BIERMANN!The last two weeks the Atlanta Falcons have faced stiff challenges from unlikely sources and have found a way to come out with victories. Two weeks ago the desperate 0-3 San Francisco 49ers came into Atlanta and nearly pulled the upset on the Falcons. If not for a fantastic hustle play by Roddy White, who stripped Nate Clements after Clements made a great play to grab an interception (it should be noted that Roddy did the exact same thing last year against the exact same team except it was Dre Bly and not Clements), the Falcons looked like they were on their way to a loss. This week the Falcons faced a 1-3 Cleveland Browns team in need of a win. The Browns defense came to play but ultimately it was another hustle play that led the Falcons to victory. With four minutes left in the 4th quarter and the Falcons up by 3 points DE Kroy Biermann batted a Jake Delhomme pass into the air and made an amazing diving interception. But that’s not all, then he got to his feet and lumbered 41 yards to the end zone while protecting the football to win the game for the Dirty Birds. The Falcons are now 4-1 with their only loss coming against the Pittsburgh Steelers in OT in Week One in which the Falcons could not find an answer to the tough Steelers defense and Hines Ward (As a UGA fan I love Hines and kudos to him for the “block” since he didn’t get called for the blatant hold on the play) got away with the hold of the year in OT to spring Rashad Mendenhall for a 50 yard game-winning TD run.
So how good are the 4-1 Atlanta Falcons? We have 2 wins over losing teams (San Fran and Cleveland), 1 absolute barbaric ass-beating of a .500 team that is tied for 1st in their division (Arizona), a victory over the World Champions from last year (Saints) and an OT loss to a 3-1 team that has a great defense but was without their QB who likes to dabble in drunk teenage girls. I propose that the Falcons are a pretty good team that is much better as a sum of it’s parts than as individuals (well other than that Roddy White guy who has become pretty damn good). Also, just watching the games this year it’s obvious that this Falcons defense is far superior than any Falcons defense has been in recent years. Here’s a quick snapshot of what the Falcons have done in 2010 vs 2009 (keep in mind that the New Orleans numbers from this year kind of skew the passing numbers as Drew Brees put up 355 yds in a losing effort).
| 2009 | 2010 | |
| Yds/Game | 348.9 | 309.9 |
| Pass Yds/Game | 242.1 | 223.4 |
| Rush Yds/Game | 106.8 | 86.6 |
| Pts/Game | 20.3 | 14 |
| 3rd Down Conversions | 45.3% | 38.3% |
| Takeaways/Game | 1.75 | 2.6 |
| Sacks/Game | 1.75 | 2.2 |
The biggest key I see in the defense is that Thomas Dimetroff is building the defense that BVG (Brian Van Gorder) needs to run the style of defense he wants to. In the off-season the defense only made one big Free Agent acquisition as they signed CB Dunta Robinson for a bag full of cash. Besides that they drafted Sean Witherspoon (Baby Lion) out of Missouri in the 1st round to bolster the linebacking corps and also made a surprising 3rd round pick of DT Corey Peters out of Kentucky. Robinson has played well after overcoming early pre-season injuries but he’s not a shut-down corner. Witherspoon has adapted to the NFL game very quickly and despite missing a game due to injury is the second leading tackler behind THE POLICE (Curtis Lofton). Witherspoon adds multiple dimensions to the LBs as he can rush the QB, play the run and also protect against the pass. He and Curtis Lofton are going to be very good for very long barring anything unforeseen happening. Another thing that happened was 2009 2nd round draft pick William Moore finally overcame his injuries and got onto the field due to an injury to Erik Coleman. Moore is a big-hitting athletic safety who seems to have a knack for finding the football. Early into the season he already has 2 interceptions and a forced fumble. With Robinson and Moore adding stability to the secondary and Witherspoon increasing the talent level of the LB corps it has opened up opportunities for some veterans on the DL and an up-and-comer. Anybody who is a fan of the NFL knows the name John Abraham. Abraham came into the Browns game with 2 sacks on the year and made life miserable for the Browns, and 3 time Pro-Bowler Joe Thomas, recording 2 more sacks and getting 3 additional QB hits (he only had 5.5 sacks all of last year). On the other side of the line Kroy Biermann has developed into a guy who has a knack of getting into the backfield. Against the Browns he made an amazingly athletic play as he jumped up and batted a pass and then made a diving catch for the interception (which unfortunately has not made it to YouTube yet). Biermann’s numbers for this year don’t jump out at you but he’s a high motor guy that makes plays. The interior of the line has been solid with Jonathan Babineaux developing into the best DT in the NFC South and Jamaal Anderson, Corey Peters and Peria Jerry helping to stuff the run up the middle. All that and I didn’t even mention the 3rd and 4th leading tacklers on the defense yet (LB Stephen Nicholas, who had an interception today against the Browns which was forced by pressure from Abraham, and consistent Safety Thomas DeCoud). The Falcons have really stepped it up on defense this year and if they can continue to get after the QB then they could go deep into the playoffs.
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