Post by Guvmintcheeze on Oct 3, 2014 23:04:20 GMT
Falcons must improve meager pass rush to get to speedy Eli Manning
Knox Bardeen
FOX Sports South
OCT 02, 2014 10:53p ET
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- With just three sacks in four games, the Atlanta Falcons have had no luck putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. But that's not a new phenomenon.
Only two teams recorded fewer sacks that the Falcons last season, and only four the year prior. As this point in the 2014 season, only the St. Louis Rams are behind the Falcons.
There's more to pressuring the quarterback than just sacks. You can count hurries and hits on the quarterback as tools to negatively manipulate the passer.
But the Falcons don't do those well either.
According to Pro Football Focus, Atlanta has a negative-7.1 pass-rush grade, better than only two teams in the NFL. The Falcons have just six quarterback hits and 45 hurries. To give a little perspective, the league's best pass-rush grade (20.7) was given to the Kansas City Chiefs.
These numbers are telling the story that the Atlanta defense doesn't get after opposing quarterbacks. That's going to be a huge problem Sunday against the New York Giants, for more reasons than just the Falcons' inability to rush the passer.
After being sacked four times in his first two games, Giants quarterback Eli Manning has only been brought down twice in the last two weeks. He's also completed 73.1 percent (49 for 67) of his passes.
What's with the sudden awakening from Manning?
Give Manning credit for putting the pieces together in New York's new offense. But also imagine how hard it is to disrupt a passer when he's getting rid of the football at an alarmingly quick rate.
Jordan Raanan, a Giants beat writer for NJ.com, watched Manning throw the football last week, and clocked every pass with a stopwatch. The results were pretty amazing.
The Falcons' defensive line has taken notice of Manning's new quick release too. And according to Osi Umenyiora, they're a bit perplexed.
"I really don't know what the answer is right now. But watching it, it seems really frustrating," said Umenyiora about Manning getting the ball out so quickly. "And it seems like something that a pass-rusher is not going to be looking forward to. Going up there and expending all that energy rushing, and he's just getting the ball out of his hands in one and a half seconds."
Expending energy getting to a quarterback, but not pulling him down has been modus operandi for the Falcons this season. Umenyiora offered one idea and one theory on how Atlanta could apply pressure to Manning.
"I think we're going to have to do that schematically," Umenyiora said. "We have to take away those quick throws and those quick passes, maybe more press coverage."
The idea of playing more press coverage is out of Umenyiora's hands, but the Falcons front seven might be able to do something about changing things schematically.
The Falcons only have three sacks this season, and all three have come from attacking the quarterback from the right side of the offensive line.
Jonathan Massaquoi's sack was the result of a straight-line rush past Tampa Bay's right tackle, who never moved to block Massaquoi because he was already busy with another pass-rusher.
Corey Peters got to the outside of Tampa Bay's right guard, and sacked Mike Glennon after sneaking between an occupied right tackle and running back, both engaged in blocks.
Stansly Maponga got leverage on the Buccaneers' right tackle and pushed him all the way back into a falling Glennon.
The right side of Tampa Bay's offensive line had a rough game against Atlanta. If the Falcons will disrupt Manning on Sunday, they may have to attack on the right side again. The Giants have one of the best offensive tackles in the game on the left side in William Beatty.
Beatty ranks as the No. 3 offensive tackle in the game, according to Pro Football Focus. And he's only allowed four quarterback pressures all season; and zero sacks. He also draws a lot of praise from Umenyiora.
"From what I understand, and from what I've seen, he's the best left tackle in football," said Umenyiora. "It's crazy to see how he's developed into that type of player because when I was there he was young. He was very talented, but he was still young."
When Umenyiora rushes the passer, 78.1 percent of the time it's from the right side of the defense. So he'll be attacking on the side of Beatty more frequently than not if current trends hold.
Massaquoi and Kroy Biermann move around a lot, but more frequently attack from the left side of the defense. Maponga attacks from the left side 89.7 percent of the time he's in the game in pass-rush situations. These three will more often attempt to rush Manning around or through right tackle Justin Pugh.
