More Than Just Touchdowns: Falcons’ Defense Wants Some Love, Too

HOUSTON — The book on the Atlanta Falcons is simple: They have a historically good offense but a defense that’s mediocre at best.

Several members of that Atlanta defense spent Super Bowl Opening Night trying to convince reporters the second part of that scouting report isn’t true.

Speaking Monday night from his podium near second base at Minute Maid Park, safety Ricardo Allen laid out his argument.

“You could say so,” Allen said when asked if he believes Atlanta’s defense has been underrated or even disrespected. “But it really doesn’t matter. A lot of people like to go off statistics and stuff like that, but the stats will never go on our side because our offense can score at any given time.”

The Falcons ranked near the bottom of the NFL in every major defensive category, including 27th in scoring defense and 25th in yards allowed. But with an offense that topped 30 points 11 times during the regular season and racked up 80 over two playoff games, Atlanta often was playing from ahead, making opponents more likely to abandon the run early and begin chucking the ball downfield.

“Our offense doesn’t take four, five, 10 minutes to score, so if (the other team) knows they can’t keep up with us, they have to come out and pass all game,” Allen said. “So the stats may be skewed when they say that our defense has one of the lowest passing defenses (in the NFL). If our offense is putting up 40 points a game, you’re not going to run the ball against us.”

Atlanta’s defense also is extremely young. Seven of their 11 usual starters are in their first or second NFL season, and four rookies see significant playing time.

“We progress a lot every game,” Allen said. “When we started off, everybody was (counting) us out, because we started off rough. You can’t put four rookies on any defense and expect them just to be a top defense. We just kept going and going, and we just kept building, and now, we’re playing with some of the best, and we’re doing really good at what we do.”

Defensive end Dwight Freeney is one of the unit’s few veterans, and he sees great similarities between this team and the last Super Bowl squad he played on: the 2006 Indianapolis Colts.

“It’s very, very similar,” Freeney said. “And I’m sure those guys up in the front office kind of designed it that way in a way. Score as many points as possible, have the other team try to play catch-up. That’s what they do. When we were humming in Indy, it was, look: Peyton (Manning)’s going to throw that ball around (to) Marvin (Harrison), and Edgerrin (James) is going to run that ball, and guys have got to play catch-up.

“And the only stat that matters is who wins in the end.”

That 2006 Colts team knocked off Tom Brady and the New England Patriots en route to a championship. If the Falcons want to hoist their first Lombardi Trophy in franchise history, they’ll need to do the same.

Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images