I might not counsel to you with a straight face that the Falcons are an excellent protection now. They’re nonetheless final within the league in sacks, and so they have two lopsided losses prior to now 5 video games fueled partly by defensive ineptitude. There’s a lengthy street forward if this workforce goes to change into a constantly good squad on that facet of the ball in 2025.
But for all of that, the workforce has caught hearth as a move rush because the bye week, and so they’ve delivered three superior defensive efforts. That features one genuinely gorgeous sport in opposition to the Chargers and a pair of robust efforts in opposition to admittedly weak opponents, culminating in a dominant day in opposition to the woeful Giants.
In a top quality debut by Michael Penix and a fantastic day for Bijan Robinson but once more, the protection is that this week’s MVP. Three sacks, two (!) pick-sixes, a compelled fumble, and simply 234 yards allowed alongside a single, early landing will greater than do the trick in opposition to most opponents, and it led to Atlanta completely crushing New York. After the Falcons held the Raiders in test till late and shut down the Chargers—and in some way solely gained a kind of video games by the narrowest margin doable—this was a whole effort on either side of the ball that led to a dominant win. However the protection scoring twice and smothering New York, even when that’s not precisely a tall process, was probably the most precious effort of the day nonetheless.
There are issues to construct on right here for the long run, from Arnold Ebiketie’s continued progress to Jessie Bates’ absurdly well-timed turnovers to an encouraging day from younger defenders like Ruke Orhorhoro and Dee Alford. On this second, although, the outcomes are precisely what these Falcons wanted.
