In less than 30 seconds, John Lynch showed how a narrative the Falcons spent the entire offseason selling turned out to be fiction.
Lynch, a Fox game analyst, watched Falcons linebacker Paul Worrilow try to cover the deep middle of the field against the Giants on Sunday. Worrilow was in the unusual position because defensive coordinator Mike Nolan had sent a blitz after quarterback Eli Manning.
That’s the kind of thing that happens when a defense has to manufacture a pass rush with trickery, Lynch explained.
“Mike Nolan is in a tough position,” Lynch said. “He really doesn’t have a pass rusher. You’ve got Osi Umenyiora who plays in pass situations, was so good as a Giant, (but is) late in his career. There’s not a guy who’s going to win one-on-ones on a consistent basis. (Nolan) has to dial up scheme to get pressure.”
The Falcons (2-3) are in this predicament because their plan to generate a pass rush without a proven pass rusher in his prime has been a bust.
The Falcons were awful rushing the passer in 2013, but didn’t add a player who is quick off the edge and whose primary purpose is to disrupt the quarterback. The Falcons said getting pressure would be a collective effort among several defenders, with Nolan finding creative ways to deploy them, but it hasn’t worked.
The Falcons said the big bodies they added on the defensive line would improve the run defense and set up more favorable down-and-distance situations to rush the passer. But favorable down and distance doesn’t help a defense that has no disruptive pass rusher.
The result is that the Falcons rank next-to-last in among NFL defenses in sack percentage (sacks per passing play). They have four sacks on the season, and no player has more than one.
Falcons coach Mike Smith often says sacks are overrated because the quarterback can be affected even when he’s not tackled. The Falcons are bad at that, too, ranking 27th of 32 teams in Pro Football Focus’ tally of total pressures (sacks, hits and hurries).
Nolan, who has been an NFL coach since 1987, long has been willing to use multiple schemes to fit the talent on hand. But he hasn’t been able to conjure an effective pass rush for the Falcons in the past two seasons.
“My belief is if people need the help, pressure is a great way to help them make it happen,” Nolan said. “If you’ve got four guys that are just hell raisers, then a lot of time those teams don’t bring as much pressure. It’s an individual team thing.”
The Falcons haven’t had a truly disruptive pass rusher since John Abraham departed after the 2012 season. He accepted a free-agent contract from the Arizona Cardinals and continued to be a force for them last season while the Falcons’ pass rush evaporated.
The Falcons spent more guaranteed money to sign Umenyiora than what the Cardinals gave Abraham. Umenyiora got quarterback pressure on 9.1 percent of his 440 rushes in 2013. A move to a pass-rushing specialist role this season hasn’t resulted in more production: Umenyiora has pressured the quarterback on 8.6 percent of his 93 rushes this season.
Some recent draft picks the Falcons had high hopes for as pass rushers haven’t been very productive: Jonathan Massaquoi (pressure on 10.3 percent), Malliciah Goodman (7.1 percent) and Stansly Maponga (3.7 percent, 27 rushes). The same is true for veteran holdovers Kroy Biermann (pressure on 5.2 percent of 97 rushes) and Jonathan Babineaux (6.9 percent, 113 rushes).
Nolan said ideally the Falcons would be able to pressure the quarterback by sending the standard four rushers after him. But he said he has to “play the cards we are dealt” and try to do it with scheme.
“I can stand here and say, ‘If we don’t blitz it’s really going to be a long day,’” Nolan said. “In some respects, I do feel that way. In other respects, there are times when I am going to leave the guys alone. Do your thing and let’s just win some battles.”
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