The tweet was just an aside, an addendum. The main news was that the 49ers benched quarterback Colin Kaepernick in favor of Blaine Gabbert to start against the Falcons on Sunday.
However, the tweet included the phrase “weak Falcons defense,” so naturally it reverberated in Flowery Branch, where Falcons coach Dan Quinn took note.
“I heard it,” Quinn said Wednesday. “What I can say is that we don’t (need) anybody else to help get us ready. We’ll be ready to rock.”
The report was by Kyle McLorg, a blogger who goes by the moniker Bay Area Sports Guy. He cited an anonymous 49ers source as saying that the team was going to start Gabbert at the Rams last week, but decided it’s better for him to do so against a “weak Falcons defense at home.”
“That’s absolutely false,” 49ers coach Jim Tomsula said. “I have nothing but respect for Dan Quinn. I don’t see anything weak about the Atlanta Falcons.”
The truth is that it would make sense if the 49ers did decide to hold back Gabbert to face the Falcons instead of the Rams. The Rams are superior to the Falcons on defense, especially their pass rush, which ranks second in the NFL in sack percentage.
But it’s outdated to call the Falcons a “weak” defensive team. They were among the worst defensive teams in the league in 2014, but have improved dramatically in the first season under Quinn and defensive coordinator Richard Smith.
Through eight games the Falcons rank 11th in the league in yards per game allowed, 15th in yards per play, 13th in points per game, 31st in sack percentage and 10th in turnovers forced. Last season the Falcons ranked 32nd in yards per game allowed, 32nd in yards per play, 27th in points per game, 31st in sack percentage and sixth in turnovers.
“I think we’ve played really solid,” Falcons linebacker O’Brien Schofield said. “I still think that there is a lot of (improvement) out there for us from a pass-rush standpoint. I think we’ve done a pretty good job against the run.”
The Falcons are better on defense in 2015 in nearly every category. Two important exceptions are sacks and turnovers forced.
The pass rush is the more problematic of those two issues. Quinn is reluctant to blitz to get pressure, so his defensive linemen will have to win more match ups and finish when they get to the quarterback.
The Falcons actually were doing well with takeaways earlier in the season. They forced two turnovers per game through the first six games, but none against the Titans or Buccaneers in the past two weeks.
Getting turnovers sometimes is a matter of luck, but Quinn believes the Falcons can force the issue by being aggressive.
“We’re trying to create those opportunities (to be) a really good turnover team,” Quinn said. “Yeah, there’s sometimes that an unforced error happened and you’re able to scoop it, but when we’re at our best it’s the ones that we’re forcing. It’s the opportunities to go rip the ball out when you’re hitting the quarterback. To go attack his elbow when the receiver’s in transition turning to get up field, and now you’re stripping at the ball. Those are the opportunities that we don’t want to waste.”
If the Falcons can improve their pass rush and get back to forcing turnovers again, their defense can evolve from average to pretty good. They already rank third in rushing yards per game, and a better pass rush and more takeaways most likely would help the pass defense improve from 24th.
Already the Falcons’ defense is not bad, despite what that anonymous 49ers source reportedly said.
“I don’t care,” Falcons linebacker Paul Worrilow said. “That doesn’t even matter to me.”
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