‘That’s our identity’: Falcons run game has slipped. They know how to fix it.
FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons started noticing it sometime during their second consecutive 200-yard rushing game, a new defensive wrinkle designed to thwart an emerging buzzsaw.
While the Falcons blew past the New Orleans Saints in a dominant Week 4 victory, their offense began facing heavier defensive fronts. More bodies, more mass, more helmets to block on running plays.
It didn’t appear problematic. The Falcons left New Orleans with the NFL’s second-best rushing attack, averaging 181 yards per game behind a running back duo in Bijan Robinson and Brian Robinson Jr. that had a rightful claim as the league’s best.
Now, as the Falcons (3-4) prepare to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-5) at 1 p.m. Sunday in Raymond James Stadium, they’re trying to pick up the pieces from a run game that’s suddenly become a shell of itself.
The Falcons rushed for 724 yards and eight touchdowns in their first four games. They’ve mustered only 255 rushing yards and haven’t found the end zone on the ground in their last three games.
“Teams have probably seen the way we’re running the ball and they’ve adjusted pretty well,” right guard Matthew Bergeron told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “And it’s our job to just throw the ball to make the run game a little easier on us. I think when you throw the ball well, then you open up the running game and vice versa.
“We’re definitely trying to get back to where we were at earlier in the season as far as running the football. But at the end of the day, we’ll do anything to win.”
Falcons offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said opposing defenses have started loading their fronts with more size. The Falcons’ run game has struggled against heavy boxes — plays with eight-plus defenders in the box — since Week 5, rushing 19 times to a success rate of 15.8%, according to Next Gen Stats.
Successful runs are attempts that produce a positive EPA, or expected points added. Thus, only three of the Falcons’ 19 attempts against heavy fronts increased the odds of Atlanta’s offense scoring on the drive.
“We gotta expect it,” Bijan Robinson said of facing loaded fronts. “We know teams are gonna come out to plan to stop the run. But for us, it shouldn’t matter. We just gonna get back to who we are in it.”
The Falcons haven’t hidden their offensive identity this year. “We know where we’ve been good when we played good offensive football,” Rees said. “It starts with the run game and we’re certainly aware of that.” When the Falcons find success on the ground, it opens up their play-action game, and quarterback Michael Penix Jr. gets more advantageous throwing windows.
Bergeron felt the Falcons ran the ball well enough in their upset win over the San Francisco 49ers last week to set up the pass. They weren’t overly efficient or explosive, rushing 29 times for 82 yards with a long of 12, but they never abandoned it.
Penix, in turn, had one of his most effective days as a pro, going 25-for-34 passing for 213 yards and three touchdowns while winning NFC Offensive Player of the Week. When teams load the box to stop the run, soft spots in coverage open up. Explosive plays become possible.
Penix and Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski both gave credit to the nature of the NFL and the quality of teams and opponents Atlanta has faced, but balance and complementary football remain the ultimate goals.
“Every week we go on, we want to be a 200-yard rushing team, 200-yard pass,” Penix said. “Like, we want all those things to marry up. But for us, we just got to focus on execution, and once we execute, I feel like the guys that we have in this locker room, we’ll make all those things happen that we want to.”
The Falcons are trying to find more consistent efficiency with hopes explosive run plays follow. Heavier defensive personnel groupings, Stefanski says, are merely a part of football, and the Falcons have answers at their disposal.
When defenses close the middle of the field, offenses counter by bringing receivers down and involving them in the blocking scheme. Bergeron said communication between the offensive line, tight ends and running backs needs to be sharp.
The Falcons see room to grow. Their inefficiency the past three weeks has sent them hunting for answers — and to maximize their identity, they’ll need to find them soon. Stefanski anticipates the Buccaneers will play heavy fronts, so Atlanta doesn’t have much time to unearth its solution.
“If you’re a good running team, you have to be able to run the ball against whatever they throw at you,” Bergeron said. “So, I think we’re working toward that. And obviously, if we can have a complementary offense, then you’re in the best of both worlds.”
The Falcons spent time Monday morning talking about ways to evaluate — and elevate — their run game, Bijan Robinson said. It’s no small task. The Falcons know defenses prioritize slowing their rushing attack.
“That’s teams’ No. 1 goal,” Robinson added. “But it shouldn’t matter for us.”
To be the offense they want to be — and to be the best version of themselves — the Falcons must rediscover the potency of their run game. They’re hoping Sunday in Tampa serves as a springboard.
“That’s just who we are,” Robinson said. “That’s our identity. So for us, to look at ourselves inward and go out there and practice and see our little details and techniques that we got to do, and then we’re gonna go out there (and) hopefully make it great.”