Falcons Must Pass Early And Often To Beat The Redskins
Two teams in the playoff hunt face off in an important week 9 matchup in the Nation’s Capital.
The Washington Redskins are a surprise team this year for many as they sit at 5-2 and top of the NFC East through 9 weeks. The Redskins are almost the complete opposite of the Falcons as they have a bad offense but great defense. Washington’s defense is top 5 in both points allowed and yards allowed but thankfully, they still have a weakness that the Falcons need to exploit.
Key to the game: Pass early and often
The Redskins defense is second in rushing defense and fortunately the Falcons aren’t a good rushing team either. I have been clamoring for the Falcons to not run as much so hopefully Sarkisian doesn’t insist on running it as much. The Falcons have had great success passing the football this year, especially in play action even without a sustainable running game (only 1 100-yard rushing game this year).
The Falcons are a top 10 passing offense this year and have thrown for 350+ yards 4 times this season thanks to Matt Ryan’s stellar season so far.
When it comes to the NFL, passing is king and rushing hardly determines the outcome of a game. The age-old adage that you need to establish the run to pass the ball is no longer true and quite frankly is now the opposite. Unfortunately, Sarkisian doesn’t subscribe to that new theory especially when it concerns toss plays. The Falcons only average 3.7 yards per carry which is 30th in the NFL. If the Falcons want to win, passing early and often is imperative.
In addition to that, I would like to see the Falcons utilize more short routes like Slants, Ins, Outs, etc. as well as play action. The Falcons have tremendous route runners and when your best route runner in Calvin Ridley is usually in one-on-one coverage, these quick routes can be useful. When put in situations like 3rd & medium, the Falcons should utilize more of these routes.
With play action, the Falcons have had tremendous success even with an awful running game.
Many people think that because of the poor run game, the Falcons shouldn’t use it much but the truth is that any wrinkle you can throw at defenses, especially with the personnel the Falcons have, will help create space. The Falcons have run play action the 4th most this year (27%) and are averaging 10.8 yards an attempt. Both of those marks are better than 2016.
It’s clear that when the Falcons use play action, the offense runs smoothly even if it’s the same play.
It’s known that I would love to see us be a team like the Patriots, 7-9 Saints, or Peyton Manning’s Broncos and just throw the ball to our hearts content but unfortunately, that won’t happen. What can happen though is the Falcons passing the ball more and spreading out the defense. That ultimately will determine this game.