It’s silly to write off the Falcons after their loss at the Bengals (who may be very good) just as it was silly to declare them a legit contender after they beat the Saints (who may be very mediocre). In the NFL teams routinely look great one week and bad the next, or vice versa.
Still, it's not encouraging for the Falcons that their defense has shown no tangible improvement from last season's debackle. The Falcons rank last in yards allowed per game (472) and per play (6.79). They are also 32nd in yards allowed per passing play (9.62, nearly a yard-and-a-half more than 31st-place Kansas City).
They have other problems but defense is the biggest issue--again. The numbers are so ugly in large part because the Falcons still can't generate an effective pass rush. It was a big problem in 2013 and now the Falcons are the only team in the league without a sack through two games. In fact the Falcons have registered just one quarterback hit in 66 opponent dropbacks (congrats to Jonathan Babineaux!).
There was some skepticism outside of Flowery Branch when the Falcons didn’t add an edge rusher during free agency or the draft. The Falcons countered that stopping the run on early downs would set up better pass-rushing opportunities. That’s why they added beefy linemen Tyson Jackson and Paul Soliai.
But the formula hasn’t worked so far. The Falcons have allowed an average of 4.65 yards on 40 first-and-10 runs, more than all but two defenses in the league. The Saints and Bengals faced 27 third downs against the Falcons and 17 of them were for six yards or less.
That 76-yard touchdown catch by Bengals wide receiver Mohamed Sanu may be a sign that not even Falcons defensive coordinator Mike Nolan is confident in the “stop the run, get quarterback pressure” formula.
The Falcons held Giovani Bernard to a three-yard run on first down and a one-yard run on second down to set up third-and-six. But even with a somewhat favorable down-and-distance for rushing the passer, Nolan felt the need to send four blitzers at Andy Dalton. It backfired when Dalton backpedaled away from Babineaux and delievered a nice pass to Sanu, who beat cornerback Robert Alford for the score.
That wasn’t Drew Brees picking apart the Falcons for a 116.6 passer rating on Sunday. It was Dalton without star wideout A.J. Green for most of the game and without tight end Tyler Eifert, a first-round pick, at all.
A competent quarterback such as Dalton can do damage when he doesn’t face much pressure. The Falcons insisted a better run defense would mean a better pass rush. Yet it didn’t happen against the Bengals even with Soliai doing good run-wrecking work with three solo tackles of Bernard for gains of minus two, minus one and one yard.
In general, good teams sack the quarterback and bad ones don't. It's too early to tell where the Falcons fall on that spectrum but it's hard to see them being very good if they can't get to the quarterback.
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