How the Atlanta Falcons Can Get the Most out of Their Pass Rush in 2014
The Atlanta Falcons are the only team in the NFL that through two weeks doesn't have a single quarterback sack. Even worse is the fact that they've only hit the quarterback once through their first two games as well.
Head coach Mike Smith is well aware of these issues and has noted that the Falcons have problems attacking opposing quarterbacks, per an interview with ESPN.com's Vaughn McClure:
"We've got to put more pressure on the quarterback. It's not where we want to be after the first two games. And I think it has translated into us not playing the type of defense that we want. We haven't been able to pressure the quarterback, nor have we been able to stop the run. And those are two issues that we definitely have to address and get better at.
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This was an aspect that was supposed to look much improved with the big moves of the offseason, but it looks like it took a step back from the 2013 season's pass rush. Atlanta has a lot of work to do, and it needs to do it quickly before its season tanks. One fan's take on the Falcons pass rush:
"How quarterbacks act when Biermann is "rushing" them! @TheWalkerman @TheFalcoholic @MikeTrillMadeIt http://t.co/YlT1R3mD60
— #RTFU (@GreenRodrell) September 15, 2014"
There are multiple ways to address this issue. They could start rotating in younger players more often. They could attack the interior of the offensive line more. They could run more safety blitzes. They could run a six-man rotation at defensive tackle. Or they could bring in outside help and try to fix it that way.
Stop Using Jonathan Babineaux as a Defensive End in a Four-Man Front
One of the most frustrating things to see in the Falcons' attempt at a pass rush is watching Jonathan Babineaux line up at right defensive end in the 6-technique—between the tackle and tight end—or 7-technique—heads up with the tight end or where the tight end would have lined up. He's not quick enough to bend the edge and should be playing a different role.
In reality, Babineaux should only play defensive end if the Falcons are running sets with three down linemen. Otherwise, he's best suited to play the 3-technique—lining up in the gap between the guard and tackle—or the 4-technique—heads up with the tackle shaded inside toward the gap. The Falcons love Babineaux and play him a ton, but he would be better off playing passing snaps and rotating with Tyson Jackson.
The Falcons should play someone with some sort of speed off the right end in their four-man fronts. Ra'Shede Hageman could be a good option if they want someone big. Malliciah Goodman is a good thought there as well. But the player who truly fits the scheme there with both his run defense and his pass-rushing prowess is Jonathan Massaquoi—an underutilized player from Troy with 10-sack potential.
As much as I love Babineaux's abilities and play on the field. He's out of position. The Falcons would be better off running a rotation of Hageman, Goodman, Massaquoi and Osi Umenyiora at right defensive end in their four-man fronts with Massaquoi as the primary player there.
Use the Young Guns on the Edge More
A big problem with the Falcons defense and pass rush has been the lack of willingness to develop their highly athletic edge players like Lawrence Sidbury, Massaquoi or Stansly Maponga within their defense while feeding Umenyiora, Kroy Biermann, Ray Edwards and other mediocre, past-their-prime players those valuable snaps that could be used to develop talent.
| Kroy Biermann | 125 | 47 | 67 | 11 |
| Osi Umenyiora | 54 | 40 | 14 | 0 |
| Jonathan Massaquoi | 56 | 10 | 30 | 16 |
| Stansly Maponga | 21 | 7 | 13 | 1 |
Massaquoi is one player who needs to be rotated in more than he is. His 10 pass-rushing snaps make up just 14 percent of the Falcons' pass defense plays. The Falcons need to have him rushing the quarterback on closer to 50 percent of their pass defense plays. The bigger problem is that Massaquoi has been in coverage for 16 plays, or 22 percent of the passing plays. He's done well, but it's not his strength.
| Kroy Biermann | 84% | 64% | 91% | 15% |
| Osi Umenyiora | 36% | 54% | 19% | 0% |
| Jonathan Massaquoi | 38% | 14% | 41% | 22% |
| Stansly Maponga | 14% | 9% | 18% | 1% |
Maponga's usage isn't much better at nine percent of the passing snaps as a pass-rusher and one percent of the passing snaps in coverage. He only plays 14 percent of the total snaps. The Falcons need to reduce Biermann's absurd 84 percent snap count because he isn't looking like the competent player that he once was. Umenyiora also hasn't performed well.
By playing Massaquoi and Maponga more in pass-rushing situations, the Falcons could help jump-start their pass rush by having fresher bodies than the beat up and underperforming Bierman and Umenyiora out there. Atlanta needs to rely on its younger players on the edge to attack the quarterback more often because Massaquoi dropping into coverage more than Biermann is just ridiculous.
Attack the A-gaps
The quickest way from point A to point B is a straight line. The quickest way to a quarterback is through the A-gaps between the guards and center. The Falcons need to take a cue from the Arizona Cardinals, Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets when it comes to schemes that attack the A-gaps. Those schemes continually blitz their inside linebackers through those gaps.
Two play designs stick out when it comes to these A-gap blitzes. The first is one that the Pittsburgh Steelers used to run out of the 3-4 defense. They would have their nose tackle take out the center and force either guard to help out. They would then run inside linebacker stunt to where the nose tackle just cleared and have the other inside linebacker attack the other guard. The result worked pretty well normally.
