FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons may have finally found a way to fix their pass rush. They’re bringing Justin Fields and Russell Wilson to town.
Since 2021, no two quarterbacks have taken more sacks than the duo that now plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who visit Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 1 p.m. Sunday in the season opener for both teams.
If tradition holds, Fields and Wilson versus the Atlanta defense will be a shoving match between resistible force and movable object because as good as those quarterbacks have been at taking sacks, the Falcons have been just as bad at getting them. Atlanta is last in the NFL in sacks in the last five years (138) and the last 10 years (289), according to TruMedia.
In 2023, the Falcons doubled their sack total from 2022 (42 from 21) and still finished 21st in the league. The defensive coordinator who presided over that improvement, Ryan Nielsen, is now in Jacksonville and most of his coaching staff is gone, swept out in the change from Arthur Smith to Raheem Morris at head coach.
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Morris and new defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake aren’t counting on a one-day visit from Fields and Wilson to fix the Falcons’ most lingering problem. They are counting on just about everything else, though.
“We have to get quarterbacks uncomfortable,” Morris said. “If we can get those guys uncomfortable with whether it be secondary pressure guys, linebackers or just up-front pass rush, whether it be schemed, whether it be chicanery. Whatever it is, you want to affect the quarterback.”
The visit from the Steelers offers that chance. Since 2021, when Fields entered the league, he has taken a league-worst 135 sacks (all while starting for the Bears) and Wilson has taken 133 (starting for the Seahawks and Broncos). They are second and third, respectively, in sacks taken per game. Wilson will start for Pittsburgh, although Fields could play as well.
Russell Wilson was sacked 45 times last season with the Broncos. The Falcons will be coming at him from all directions on Sunday. (Junfu Han / USA Today)
Morris spent the last three seasons as the defensive coordinator of the Rams, who were 11th in the NFL in sacks (129) in his time there. Lake, the Rams’ assistant head coach last season, built his credentials as the defensive coordinator at the University of Washington before getting into the NFL.
They share a belief that an effective pass rush is the result of a well-orchestrated combination of factors.
“For me, pass rush is all 11,” Lake said. “We have to play really tight coverage for that quarterback to hold it just an extra tick, but when we’re rushing the passer, it may not just be the four down rushers. It may not just be the outside linebackers. It could be a corner, a nickel, (safety) Jessie Bates coming from 15 yards deep. When those guys are rushing, the guys who are dropping have to make sure they are in the right spot to cause some confusion for that quarterback and cause some confusion for pass protection. That’s how our pass rush will really heat up.”
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Matthew Judon should help, too. The Falcons sent a third-round pick to the New England Patriots for Judon in August to add a proven pass rusher.
“He’s definitely going to boost the outside linebacker room so y’all can stop having all that negative feedback,” outside linebacker Arnold Ebiketie said to the media after the Judon trade.
Asked how often he heard criticism of the Falcons’ pass rush, Ebiketie said, “I mean, I do have social media. I wouldn’t say it’s a motivation factor. At the end of the day, the goal is always to try to get better day in and day out, and as a unit we just got better.”
The Falcons are tired of hearing how comfortable quarterbacks feel in their vicinity.
“We want it to be dynamic,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said. “We want to attack the quarterback. However we have to do that, four-man fronts, five-man, blitzes, whatever it takes, that’s what we’re willing to get done. We are going to have a lot of different plans of attack.”
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Having Judon as one of those attack options will be something new for Atlanta. The 32-year-old had 12 1/2 sacks in 2021 and 15 sacks in 2022, and was averaging a sack a game before tearing his bicep in Week 4 last year. In addition to what he adds to the pass rush, his presence should allow the Falcons’ coaches to better anticipate opponents’ blocking schemes and improve the odds for his teammates, Morris said.
“I have a lot of film out there, a lot of stats, I just have to let that translate to being here,” Judon said. “The biggest thing for any player is to play free and fast because they know the scheme, so I think learning the playbook will make way more difference than anything I did in the past.”
The Falcons are entering the season with a confidence that isn’t backed up by their recent results but that they insist is well-earned.
“I think the sky is the limit with the people that we have,” inside linebacker Troy Andersen said. “Everybody has that growth mindset and is trying to learn from each other, watch film and just get better every day. There’s lots of room for improvement, and I’m sure it’s going to come.”
(Top photo of Zach Harrison and Kaden Elliss: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
