FLOWERY BRANCH – When they Falcons practice Friday for the final time before playing the Jets Sunday in New York, they'll once again spend extra time working on third down and red zone situations, but those aren't the only areas of the offense that has tailed off.
The deep passing game has suffered, too, as the Falcons are scoring 21.3 points per game after leading the NFL last year with a 33.8-point clip.
Atlanta’s average of 120.5 rushing yards per game is exactly what it was in 2016 with a pass-run ratio of 59.1 percent-40.9 percent. Last season, the ratio was 57.7-42.3.
The Falcons (3-3) are averaging 252 passing yards. Last year, the number was 295.3.
The NFL considers deep passing plays when the ball travels 15 yards or more down field. Here are Atlanta’s numbers and rankings on deep passing by number of plays, average gain/(NFL rank), and completion percentage/NFL (rank):
Left – 14; 5.21 ypp/No. 27; 21.43 %/No. 27
Middle – 10; 18.60 ypp/No. 8; 50 %/No. 9
Right – 12; 8.58 ypp/No. 27; 33.3 %/No. 21
Matt Ryan’s 40-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Marvin Hall worked in the first half against the Dolphins.
Yet the Falcons went deep with more success last season. Perhaps the the fact that wide receiver Julio Jones and speedster Taylor Gabriel missed considerable portions of the offseason and even training camp with injuries is a factor.
Here’s a snapshot of the 2016 deep passing numbers:
Left – 43; 13.12 ypp/No. 9; 46.51 %/No. 7
Middle – 24; 17.25 ypp/No. 10; 70.83 %/No. 1
Right – 31; 21.97 ypp/No. 1; 64.52 %/No. 1
Maybe the Jets (3-4) will help fatten the Falcons’ statistics.
They’re middle of the pack in many defensive passing categories, allowing 231.3 yards through the air per game to rank No. 20, yet the 15 touchdown passes they’ve surrendered ties the Patriots for most allowed. They’ve also given up 25 pass plays of 20 or more yards, the sixth most in the league, and their 10 sacks are second-fewest.
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