Niners Nation
After an emotional Week 6 loss in Tampa Bay that saw the San Francisco 49ers lose their leader for the season, the 49ers will look to bounce back against another NFC South foe – and former NFC West rival – with a Sunday night tilt against the upstart Atlanta Falcons.
While the 49ers are coming off their second loss of the season in a 30-19 defeat to the Buccaneers, the Falcons are flying high with consecutive wins over the Commanders and Bills. With a balanced offense that features one of the most-feared ball carriers in the league, it’s the Falcons’ defense that’s been their best feature, allowing a league-best 253 yards per game.
But before we get to Atlanta’s defense, let’s take a look at that running back who can beat you in different ways. These are the numbers to know for Week 7:
822
Falcons’ running back Bijan Robinson leads the NFL with 822 total yards from scrimmage.
To make it even more impressive, Robinson has played in one fewer game than anybody in the top 13 with Atlanta’s Week 5 bye week.
With the game in hand, Robinson only leads by 42 yards with the 49ers’ running back Christian McCaffrey in second with his 780 total yards. How the two have totalled their scrimmage yards, however, couldn’t be more different.
Robinson has been much more balanced in his attack on opposing defenses, with 58.9 percent of his yards coming on the ground. With 484 rushing yards on 83 attempts, Robinson leads all running backs by averaging 5.8 yards per rush attempt. McCaffrey, on the other hand, has had 25 more rushing attempts than Robinson this season, resulting in 148 fewer yards. With 336 rushing yards on 108 attempts, McCaffrey is averaging a career-low 3.1 yards per rush attempt.
Where McCaffrey makes up ground on Robinson is in the passing game, but again, it’s quantity over quality for the 49ers running back. McCaffrey’s 46 receptions are second in the league behind Puka Nacua’s 54 receptions, with McCaffrey totalling 444 yards on those catches. Robinson trails McCaffrey with 338 receiving yards, but has only 24 receptions in his five games.
Add it all up, and McCaffrey has 47 more touches than Robinson, leading the league with 154 touches on the season. While McCaffrey has been impactful, Robinson has been much more explosive and could prove a difficult test for Tatum Bethune to keep track of in place of Fred Warner.
McCaffrey could easily catch Robinson as well, especially if he gets going in the run game. Sunday night will be his best chance of the season to get rolling on the ground.
114.0
The Falcons’ defense allows 114.0 rushing yards per game.
While not too bad a number, the league average for rushing yards allowed sits at 113.4; Atlanta’s run defense will be the worst of the previous six teams the 49ers have faced.
Here are the run defenses the 49ers have faced so far, in chronological order:
