FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Which is the real Atlanta defense? The Falcons believe it’s the one they showed last week against the Los Angeles Chargers. They also know they need to prove that to a skeptical audience.
“We feel encouraged, for sure,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “We feel like we had one of our best outings on defense, highly, highly productive game for us as a defense. We just want to keep that momentum going. We’re motivated to put out even better tape.”
The Falcons (6-6) held the Chargers to 187 yards and recorded five sacks, maybe the most remarkable stat of the NFL season considering they had 10 in the first 11 games of the season. They created a 37 percent havoc rate (which counts tackles for loss, forced fumbles, interceptions, pass breakups and sacks) Sunday, which is the highest single-game rate for any team this season, according to TruMedia. Atlanta entered the game ranked last in the league with a 13.8 percent havoc rate.
Coach Raheem Morris pointed to outside linebackers Lorenzo Carter and Arnold Ebiketie as the catalysts for the defensive revival. Ebiketie had a career-high two sacks.
“That effort that they played with on the edge, that’s repeatable, and they showed us a glimpse of what you would like to see every single week, and I believe that’s something they can put on tape every single week and what they’re able to do,” Morris said. “For us to be able to go put that kind of effort versus that team, I don’t see why we can’t do that moving forward or should have been doing that the whole year.”
For the season, the Falcons are 24th in points allowed (24.3 per game), 23rd in defensive EPA (minus-3.3 per 100 snaps) and 20th in defensive success rate (57.8 percent).
“A lot of us were just like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to put it together,’” Carter said. “Of course it’s repeatable. We have those types of guys. It’s not like we did anything above and beyond what we can do. We only have five opportunities left. Whatever we do, we have to make them all count.”
The 10-2 Vikings, this week’s opponent, are ninth in scoring (24.8), fifth in explosive play rate (12.7 percent) and lead the NFL with 48 completions of more than 20 yards.
“We just have to identify when they want to take those shots,” Falcons safety Jessie Bates III said. “They do a good job of setting it up. They run the ball, run the ball, then all of a sudden there’s a jet motion and a shot. If we do a good job of taking that away, we’ll have a good shot of winning this football game. That’ll be key.”
Justin Jefferson, who is second in the league with 762 receiving yards, has 20 of those big catches, the most of any player in the NFL.
“There’s no secret recipe to stopping 18,” Bates said. “You just have to make sure you stay on top of him and know where he is all the time.”
After a productive October, Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts has cooled off. (Ella Hall / Getty Images)
The Kyle Pitts question … again
Kyle Pitts’ midseason momentum has abruptly stopped in the last two weeks. The fourth-year tight end has five targets and one catch (for 9 yards) in his most recent two games. After catching four passes for 91 yards and two touchdowns against Tampa Bay in Week 8, he has six catches for 75 yards and no scores in the four games since. His second target against the Chargers, which came in the end zone, drew scrutiny because Pitts appeared to stop the route short, and Morris conceded it should have been a “better route.” Overall, though, the coach defended Pitts.
“Kyle had a lot of really good one-on-one winners (against the Chargers),” Morris said. “We missed him on a few. He’s a man-to-man beater. He won some big-time routes (Sunday) versus Derwin James that didn’t show up on the stat sheet. He really did have some good production from a route-running standpoint that was not rewarded. We all have to do a better job of getting him the ball. He has to do a better job of being the best version of himself. When he gets the ball down the field, he’s explosive.”
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The rookie’s ready
Rookie quarterback Michael Penix Jr. has been in the spotlight all week because of starter Kirk Cousins’ struggles. Penix says he’s “ready” to play whenever he’s asked, but he isn’t expecting that to be anytime soon.
“I have to be (ready) because you never know when that opportunity will come, but at the end of the day, it’s not up to me,” Penix said. “I just have to continue to be ready for that moment whenever it is.”
Penix has played in the late stages of two blowout losses, completing three of his five pass attempts for 38 yards.
“Obviously, everybody wants to be on the field, but I knew coming into here what my role would be,” Penix said. “Kirk is a great quarterback. He has shown it so many times this season.”
The playoff race
The Falcons are trying to focus on the future instead of all the playoff momentum they have wasted in the last month. They had a 94 percent chance to win the NFC South coming off their Week 9 win over Dallas, according to The Athletic’s playoff projections. After three straight losses, that stands at 58 percent.
“Whatever we expected from ourselves at the beginning has not wavered. It is up to us to go out there and perform, get a win and get back on the right track,” Jarrett said. “Everything we want to do is still ahead of us. We feel good, but the urgency is up to get a win.”
The Buccaneers, who play the Raiders at home on Sunday, are now even in the win-loss column with Atlanta, although the Falcons still own the tiebreaker.
“I knew Tampa Bay was coming at some point,” Morris said. “We have to find a way to run away from them again.”
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Bijan Robinson’s workload
Bijan Robinson had a career-high 32 touches against the Chargers, carrying the ball 26 times for 102 yards and catching six passes for 33 yards. It was the sixth time in the last seven games that the second-year running back has topped 100 yards from scrimmage.
“You will never complain about getting the football,” Robinson said.
Robinson, who is second in the league in scrimmage yards per game (106.3), has 244 touches this season, just 28 short of his total from last season.
“I just do whatever I can to help us as an offense and team,” Robinson said. “I just trust whatever they have in the plan. I just go out there and play my hardest and trust God that he can protect me and get me out healthy. I feel great. My body feels good. If that’s what it takes, that’s what we have to do.”
(Top photo of Kentavius Street sacking Justin Herbert: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)