Atlanta Falcons defense no showed against the Colts

For everything that went right for the Atlanta Falcons today on offense, it was equally as bad for the Falcons on defense.

The Atlanta Falcons defense just could not get out of their own way today on either side of the ball. If it was not the offense killing their own drives, it was the defense with costly mistakes that kept the Colts on the field.

We all knew coming into today that the Colts defense was nothing like the defense that the Vikings or the Eagles field. However, we talked about this Colts offensive line being among the best in the NFL and this offense was going to give the Falcons all they could handle – and they did.

The Atlanta Falcons defensive line was missing in action for the entire first, Grady Jarrett was the lone exception. They did a great job in the second half of generating pressure and making Jacoby Brissett uncomfortable.

However, every time the Falcons made a stop of the Colts offense today, they nullified that effort with a penalty. The Falcons today gave the Colts SEVEN first downs via penalty, several of which came after a third-down stop. They ended up with 16 penalties today for 128 yards.

Isaiah Oliver, Ricardo Allen, Damontae Kazee, and De’Vondre Campbell spent all day being abused in coverage. Campbell was targeted by the Colts on third downs today for good reason – he is terrible in coverage.

Matt Ryan had another really bad interception today, but settled down and directed this offense nicely in the second half. At one point in the second half, he completed 17 straight passes as the Falcons got back into the game.

Austin Hooper was a huge bright spot again for the Falcons. The fourth-year tight end has gotten better and better each of his four years and he looks to be taking the leap into the elite echelon of tight ends. He did a great job of sitting in the middle of the Colts defense and providing a big reliable target for Matt Ryan.

Hooper had two touchdowns today against the Colts. Not only were those his first touchdowns of the 2019 season, but this was the first time in his career that Austin Hooper had a multi-touchdown game. Hooper has not had a multi receiving touchdown day since he was in high school.

Julio Jones caught a touchdown for the seventh straight game going back to 2018. This is also the first time that he has had a touchdown in each of the first three games to start to a season.

Dan Quinn was supposed to fix this defense. He is running out of time and we are running out of patience.