Just mention the 208 yards rushing, and Falcons defensive coordinator Marquand Manuel gets hyped up.
He was the defensive backs coach last season when the Eagles mauled the Falcons’ run defense in a regular-season meeting.
“That one there, in my 15 years of being in this league, they hit us in the mouth,” Manuel said. “We have to be prepared for that. They hit you right in the mouth. When a team does that, you have to respond.”
Last season, in the Eagles’ 24-15 win over the Falcons, they rushed for that season-high total. The Falcons (11-6) are set to play the Eagles (13-3) in the NFC divisional round of the playoffs at 4:35 p.m. Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field.
Defensive end Adrian Clayborn remembered that game against the Eagles.
“We played pretty bad that day,” Clayborn said. “Really bad. Nobody was in their gaps. Nobody was being physical.”
While it’s another season, with a lot more on the line, the Eagles still like to maul teams with the run game.
“Even when we played them last year, they are a running team,” Manuel said. “Even when (Carson) Wentz was at quarterback, he threw it around, but they are a running team.”
Eagles running backs LeGarrette Blount and Jay Ajayi combined for 1,174 yards rushing this season.
“They are both dynamic,” Clayborn said. “They both can run inside and outside. We saw one of them (Ajayi) earlier in the year (with the Dolphins), and he had a pretty good game against us.
“We know that we have to stop the run. If they get that, they are two-dimensional, and it’s going to be hard to stop them. We have to make them one-dimensional.”
The Falcons are familiar with Ajayi, who was dealt to the Eagles at the trade deadline. While with the Dolphins, he rushed 26 times for 130 yards in the 20-17 victory over the Falcons on Oct. 15.
The Falcons don’t believe they can gleen much from that Miami performance.
“It’s definitely a whole different scheme,” Clayborn said. “He’s running different running plays. But I mean, he’s still a physical back and he still runs hard like he did earlier in the year, so we have to come with the mindset that we have to get him on the ground.”
The Falcons slowed Rams running back Todd Gurley by keeping the offense off the field. Gurley rushed 14 times for 101 yards, but didn’t turn in a mega-game.
The Eagles have incorporated Ajayi more into their offensive attack.
“He’s blended in well,” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. “It seems like each week we are giving him a little bit more on his plate. He’s fit in comfortably and he’s done a nice job.”
The Falcons are bracing for a heavy dose of Ajayi.
“No doubt, Ajayi had a big game against us the first time around,” linebacker Vic Beasley said. “I know he’s probably looking forward to it, thinking it’s going to be the same defense. But we are a different defense from that time. We’ve grown as a defense.”
The Falcons finished the regular season ranked ninth in the NFL against the run (104.1 yards per game). The Eagles ranked third in rushing (132.2 yards per game).
Since the Miami game and facing Ajayi, the Falcons’ defense has improved greatly against the run.
“It was just the tackling,” free safety Ricardo Allen said.
The Falcons know there is an Ajayi factor to this game.
“When we went against him the first time, it was with a totally different team,” Allen said. “The only thing you can take from the other game is the way you tackle him. It’s two totally different offenses. They put him into the same thing that they do. It’s not like what he was doing with the Dolphins, but he’s still like a downhill guy.”
The Eagles also have speed back Wendell Smallwood, who rushed 13 times for 70 yards against the Falcons last season. He’s a change-of-pace back from Blount and Ajayi.
“We just have to recognize who’s in the game and know the tendencies of what they like to do,” Beasley said. “We just have to be alert.”
Manuel also likes the Eagles’ offensive line.
“When you put all of those pieces together, now you have that (threat),” Manuel said. “You have to give credit to their offensive line. (Jason) Peters went out and they just stepped in and didn’t miss a beat. They are still into establishing the run game.”
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