Falcons’ bracing for heavy dose of running from Panthers’ Dowdle, Hubbard

FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons’ run defense has been ravaged during its four-game losing streak.

“We have to put out the fire,” safety Jessie Bates III said.

After giving up a franchise-record 244 rushing yards to Colts running back Jonathan Taylor last week, the Falcons (3-6) are bracing for a steady diet of running backs Rico Dowdle in Chuba Hubbard when they face the Panthers (5-5) at 1 p.m. Sunday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Taylor broke the yardage record previously held by Marshall Faulk, who rushed for 208 yards in a 45-29 win over the Falcons on Oct. 15, 2000.

“The run game has hurt us in this four-game losing streak,” Bates said.

Dowdle, who’s dealing with a quad injury, is turning in a spectacular season, and Hubbard ran for 1,195 yards and 10 touchdowns last season.

In wins, Dowdle rushed for 206 yards against Miami on Oct. 5, 183 yards against Dallas on Oct. 12 and 130 against Green Bay on Nov. 2.

The Falcons have a plan to extinguish the fire that Bates mentioned.

“That doesn’t just involve the linebackers and the guys up front,” Bates said. “It has to include our DBs … on the second level.”

Last week, the Saints held Dowdle to 53 yards on 18 carries in the Panthers’ 17-7 loss.

“These guys are running the ball as well as you can just about run it (over) the last couple of weeks with Rico, and they’ve got Chuba,” Falcons coach Raheem Morris said. “Those guys have been doing a nice job.”

The key matchup is the Panthers’ eighth-ranked rushing offense, which averages 133.1 yards per game, against the Falcons’ 29th-ranked run defense, which gives up 146.1 yards per game.

After seeing what Taylor did to the Falcons, the Panthers will try to replicate those runs.

“It’s going to be the same thing every week,” Morris said. “You’ve got to find a way to fix what you did the week before — win, lose or draw.”

The Falcons still went to overtime against the Colts.

“We were that close away from winning that game,” Morris said. “We still would be fixing the 300-yard rushing day that the Indianapolis Colts had on us. So, you’ve got to find a way to stop that, eliminate that, shut that down.”

The offense could help by getting leads and converting on third downs. Also, the Falcons will tinker with adjustments within their scheme.

“You’ve got to find a way to give yourself extra tools, extra bullets to be able to go stop Rico,” Morris said.

The Falcons especially took note of Dowdle’s showing against the Cowboys, his former team. After four seasons and rushing for 1,079 yards last season, he signed with the Panthers in free agency.

“He’s playing like a man possessed, and when you’re not playing against him, that’s the kind of guy you cheer for,” Morris said. “The guys you didn’t know that just bumped out of nowhere and just started balling. That’s what he’s been able to do.”

There is one key for the Falcons.

“(We must) find ways to correct the problems that you had from the week before without making new ones,” Morris said.

Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich has been working on the master plan.

“It’s interesting. Playing Dallas when Rico was there, I remembered him and I had great regard for him,” Ulbrich said. “But he’s taken his game to a whole other stratosphere.”

After a solid career at South Carolina, Dowdle went undrafted. He never rushed for more than 1,000 yards in four seasons, but he averaged 5.1 yards per carry over 39 games.

“He always had speed and athleticism,” Ulbrich said. “He always had vision. He always could create. Even when there wasn’t anything there, he’s running with a violence, with an attitude and with a chip on his shoulder that you don’t see very often.”

Ulbrich compared Dowdle’s running style to Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco.

“If you think you’re going to tackle this guy with an arm tackle, you’re 100% absolutely wrong.” Ulbrich said. “You’ve got to assume that there is going to be no one-on-one tackles. It’s going to take us all to get population to the ball and put him down.”

Ulbrich said he believes the unit can play better against the run.

“I’ve got to do a better job putting them in the right positions to play better,” Ulbrich said.

The Falcons had taken notice.

“Rico, he’s kind of hot right now,” outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie said. “He runs hard. We know what they are going to try to do, establish the run early …. For us, it’s just a matter of getting back to what we do best, and that’s stopping the run and making them one dimensional.”