Carolina Panthers: Three Ways to Beat the Falcons
By Luke Tucker
Put pressure on Matt Ryan
Through the first 10 weeks of the season, Atlanta ranks second in the league in passing yards per game, while Matt Ryan ranks fourth in completion percentage, and is among the league leaders in touchdown passes. There’s no denying the effectiveness of the Falcons’ passing game, and the best way Carolina can combat that is by getting after Ryan early and often.
The Falcons are giving up sacks on just 5.5% of the team’s dropbacks this season, good enough for 10th in the league. Fortunately for the Panthers, they lead the league in sacks, and have eight players with at least three of them. With that being said, the Panthers have multiple players capable of getting to the quarterback, making them an extremely difficult defense to gameplan against.
Despite being the best at sacking the quarterback, Carolina is one of the worst at stopping the run. As a result, the Panthers need to constantly get after Ryan, not only to force mistakes, but also in order to consistently put the Falcons in third-and-long situations–scenarios that would eliminate the Atlanta run game. If Carolina hopes to keep the Falcons’ offense in check, it’ll likely be on the shoulders of the pass rush. Not to mention that getting Ryan on the ground keeps the ball out of Julio Jones’ hands.