheffield and Isaiah Oliver in the win over Denver.
Look to see more of them down the stretch. Dennard has the lowest completion percentage allowed by a Falcon when targeted (55.6%), and Wreh-Wilson is second at 66.7%.
Falcons' next four games
Bye week
Falcons at Saints at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22
Raiders at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 29
Saints at Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6
Falcons at Los Angeles Chargers at 4:25 p.m., Dec. 13
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