The second is something that the Arizona Cardinals would do with Daryl Washington and Karlos Dansby at linebacker when they had both of them. They would run out of a 2-4-5 nickel set versus a shotgun set with four wide receivers. They would send all four linebackers, and both of their defensive tackles lined up as nose tackles in the A-gaps.
The nose tackles would attack the A-gaps and the inside linebackers would follow. By occupying the offensive tackles with outside linebackers blitzing wide, the Cardinals would have a six-on-five blitz that should yield one, if not two, free rushers to the quarterback. If one of the rushers would get picked up by the running back, there was still normally someone bearing down.
This should be a strategy Atlanta employs with either its 2-4-5 defensive front or its 4-2-5 front. It should work in both alignments, as the outside linebackers in a 2-4-5 are normally the same guys who play defensive end in 4-2-5. But for it to work, the Falcons will have to play Massaquoi more on the edge and use an interior pairing that utilizes some bulk in Paul Soliai and Hageman.
Exploring more exotic looks to attack the A-gaps with Paul Worrilow, Prince Shembo and Joplo Bartu will help the Falcons pass rush. Attacking slow interior players with the speed of linebackers and the power of nose tackles is an easy way to generate pressure and diversify the pass-rushing attack.
Rotate the Interior Line More Heavily
One of the best moves Atlanta made this offseason was strengthening its defensive line rotation at tackle. It has six extremely talented players who can play defensive tackle in four-man fronts or at either tackle or end in the three-man fronts: Hageman, Soliai, Jackson, Babineaux, Corey Peters and Goodman.
| Jonathan Babineaux | 110 | 66 | 44 | 0 |
| Paul Soliai | 84 | 30 | 54 | 0 |
| Tyson Jackson | 77 | 26 | 50 | 1 |
| Malliciah Goodman | 74 | 42 | 29 | 3 |
| Ra'Shede Hageman | 26 | 9 | 17 | 0 |
| Corey Peters | 22 | 5 | 17 | 0 |
Hageman and Goodman can play defensive end in the four-man fronts as well. For four-man fronts, the Falcons should rotate in Jackson and Peters at defensive tackle on run downs. Then on passing downs, put in Hageman and Babineaux in for their speed and power. Goodman should be rotating at defensive end in those four-man fronts. Jackson is a bit useless for four-man fronts.
Three-man fronts is where Jackson holds his value. He's a good left defensive end in the 3-4 alignment and should play on running downs in that alignment. The Falcons should play Soliai and Peters in rotation at nose tackle on their three-man fronts and bring in Hageman, Goodman and Babineaux at end there. The Falcons aren't playing a ton of three-man fronts this year, though.
| Jonathan Babineaux | 74% | 89% | 59% | 0% |
| Paul Soliai | 57% | 41% | 73% | 0% |
| Tyson Jackson | 52% | 35% | 68% | 1% |
| Malliciah Goodman | 50% | 57% | 39% | 4% |
| Ra'Shede Hageman | 18% | 12% | 23% | 0% |
| Corey Peters | 15% | 7% | 23% | 0% |
The total percentages for these six players looks completely out of whack right now. Instead of it being the splits that it should be, Babineaux is playing over 70 percent of the snaps. He should be closer to 55 percent. Soliai and Peters should be closer to 45 percent each. Jackson should be closer to 40 percent. Hageman should see 30 percent as he continues to develop. Only Goodman is being used right.
By fixing the rotation on the interior defensive line, the Falcons can keep all six players fresh. They can continue to attack the interior gaps in the pass rush while improving run defense by having players play in the roles they win at instead of the roles the Falcons are currently using them in.
Bring in Outside Help
The option that makes the most sense at this point is to bring in someone who has shown pass-rushing prowess to help jump-start the pass rush. Aaron Freeman of FalcFans provides names of a couple of very competent pass-rushers that the Falcons could bring in:
"If the Falcons can acquire a promising young edge-rusher like Brandon Graham (Philadelphia Eagles), Jabaal Sheard (Cleveland Browns) or Jerry Hughes (Buffalo Bills), then they should pull the trigger. All three players are in the final years of their contracts, which means they could be available via trade if any of their respective teams are hesitant to hand them long-term contracts next spring. That may be the case with all three.
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Jabaal Sheard and Brandon Graham look to be more likely targets than Jerry Hughes would be. Hughes may be in the last year of his contract, but he's a starter for the Bills. Sheard and Graham are both backups who fit multiple schemes well. Sheard would be my personal preference because it never made sense why the Falcons didn't try to trade for him a couple of years back.
Another option could be Michael Sam from the Dallas Cowboys practice squad as a defensive end/linebacker hybrid type as well. Sam was the SEC co-defensive player of the year and looked solid in the preseason for the Rams against second- and third-team players. Atlanta should poach him from the Cowboys' practice squad as at least another body to compete.
Atlanta has a good team, but without any pass rush on defense, the Falcons will continue to get destroyed. There's no quick fix. There's no magic bullet. And if Mike Nolan wants to keep his job as defensive coordinator past this year, he needs to get the defense to improve. Otherwise, the Falcons might be looking for more than just a solid defensive coordinator in the offseason.
All stats used are from Pro Football Focus' Premium Stats (subscription required), ESPN.com, CFBStats or NFL.com. All combine and pro day info is courtesy of NFLDraftScout.com. All contract information is courtesy of Spotrac and Rotoworld.
Scott Carasik is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He covers the Atlanta Falcons, college football, the NFL and the NFL draft. He also runs DraftFalcons.com.
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