When a team has the worst defense in the league, there are several issues to address.
But before facing the Arizona Cardinals at 4:05 p.m. Sunday at the Georgia Dome, the Falcons need to shore up the leaky run defense in order to have a shot against backup quarterback Drew Stanton in the passing attack.
The Falcons are giving 409.9 yards per game, which ranks 32nd (last) in the league. They are giving up 125.8 yards rushing per game (24th) and 409.9 yards passing per game (32nd).
After yielding 162 yards on the ground to Cleveland, the Falcons have given up more than 100 yards in seven games this season and more than 120 yards in four games.
Overall, they gave up 475 yards to the Browns.
“It was just a horrendous performance by the defense,” said NFL.com analyst Brian Billick.
It was the fifth game this season that the Falcons have given up more than 470 yards.
The Minnesota Vikings torched the Falcons for a season-high 241 yards rushing on Sept. 28.
Last season, Arizona’s Andre Ellington rushed for 154 yards on 15 carries in a 27-13 victory over the Falcons. Last week, Seattle held Ellington to 24 yards on 10 carries and forced Stanton, a journeyman, who’s playing for the injured Carson Palmer, to beat them.
He couldn’t deliver although he was playing without star wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who was out with a sprained knee.
The Falcons have had trouble with outside runs. Cleveland’s Isaiah Crowell averaged 11.1 yards on runs outside the tackles against the Falcons.
“Especially against a stretch team, you have to secure the edges real good,” Falcons linebacker Paul Worrilow said. “When we did have the wall up they were able to stretch us out and get to the sideline and their running backs did a good job of hitting those seams.”
The Cardinals certainly saw that and will try to establish Ellington, the former standout at Clemson.
“He had like an 80 (yard) run against us last year,” Worrilow said. “It’s going to be important to keep him under control because he’s a guy that can take one to the house real quick on us.”
Ellington has rushed for 648 yards on 196 carries (3.3 yards per carry) and has three rushing touchdowns. He’s the 12th leading rusher in the league and has the Falcons’ attention.
“He’s a big threat,” Falcons coach Mike Smith said. “He’s a very good running back. He’s a threat not only running the ball from the backfield, but catching it. They use him as a change of pace back. I haven’t seen a whole lot of tape on him this year. Last year he had a monster season.”
Against the Browns, an old problem of missed tackles reared its head.
“There was one where we lost (containment) on a scoring play,” Smith said. “One where the back cut all the way back across the field and there were three missed tackles on that play.”
Because of the new contact rules in practice, NFL teams don’t get to practice live tackling.
“You fall off the tackles because you don’t see your target or you don’t run through the tackle,” Smith said. “We have to get better at it. We can drill it, but we can’t do it full speed.”
After facing Ellington, the Falcons will see Green Bay running back Eddie Lacy (672 yards, 12th in the league) followed by Pittsburgh’s Le’veon Bell (951 yards, 2nd in the league).
“Ultimately, it’s up to the players on the field,” Worrilow said.
Safety Kemal Ishmael led the Falcons in tackles against Cleveland with 11. That’s not a good sign with a safety is leading the defense in tackles. The runs should be stopped before reaching the third level of the defense.
“We have to just get to the ball and finish tackles,” Ishmael said. “We would hit them and they would run through the tackle or break a tackle and just gain more yards. If we just wrap up and if I just wrap up, the yards wouldn’t be there. They got a lot of hidden yards.”
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