Depending on how Saturday night unfolds in Los Angeles, there could be an unusual description about the Falcons’ wild-card game against the Rams, as either the Falcons will finally commit to run up the middle, or L.A. will finally stop that stuff. Neither way will there be confetti.
Should the Falcons (10-6) run the ball effectively against the Rams (11-5), they may have to credit uncommon success behind the plowing of their men in the middle.
The Rams are generally awful against the run, especially in the middle of action, and the Falcons were awful running it last Sunday against the Panthers. Yet the weirdest part of this is that one of the very best players in this game will be Los Angeles Pro Bowler Aaron Donald, perhaps the best defensive tackle in the NFL. He’s in the middle of everything.
Donald ducks nothing. While undersized for a man who carries the label “tackle,” he is at the same time one of the great nightmares in the league for offensive coordinators and quarterbacks. Point: he led all NFL tackles with 11 sacks in only 14 games. He can be like a cartoon.
“What makes Donald so unique as a defensive tackle is he has the quickness of a defensive end,” Falcons coach Dan Quinn said of the 6-foot-1, 285-pound tackle. “Anytime you have someone with that quickness who has that kind of speed and athletic ability ... he can cover up a guard ... that makes him unique.”
The Donald, though, is not a run stopper. And neither are the Rams. For all of their prowess up front – they ranked fourth in the regular season with 48 sacks – they stink against the run.
Los Angeles ranks No. 28 in the NFL against the overland attack, as the Rams are allowing 122.3 ground yards per game, and 4.7 yards per carry to rank next-to-last in that metric.
And when opponents run up the middle against the Rams, L.A. ranks dead last, or perhaps first in flailing. You give up 5.25 yards per carry in the gut, and, well, maybe it’s a miracle that Los Angeles is in the playoffs.
At first glance, and the second, too, this seems odd.
Not only do many consider Donald the best in the game, but L.A. nose tackle Michael Brockers is also really good by standard metrics.
But he, too, is shaped more like an end -- the former LSU Tiger is 6-5, 302, or about a 6-year-old child lighter than Falcons plugger Dontari Poe -- and he has 5.5 sacks. His 55 combined tackles and assists tied for fifth in the NFL among defensive linemen, with the Falcons’ Grady Jarrett -- who’s nearly a half foot shorter and half a city block wider.
A nose tackle with 5.5 sacks? That’s full-on uncanny, yet it should be pointed out that when a team plays a 3-4 defensive scheme like that deployed by former Falcons defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, the expectations of tackles change. Their first job is to rush the pass and then leave tackling runners to linebackers and safeties.
Let’s keep going with the odd.
The Falcons seem scared to run up the middle. They rank next-to-last in the NFL in rushing plays behind center with just 38 such tries in 16 games. Why is that the case, what with one of the NFL’s best centers, Alex Mack, dropping anchor in the heart of matters?
Cue the crickets.
To add intrigue, Mack has been hurt.
The five-time Pro Bowler has landed on the injury report the past couple of weeks with a calf issue, and he therefore slipped in the final rankings of Pro Football Focus to miss the PFF All-Pro Team.
“Mack ended the year with back-to-back poor performances against tough defensive interiors ...,” PFF opined. “Mack’s highs this year were as good as anybody at the center position, but there were just a couple more performances than he needed to maintain a spot on the All-Pro teams.”
Where last season the Falcons saw every offensive lineman start every game – they were the only NFL team able to say that – that hasn’t happened this season.
And so, Ben Garland will make his fourth start at left guard as his predecessor, Andy Levitre, lasted five plays last weekend in his return to action with a torn triceps.
The former Air Force pilot who is not thought to be related to Judy knows about Donald thanks to tape.
“He has a really good understanding of the game. ... You can see him based on movement or formation kind of adjust,” Garland said. “Say a play where he’s clearly supposed to be a three-technique, all of the sudden he’ll widen out with an understanding of where the ball is going.”
Earlier this season, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson told the Seattle Times, "he's probably in my opinion, the best defensive player I've ever played against . . . That's a pretty big statement; I've played against some really good guys."
To be sure, Donald will not be the Falcons’ only concern up front.
Rams outside linebacker Robert Quinn, no relation to Dan, has 8.5 sacks.
Quinn -- the coach kind -- said, the player of similar name is “loose” and quite able to evade blocks when he rushes the passer. Robert may not be defined as a man who simply plants a foot in the ground and plows a straight line. Quinn the elder said the player kind of Q has great “bend.”
Think of Gumby in pads.
That outside linebacker label is kind of a joke. Quinn, the player, goes 6-4, 270. For most intents and purposes, he’s a defensive end, and he’s no joke as a pass rusher. When the Rams were still in St. Louis, he had seasons of 10.5, 19.0 and 10.5 sacks from 2012-’14. Falcons tackles Ryan Schraeder and Jake Matthews will have their hands full of Q with that guy in the pass game.
As for Donald, while he lines up at DT, because the Rams play a 3-4 with an outside linebacker on the other end of the line of scrimmage, he’s often the outermost defender on his side to put a hand on the ground at the line of scrimmage on the other side.
That’s like, you know, a defensive end, which fits a guy his size.
Wherever he is, and he moves around, the former Pitt star is a pain in the line.
Consider what Pro Football Focus said this week:
“Aaron Donald isn’t just the best interior player in football, but he has a very good case to make as being the best player in the National Football League, period,” the report recently said. “Donald led the league with 91 total pressures (in just 14 games) ...
“His pass-rushing ability is second to none, including the league’s best rushers, and he is a relentless force affecting the quarterback from his interior alignments.”
The Rams have six players with at least four sacks, including outside linebackers Connor Barwin and Matt Longacre and end Ethan Westbrooks. Oh, and the Rams tied for No. 6 in the NFL with 16 interceptions.
But they’re bums against the run, undersized like the Falcons’ offensive line. So, it’ll be quick vs. quick.
Whether the Falcons run up the middle, left or right, they ought to run more than last week, when even though they beat Carolina running backs Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman each rushed 11 times for meager 23 super-sluggish yards each.
Quinn, Dan, said, “We felt ... we left some opportunities out there (against the Panthers).”
Yeah, in L.A., perhaps the Falcons should do like the Georgia Bulldogs did out there last Monday against Oklahoma, and run, run, run.
About the Author
