The Falcoholic
The Atlanta Falcons’ defense performance against the Minnesota Vikings was a performance Falcons fans hadn’t seen in literal decades. The Falcons hadn’t had a game where they forced four turnovers, had six sacks, and allowed zero offensive touchdowns since September 26, 2004, against the Arizona Cardinals. Sunday night was only the tenth such game league-wide since the start of the 2013 season.
The Falcons had to find a way to pull out this win against the Vikings to avoid that dreaded 0-2 hole. Of the 459 teams that started 0-2 in the Super Bowl era, only 46 (10.02%) ended up making the playoffs. Atlanta dodged a bullet, and we also learned a little more about this team’s adaptability.
The Falcons turned up the heat on J.J. McCarthy, blitzing him on 43.3% of dropbacks and pressuring him on 53.3%. Atlanta used nine different linemen across the front to keep Minnesota’s offensive line guessing and to mix up their defensive looks. No Falcons defensive lineman played more than 27 snaps (57%) on Sunday, demonstrating the team’s depth and versatility in the trenches.
The result? McCarthy ended the day with a 57.1% On-Target rate, the worst rate of a quarterback in week two and a 33.3% bad-throw rate, the second-worst of any quarterback in week two. The Falcons’ pass rush was also much more effective compared to last week. In Week 2, Atlanta recorded 6 sacks on 16 quarterback pressures (37.5%), a huge improvement over their one sack on 15 pressures the previous week (6.67%).
The Falcons’ special teams had a stellar performance, with new kicker John Parker Romo going a perfect 5-for-5 in his debut. Both the punt and kick coverage units were solid, limiting Minnesota’s return game and setting the Vikings up poorly on offense. Remarkably, all 10 of Minnesota’s offensive drives started in their own territory, with four beginning inside the 25-yard line.
Had it not been for a spectacular double-move by Justin Jefferson, those drives likely would have all ended without points, and one of them ended in an interception.
Through two weeks, it’s clear this may be Terry Fontenot’s best draft yet. Rookie James Pearce Jr. has quickly become one of the most exciting EDGE rushers in the league, boasting the 5th-highest pressure rate (24.1%) in the NFL (min. 25 pass rush snaps). Fellow rookie Jalon Walker also had a strong showing, picking up his first sack with a gorgeous hand swipe on fill-in left tackle Justin Skule.
But the contributions didn’t stop there. Xavier Watts made his mark with his first career interception, while Billy Bowman had a phenomenal all-around performance. Bowman not only recorded his first interception but also contributed to run defense with four tackles (two solo) and showed tight coverage, allowing only four receptions on nine targets with two pass deflections.
The Falcons’ offensive line was physical and dominant, rushing for 218...
