Falcons’ defensive coaches let the players know that run defense has been unacceptable last week.
The Falcons’s run defense, led by defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, was down right nasty against the New York Jets in the pouring rain.
The Falcons held the Jets to 43-yards rushing on 22 carries, just a week after giving up a season-high 162 yards to the New England Patriots.
The Falcons had given up more than 100 yards rushing in each of the past three games and entered the game ranked 16th in the league.
The defense held New York’s Bilal Powell to 33 yards on 14 carries, Matt Forte to 7 yards on four games and rookie Elijah McGuire had just one carry for 2 yards.
“That defensive line, they killed it,” free safety Ricardo Allen said. “Once you took their run game away, everything they were doing was third-and-longs. We had a chance to fight on third downs. That defensive line killed it.”
Jarrett was disruptive and finished with seven tackles, half a sack and three tackles for losses. Dontari Poe was also active and finished with four tackles.
Backup tackle Ahtyba Rubin, playing his first game with the Falcons, got in on the run-stuffing action and finished with two tackles.
With the defensive tackles holding their ground and trying to dominate in their gaps, the linebackers were free to tackle the running backs.
Middle linebacker Deion Jones finished with 11 tackles and strong safety Keanu Neal finished off more than a few runs as he had nine tackles.
Defensive Derrick Shelby was stout, too as he had four tackles.
Stopping the run was a point of emphasis for the defense against the Jets.
“It definitely was,” Poe said. “ We weren’t playing the type of run defense that we wanted to. That first and foremost in our defense, stop the run and everything else comes after that.”
Poe wouldn’t say if Quinn or defensive line coach Bryant Young were discussing the run-defense the most.
“Everybody, but we knew what we had to do,” Poe said.
Allen said the defensive line accepted the challenge from the coaching staff.
“The communication, we even heard the defensive linemen calling out plays,” Allen said. “The communication, we took it really serious this week. We said over the last couple of weeks, we gave up things that we knew that we didn’t want to. This week we took it from everybody to take pride and make our operation better.”
With the run shut down, the defense was able to get the offense the ball back until something finally started working.
“They dominated their gaps,” Allen said. “When the ball came through their gap or tried to come through their gaps, they made plays on it. The communication was huge. If we can alert and talk through a lot of stuff, we can stop plays before it every happens.”
Rubin, a 10-year veteran, was added to provide some depth.
“It always feels good to put hard work during the week and see it pay off on Sundays,” Rubin said. “Plus, it felt good out here to play with these boys and make plays and definitely get the W today.”
Rubin, a 310-pounder, was a nice addition. He essentially replacing Jack Crawford, who was lost to the season with a bicep injury.
“We got a good rotation in there, whenever we are in there we have to make plays,” Rubin said. “If you stop the run, you get a chance to rush the passer. Every week, we are trying to stop the run and control the game. If you stop the run, you control the game. Everything else falls into place after that.”
Rubin was called for a late-hit one play and appeared to suffer an injury.
“Everything is good,” Rubin said. “Got a late hit and his knee went into my crotch and you know how that goes.”
It was mean and nasty down in the rain-soaked trenches.
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