Pugh has allowed two sacks and seven hurries this season, more than any other lineman on the Giants' roster.
Knox Bardeen
FOX Sports South
OCT 02, 2014 10:53p ET
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- With just three sacks in four games, the Atlanta Falcons have had no luck putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks. But that's not a new phenomenon.
Only two teams recorded fewer sacks that the Falcons last season, and only four the year prior. As this point in the 2014 season, only the St. Louis Rams are behind the Falcons.
There's more to pressuring the quarterback than just sacks. You can count hurries and hits on the quarterback as tools to negatively manipulate the passer.
But the Falcons don't do those well either.
According to Pro Football Focus, Atlanta has a negative-7.1 pass-rush grade, better than only two teams in the NFL. The Falcons have just six quarterback hits and 45 hurries. To give a little perspective, the league's best pass-rush grade (20.7) was given to the Kansas City Chiefs.
These numbers are telling the story that the Atlanta defense doesn't get after opposing quarterbacks. That's going to be a huge problem Sunday against the New York Giants, for more reasons than just the Falcons' inability to rush the passer.
After being sacked four times in his first two games, Giants quarterback Eli Manning has only been brought down twice in the last two weeks. He's also completed 73.1 percent (49 for 67) of his passes.
What's with the sudden awakening from Manning?
Give Manning credit for putting the pieces together in New York's new offense. But also imagine how hard it is to disrupt a passer when he's getting rid of the football at an alarmingly quick rate.
Jordan Raanan, a Giants beat writer for NJ.com, watched Manning throw the football last week, and clocked every pass with a stopwatch. The results were pretty amazing.
The Falcons' defensive line has taken notice of Manning's new quick release too. And according to Osi Umenyiora, they're a bit perplexed.
"I really don't know what the answer is right now. But watching it, it seems really frustrating," said Umenyiora about Manning getting the ball out so quickly. "And it seems like something that a pass-rusher is not going to be looking forward to. Going up there and expending all that energy rushing, and he's just getting the ball out of his hands in one and a half seconds."
Expending energy getting to a quarterback, but not pulling him down has been modus operandi for the Falcons this season. Umenyiora offered one idea and one theory on how Atlanta could apply pressure to Manning.
"I think we're going to have to do that schematically," Umenyiora said. "We have to take away those quick throws and those quick passes, maybe more press coverage."
The idea of playing more press coverage is out of Umenyiora's hands, but the Falcons front seven might be able to do something about changing things schematically.
The Falcons only have three sacks this season, and all three have come from attacking the quarterback from the right side of the offensive line.
Jonathan Massaquoi's sack was the result of a straight-line rush past Tampa Bay's right tackle, who never moved to block Massaquoi because he was already busy with another pass-rusher.
Corey Peters got to the outside of Tampa Bay's right guard, and sacked Mike Glennon after sneaking between an occupied right tackle and running back, both engaged in blocks.
Stansly Maponga got leverage on the Buccaneers' right tackle and pushed him all the way back into a falling Glennon.
The right side of Tampa Bay's offensive line had a rough game against Atlanta. If the Falcons will disrupt Manning on Sunday, they may have to attack on the right side again. The Giants have one of the best offensive tackles in the game on the left side in William Beatty.
Beatty ranks as the No. 3 offensive tackle in the game, according to Pro Football Focus. And he's only allowed four quarterback pressures all season; and zero sacks. He also draws a lot of praise from Umenyiora.
"From what I understand, and from what I've seen, he's the best left tackle in football," said Umenyiora. "It's crazy to see how he's developed into that type of player because when I was there he was young. He was very talented, but he was still young."
When Umenyiora rushes the passer, 78.1 percent of the time it's from the right side of the defense. So he'll be attacking on the side of Beatty more frequently than not if current trends hold.
Massaquoi and Kroy Biermann move around a lot, but more frequently attack from the left side of the defense. Maponga attacks from the left side 89.7 percent of the time he's in the game in pass-rush situations. These three will more often attempt to rush Manning around or through right tackle Justin Pugh.
Pugh has allowed two sacks and seven hurries this season, more than any other lineman on the Giants' roster.
