The Falcons have played a lot of encouraging ball over their first six games, sitting atop the division with a 4-2 record, but there are a couple of facets that have been dreadful.
The run defense has been poor. The interior defensive line is soft, and it looks like the linebackers are just guessing in some instances. The Panthers averaged nearly 5.0 yards per carry on Sunday, but the pass rush has been even worse.
The Falcons rank dead last in sacks (5), behind the lowly Panthers, and rank 29th in pressures (25). Despite Carolina being down a center, guard, and tackle, Atlanta was unable to record a single sack on Andy Dalton. There are six players who have more individual sacks than the Falcons have as a team.
The longest-standing weakness is still this club’s biggest concern in 2024 under Raheem Morris. Since taking over as GM in Atlanta, Terry Fontenot has drafted five defensive linemen in the top 100 and another four outside of the top 100 with little to no success. That trend has continued in free agency too.
Simply put, the Falcons have had no measured improvement in their pass rush since Fontenot came to Atlanta. The hope was that would change this past offseason.
The Falcons traded up in the second round to draft Ruke Orhorhoro, then proceeded to take defensive linemen in the third and fourth rounds in Bralen Trice and Brandon Dorlus. But that wasn’t the move that had Falcons fans optimistic about the pass rush; it was the trade for Matthew Judon.
In a matter of a couple of days, Atlanta traded for Judon and signed Justin Simmons, signaling to the rest of the league that Atlanta thought they were serious title contenders. The hope was that the in-house talent of Arnold Ebiketie, Grady Jarrett, David Onyemata, the rookies, and Judon would finally give the Falcons defense some semblance of a pass rush.
Through six games, that isn’t the case, and frankly, Judon hasn’t been good enough. Everyone is to blame here, including Jimmy Lake, Raheem Morris, Terry Fontenot, Arnold Ebiketie, etc. for the lack of pass rush, but Judon also has to start living up to his end of the bargain.
Atlanta sent New England a third-round pick for a veteran who has recorded 15.5 and 12.5 sacks, respectively, in his last two healthy seasons. Through six games, Judon has 1.5 sacks and five pressures and hasn’t posted a sack since Week 2.
Granted, Matthew Judon has never been a high pass-rush win-rate kind of guy. He’s not the premier sack artist who can dominate a tackle with different pass-rush moves throughout a game. He’s made his career on twists, stunts, effort sacks, and coverage sacks, which just haven’t been there in 2024.
Entering the final year of his contract, if Judon wants a deal from the Falcons or any other club, he’s going to have to improve the production. If you’re Atlanta, you can’t rely on the 32-year-old to suddenly turn it around. They have to be proactive and acquire another pass rusher via trade.
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Photographer: Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire
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