Coming into the Atlanta Falcons Week 13 divisional matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Falcons were riding high off of the backs of a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. They were quickly knocked down by the Buccaneers on Sunday and reminded of why they are in last place in the NFC South division and why Tampa Bay is at the top. Here are three takeaways from Sunday's Falcons-Buccaneers game from Atlanta's side of things.
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Falcons Week 13 Takeaways
3. Atlanta ran the ball very well
When you take 23 carries for 121 yards and a touchdown against a top-five run defense in the NFL, you are definitely doing something right. That is what happened for Atlanta's offense on Sunday as they were able to take on the ferocious Bucs' run defense with their 1-2 combination of Cordarelle Patterson and Mike Davis.
While Davis' role might be diminished from earlier in the season, he is still the preferred goal-line back for this team and he complements whats Patterson brings to the field perfectly. If Atlanta can run the ball this well on Tampa Bay, look for them to continue that trend next week at a Panthers team that is circling the drain just as much as the Falcons are.
2. Matt Ryan was sacked way too many times up the middle
Atlanta had two sacks from Ndamukong Suh, two sacks from Vita Vea, and one from Cam Gill that was made possible by pressure up the middle. Atlanta has struggled with the interior offensive line all season and it is hindering the way they want to play football. Atlanta was surprisingly 9-17 on third downs on Sunday, but having Ryan take five sacks will usually make your third-down percentage much worse than that.
Meaning, Atlanta could have made this a shootout if they had just been able to keep Ryan off the grass. The bad offensive line play also takes away from the number of routes that stud rookie tight end Kyle Pitts can get as a pass-catcher. If Pitts is constantly being asked to block, that takes away his biggest weapon which is his playmaking ability.
1. The Falcons' secondary is atrocious
Tampa Bay passed for 368 yards and four touchdowns on Sunday and most of that was on the secondary. With 22 catches for 242 yards just between Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, the Falcons looked like a JV squad against the varsity pretty much every time the Buccaneers' offense took the field. Along with the interior offensive line, this part of the Falcons team will need to be addressed in a huge way if Atlanta plans to compete any time in the near future.
A.J Terrell is certainly a nice piece to have for a rebuilding secondary, so if the Falcons can just use him as their centerpiece and get all of the other players to fit around him, they could turn around this back-end of the defense by 2022. If not, then they are certainly destined for more games like Sunday.
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