Only the Raiders and Jaguars, the only NFL teams without a victory this season, have run the ball less frequently than the Falcons.
The Falcons have run the ball on 136 of of 374 plays (36.4 percent) and passed the ball 238 times (63.6 percent).
“I think any time you can be a more balanced offense (it can) get us out of a rut and put us where we feel we don’t have our backs against the wall and we are not one-dimensional,” Falcons running back Steven Jackson said. “Any time you can be more balanced it helps everyone out from Matt (Ryan) all the way down offensively.”
The Falcons’ pass-heavy offense can’t really be attributed to large second-half deficits.
They trailed Cincinnati 17-3 and 24-3 after halftime but led the Vikings 28-27 in the third quarter and were ahead of the Giants 20-10 in the third quarter. The Bears didn’t take their 27-13 lead until the fourth quarter.
The decline in rushing efficiency for the Falcons has correlated with injuries to their starting offensive linemen. But offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter, asked about the run blocking, said there’s more to it than that because the defense can make it tough to run by deploying an extra defender near the line of scrimmage.
“You could block a play perfect and not get any yards because they have more hats than we do,” Koetter said. “They always outnumber us by one if they want to. So where that extra player is in relationship to where we are trying to run the ball, that’s the key to any running game.”
Koetter said if the defense has a numbers advantage near the line of scrimmage, there are three ways to still run the ball effectively: plays that move the ball carrier away from the extra defender, the running back makes that defender miss, or the back runs over the defender.
“Those are really your only options,” Koetter said.
The Falcons averaged 5.6 yards on 22 rushes during the 41-28 loss to the Vikings even though three starting offensive linemen left that game with injuries: center Joe Hawley, left guard Justin Blalock and right tackle Lamar Holmes.
Holmes and Hawley were placed on season-ending injury reserve following that game and Blalock missed the next game against the Giants. The Falcons averaged 4.3 yards on 21 rushes in the 30-20 defeat to the Giants.
Blalock returned to the lineup on Sunday against the Bears. The Falcons averaged 3.2 yards on 13 rushes in the 27-13 loss.
Koetter said if the defense plays both safeties deep there are more opportunities to run the ball. He said the Bears had a safety near the line of scrimmage for all 22 of the Falcons’ first-half plays.
“Doesn’t mean it’s impossible to run the ball, it’s just (difficult) from a numbers standpoint,” Koetter said.
The Falcons rushed for 29 yards on eight carries in the first half against the Bears. The Falcons never made the Bears pay for committing to stopping the run in large part because their receivers dropped passes. Ryan was 7-for-13 for 77 yards in the first half.
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